AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/18 Report--

Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus epidemic, the momentum of the epidemic in China has finally weakened through various preventive measures, but as the epidemic has gradually spread to overseas areas, foreign areas have not strengthened their awareness of prevention in advance. As a result, the manufacturing industry in overseas areas has been hit.

According to incomplete statistics of foreign media, the major European automakers have announced that they have stopped production and the number of vehicle factories that will stop production has exceeded 70. Since the outbreak first broke out in Asia, China, Japan and South Korea have all been affected by the epidemic to varying degrees since February, resulting in production suspension. But now, as the epidemic gradually spreads to all parts of the world, it has made Europe the center of the epidemic, and even spread to North America.

European car companies stop production on a large scale

According to statistics, nothing is most affected by the epidemic than Renault Group and PSA Group, as the two main automobile manufacturing plants are located in Europe, and their main business is also in Europe. Among them, PSA Peugeot-Citroen announced on March 16 that all its 15 factories in Europe will be closed from now on, and these plants will be closed at least until March 27, which means that when the plant resumes production will also look at the specific situation of the spread of the epidemic.

Just a day after PSA announced the suspension of production, Renault also announced that it would close some of its European plants. Among them, Renault Group began to close all its factories in France from March 17. Renault said that because the French government thought the epidemic was serious, the decision was made in accordance with the French government's epidemic prevention requirements, and the suspension of production would suspend at least 12 French factories and 18000 employees. Obviously, a large-scale shutdown will bring huge losses to both car companies.

Although Volkswagen is also a major European automaker, Volkswagen Group revealed at an online press conference last night that Volkswagen currently has only four factories that have stopped production in Europe, including Volkswagen's largest plant in Slovakia. In addition, Volkswagen CEO Dis also mentioned that other factories in Europe will stop production for two weeks starting next week.

In addition, Daimler also issued a statement on the 17th that the group decided to suspend most of its production operations and some administrative departments in Europe, initially suspending the work for two weeks. The temporary suspension of production applies to Daimler's car, truck and commercial vehicle plants in Europe, starting this week.

North America strengthens prevention of slow production

Although General Motors and Ford, as the big three companies in the United States, are involved in fewer industries in Europe, the epidemic is gradually spreading to North America. In order to deal with the impact of the epidemic, General Motors, Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler Workers Union (UAW) have announced the formation of a joint task force to jointly deal with the impact of the epidemic, in order to better protect the employees and production tasks of their three companies.

Although with the exception of non-factory employees, under the instructions of various CEO, all three companies have begun to require non-factory employees to telecommute to avoid infecting and spreading novel coronavirus, while factory staff need to clean tools and workplaces every day and slow down production under enhanced self-protection.

However, the United Auto Workers (UAW), in accordance with the guidelines of the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, asked three large Detroit automakers to close their factories for two weeks. It is unclear whether the union will try to force carmakers to stop production.

In addition, Tesla CEO Musk, a US electric car company, sent an internal email to all his employees saying that he would continue to work and that he would not force them to continue to work. Foreign media reported that a number of employees of the factory revealed that they had received a notice from the company to continue working the next day.

Effective prevention and control measures in China

As the Asian region is the "first place" of the epidemic, but under the effective control of China, most automobile factories have resumed work and production. Among them, Hubei, which is the most severe this time, has also completed the examination and approval of resuming work and will resume production in an orderly manner, and it is expected to achieve full resumption of production in April this year.

According to the China Automobile Circulation Association, since March, as domestic enterprises have resumed work one after another, the situation of epidemic prevention and control has continued to improve, so that the domestic automobile market has shown some signs of recovery, and the decline of the automobile market in March has obviously improved compared with February. According to the preliminary estimate of this ratio, the retail volume of narrow passenger cars in March was about 1.03 million, down about 40% from the same period last year, and will rise sharply from the previous month.

And such results have become fire-fighting measures for overseas enterprises one after another. According to Volkswagen Group CEO Dis, global epidemic prevention should actively learn from China's experience. "for example, we are learning from the measures taken by Chinese companies, such as keeping a distance, videoconferencing, travel restrictions, epidemic area isolation and so on."

It can be said that China has brought the epidemic under control in only one to two months, although China's automobile market has also suffered an unprecedented blow, paid a huge economic price, and shortened the impact time of the epidemic as much as possible. however, with the orderly resumption of production, the economy will also recover steadily. Foreign countries have also taken such epidemic prevention measures, but it remains to be seen whether they can achieve the effect of the domestic market.

Previously, analysts predicted that sales in the global car market would decline by 4% this year, and sales in the global market are expected to be 86.4 million this year. However, judging from the current global impact of the epidemic, it is still too early to fully assess the impact of the epidemic on European and US markets, but it is foreseeable that the European region will experience the same round of slump as China.

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