Ferrari to re-start car manufacturing on 14 April 2020
In a welcome bit of news for the original equipment business, on 27 March Ferrari N.V. announced that it plans to resume production on 14 April 2020.
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Michelin temporarily closes some European factories, car tyre demand down 9%
Michelin has confirmed that it has decided to close its tyre production facilities “located in the European countries most affected” countries for at least one week. Tyres & Accessories understands this means Michelin’s factories in Italy (Cuneo and Alessandria), Spain (Lasarte, Vitoria, Aranda de Duero and Valladolid) and France (Cataroux, Les Gravanches, Le Puy-en-Velay, Roanne, Bourges, Montceau, Cholet, La Roche-sur-Yon, Golbey, Avallon, Montagny, Vannes, Joué-Lès-Tours and Troyes
Rolls Royce halts production
Production at Rolls-Royce Motor Car’s Goodwood-based manufacturing plant will be suspended from Monday 23 March for two weeks. According to the company, this suspension will be followed by a pre-planned two-week Easter maintenance shutdown “in order to further secure the health and welfare of the employees of the company”.
Toyota pausing production at European plants
Production at several Toyota factories in Europe has been suspended as a result of the coronavirus and its social and economic impact upon the region, and other facilities will be shuttered by the end of this week. Toyota Motor Europe (TME) says it decided to halt production for a number of reasons linked to the safety and security of its employees and stakeholders. In particular, it has needed to respond to short-term uncertainties in sales, logistics and supply chains resulting from lock-down measures implemented by various national and regional authorities.
Automakers have ‘no alternative but to shutter plants’
Following the news that Volkswagen Group is planning to temporarily suspend production at its European plants due to the deepening impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, David Leggett, Automotive Editor at GlobalData, commented:
VW shuttering vehicle production in Europe
With 2019 annual sales of 88.4 billion euros, the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand’s figures were 4.5 per cent higher than the previous year. As a result, Dr. Herbert Diess, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG described 2019 as “a very successful year for the Volkswagen Group”. However, he went on to describe 2020 as “a very difficult year”:
Fiat Chrysler suspends vehicle production in Europe
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. is temporarily suspending production across the majority of its European manufacturing plants. The temporary suspension, which runs to 27 March 2020, continues the implementation of a comprehensive set of actions comes in response to “the COVID-19 emergency and enables the Group to effectively respond to the interruption in market demand”.
Peugeot PSA pausing European plants
The PSA group’s Executive Board and crisis unit have stopped vehicle production at its European factories until 27 March 2020. The temporary closure move takes effect between 16 and 19 March, according to the following schedule:
Britain – the home of the Pirelli SUV tyre
The UK is one of Pirelli’s biggest SUV markets and with two UK factories, one in Burton-upon-Trent and one in Carlisle, Pirelli is the only premium tyre manufacturer to produce SUV tyres on UK soil.
Coronavirus threatens Geneva, but Motor Show will go on
The so-called coronavirus (Covid-19) is threatening Europe’s largest motoring events, with some sources suggesting that March’s Geneva Motor Show won’t be able to take place. However, a statement published by Palexpo (the Geneva Motor Show’s organising company) said the show will go on and that the exhibition is taking all recommended steps.
Coronavirus: automotive supply-chain concerns ‘will spread rapidly’
Following the news that Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) is warning that it could halt production at a European plant in a matter of weeks as a knock-on effect of the coronavirus, market analysts are predicting that such concerns and their impact “will spread rapidly”.
1 million fewer cars – coronavirus’s impact on automotive production
The coronavirus clearly presents a human tragedy, but it is also affecting international economies and manufacturing in particular. Following our coverage of the impact on the tyre business, various market analysts have been assessing the impact on the automotive industry.
The short story is that internal OE demand is likely to be much harder hit than external exports. According to NBC, China could suffer the loss of 1 million vehicles worth of production due to the suspension of production for at least an extra week in the so-called “motor city” of Wuhan, which is located at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak and has a population of 11 million people.
Ford Puma Crowned 2020 What Car? Car of the Year
What Car? has named the new Ford Puma as its 2020 Car of the Year during its 43rd annual awards ceremony.
The first Ford to use the Puma name in almost 20 years, it took the top prize after triumphing in the Small SUV category, where it saw off competition from models including the Audi Q2 and Skoda Kamiq.
Asahi Kasei opens Michigan office
Materials maker Asahi Kasei America has opened an office in Novi, Michigan to reach out to the automotive industry in North America. In North America, Asahi Kasei manufactures and sells car interior materials, compound resins, and battery separators, as well as electronic components for the automotive industry.
New Mercedes-Geely JV is good for both, GlobalData
Following the announcement that Mercedes-Benz and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group have formally established the global joint venture (JV) ‘smart Automobile Co., Ltd’ for the Smart brand after receiving the necessary regulatory approvals, David Leggett, Automotive Editor at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:
