The shutdowns and deteriorating demand in the automotive sector have caused GlobalData to revise its North American and European light vehicle (LV) production forecasts for 2020 and beyond. This is a stark illustration of how serious the COVID-19 crisis, which has caused sales to whither and shuttered manufacturing plants, is becoming for the automotive industry, says data and analytics company, GlobalData.
Michelin has already issued special guidance for car owners and those laying up LCV and HGV vehicles for extended periods during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s latest advice is aimed at construction plant operators laying up machines, with work at many construction sites and infrastructure projects now either halted or operating at significantly reduced capacity.
The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) has postponed its 2020 National Tire Safety Week campaign, which was scheduled to take place between 18 and 24 May, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following a slight easing of the lockdown regulations in India, Apollo Tyres reports it “partially resumed” tyre production yesterday at its Perambra plant in Kerala state. Apollo’s other plants in India remain closed for the time being.
Bridgestone EMIA has resumed production at its European manufacturing plants in Bari (Italy) and Lanklaar (Belgium). The Béthune (France) plant will reopen tomorrow, 21 April 2020. This follows the 14 April news that production in all Bridgestone plants located in Spain (Burgos, Bilbao and Puente San Miguel) and Russia (Ulyanovsk) had recommenced. Today’s announcement means that Bridgestone EMIA’s full manufacturing network has restarted production with the exception of its Indian and South African plants, which remain closed for now.
The next SIMA agricultural trade show will take place in February 2021 rather than in November 2020, as originally planned. The organisers rescheduled the Paris-based fair to 21-25 February 2021 “at the request of a large number of exhibitors and organisations from the agricultural machinery industry whose production and distribution activities have been hit hard by today’s public health and economic crisis.”
Eight Bridgestone tyre plants in Japan will soon shut down for six production days in response to decreased demand. In addition, the company is closing three non-tyre production facilities for up to four days.
Preliminary results for the first quarter of The Goodyear Tire Rubber Company’s 2020 financial year were published today, with the company confirming its fiscal performance during the three months to 31 March was “greatly affected by the economic disruption associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.” Tyre unit volumes declined 18 per cent year-on-year to approximately 31 million units and sales dropped 16.7 per cent to around US$3.0 billion.
Production at Goodyear’s tyre plants in Europe and several other regions was put on hold almost a month ago in response to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The company is now looking to resume its production activities through a “phased restart” in the second quarter of 2020, beginning with some of its truck tyre production sites in Europe and the USA before the end of this month.
Fresh figures from the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) show the extent to which COVID-19 control measures have impacted upon Europe’s tyre markets. The year-on-year slowdown in tyre replacements and sales in the first quarter of 2020 has been “dramatic”, the ETRMA reports.
Despite the current unprecedented circumstances, Hella is reassuring its customers that it’s business as usual for them throughout this COVID-19 pandemic. While the sales team isn’t out visiting customers at the moment, the company still has its employees working behind the scenes. The warehouse is continuing to be supplied and products distributed to workshops.
Operations at Cooper Tire & Rubber Company’s production facility in El Salto, Mexico resumed yesterday. Measures to protect the health and safety of employees, including social distancing, additional cleaning and disinfecting of facilities, as well as restricted visitor access, were put in place as employees returned to work. Cooper announced the plant’s temporary closure due to coronavirus impacts on 21 March.
The Board of Directors of Trelleborg has decided to withdraw its previous dividend proposal. Instead, the Board intends to propose that the company’s Annual General Meeting – which is scheduled to take place on 23 April – resolves that no dividend be paid.
The global recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic is darkening the automotive sector’s short- and medium-term outlook given the prospect of steep declines in demand in North America and developing countries in 2020 in addition to Europe and China.
Bridgestone Americas has announced plans to restart its North American commercial tyre plants as well as its North American Firestone Industrial Products and Firestone Building Products manufacturing facilities on 13 April. The company’s Bandag retread rubber manufacturing plants in North America resumed operations the week of 29 March in order to meet demand by essential service providers.
If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com. Or click below to continue on Tyrepress.
Michelin