Global light vehicle production is now expected to fall more than 20 percent to around 71 million units in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing recession, a top automotive forecaster said Monday.
Volkswagen Group’s global vehicle sales fell 23 percent to 2 million in the first quarter. In March alone, sales were down 38 percent overall at 623,000 vehicles, reflecting the coronavirus crisis.
Automakers are restarting production at their factories in Hungary gradually after weeks of shutdown to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. Hungary’s economy is heavily dependent on the vehicle manufacturing sector, which all but halted production last month when the pandemic began to spread in the central European country.
Following the news that the European light vehicle market declined by an unprecedented 47% in March;Calum MacRae, Automotive Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view.
Volkswagen Group has extended the shutdown of its three plants in Slovakia until April 19 after closing them for two weeks on March 17 amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The SEAT Leon line at the Martorell plant starts to produce automated ventilators to collaborate with the healthcare system in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Going from producing cars to ventilators in record time is the result of the intense work of many SEAT employees. The project is still in development phase and the ventilators are waiting the final homologation.
Toyota said it would extend a production suspension at all of its factories in Europe, with the exception of Russia, until further notice. The plants are not expected to resume output until April 20 at the earliest, Toyota said.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has extended production stoppages at its plants in Europe by at least one more week. The automaker’s factories in Italy will remain closed until April 3 to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Originally the plants were due to resume production on March 27
Volkswagen Group will extend stops to production in Germany as it deals with fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. VW said that it was responding to weakening demand and supply chain disruptions.
Volkswagen expects the car market in Germany to recover in the summer after the automaker was forced to suspend output due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While vehicle and component production has slowed to a trickle in Europe because of the coronavirus outbreak, Daimler, Volvo and suppliers say their factories in China are coming back online.
Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess warned that the coronavirus crisis may force the company to keep its factories shut for longer than initially planned.
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars announced today that production at the company’s Goodwood-based manufacturing plant will be suspended from Monday 23 March for two weeks.
Hyundai and Kia will suspend production at their eastern European factories for two weeks, starting on Monday.
Volkswagen Group will suspend production this week at plants in Italy, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain and is preparing to shut down the rest of its factories across Europe due to the spread of coronavirus.
Fiat Chrysler is halting production through March 27 at the majority of its plants in Europe following the coronavirus crisis which is disrupting the economy.
Tesla has ordered about 30 U.S. employees back home because of rising fears about the spread of the coronavirus in Germany, Automobilwoche reported.
The coronavirus outbreak is hitting the German economy leaving supply chains at risk the in coming weeks, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Tuesday.
The coronavirus outbreak and a weak economic outlook could trigger a fall of more than 15 percent in car sales in Italy this year, industry association UNRAE said, calling on Rome for support.
Fiat’s new 500 full-electric car will join the growing number of battery-powered minicars targeting customers in Europe’s cities seeking emissions-free mobility.
