AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/17 Report--

WHO daily epidemic report shows that as of 16 central European time (16:00 Beijing time), outside China new crown confirmed cases reached 1907765. At present, the epidemic situation in several European countries has improved, some countries are gradually lifting quarantine measures imposed during the epidemic, after relaxing restrictions during the new crown virus epidemic, a number of car manufacturers, including Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and other European factories will resume production next week.

Volkswagen said Wednesday it would resume production at its plants in Zwickau, Germany, and Bratislava, Slovakia, as soon as April 20, foreign media reported. Factories in Russia, Spain, Portugal and the United States will start ramping up production on April 27, while factories in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico will start ramping up production in May.

Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler said it would resume production next week at plants in Hamburg, Berlin and Niederturkheim, including a plant in Berlin that makes engine management systems for cars sold in China. Daimler said it would start production on a single shift, while its plants in Sindfingen and Bremen were also preparing for higher output.

BMW, another German automaker, said it had no timetable for resuming production and that the Munich-based automaker would continue to suspend production until the end of April.

Toyota Motor also plans to resume production at its European plants from April 22, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Among them, Toyota's French plant will resume partial production from April 22; Polish plant will resume production on April 23; factories in Britain, Czech Republic, Turkey and other countries are expected to resume operations after May 4. The shutdown date of factories in South Africa and Southeast Asia, which was scheduled for mid-April, was extended again to April 30, while the Venezuelan plant, which was scheduled to resume work on April 13, was delayed until May 29.

In addition to the above car companies, Honda, Renault, Hyundai and Volvo also plan to resume production.

Since the outbreak of Xinguan pneumonia in March, countries have stepped up epidemic prevention and control measures, and many overseas automobile enterprises have stopped production for nearly a month, which directly led to a number of automobile market sales suffered heavy losses. Sales fell 52 percent year-on-year to 853077 vehicles in March, the lowest level since 1990, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association said in a statement Friday. Car sales fell 38 per cent in Germany in March, 69 per cent in Spain, 72 per cent in France and 85 per cent in Italy, the worst affected country.

Several carmakers are planning to restart production at European plants, but that doesn't mean they can weather the storm. Some analysts said that car sales in Europe have fallen by about 8% in the first two months of this year, and sales will fall sharply this year. At present, the European automobile industry faces three major challenges: the collapse of the European automobile market caused by the epidemic; the adverse impact of the trade war between countries; and the high investment required to switch to electric vehicles.

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