Globally, as of April 15, CET, there were 70,082 more confirmed new crowns to 19,149,916 cases globally, and 5,989 more deaths to 123,010 cases from the previous day.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined it as a pandemic, and the inaction of multiple governments has cost the world a valuable window of opportunity, which has once again hit the global auto industry hard.
What is the global impact of the pandemic on the auto industry? How will the automobile companies cope with the new crown epidemic? How will the upstream and downstream of the industry chain overcome the difficulties? How will the global automotive industry move forward? Auto Headline APP retrieves foreign media reports and launches a new column "Auto Enterprise Epidemic Map" to restore the latest developments of the global auto industry every day.
This issue is the April 16th global automotive epidemic broadcast
The WHO daily epidemic report shows that as of 10:00 CET (16:00 GMT) on April 15th, the number of new confirmed cases outside of China has increased by 70,033 compared to the previous day to reach 183,171 cases, and the number of deaths outside of China has increased by 5,988 compared to the previous day to reach 119,658 cases. .
FCA Receives $3.8 Billion Syndicated Credit Facility
With most auto plants currently shut down around the world, the epidemic has hit market demand hard, and car companies are looking for cash flow.
According to foreign media reports, on April 14, FCA announced that the company has obtained 3.5 billion euros (about 3.8 billion U.S. dollars) of syndicated credit. The company said there were 13 banks a***ociated with this syndicated credit, including the two banks initially approached.
The credit, which has an initial term of 12 months but can be extended for another six months in the future, brings FCA's current credit line to 7.7 billion euros after the completion of the credit, including the 1.5 billion euros the company has already drawn on.
In addition, the company announced that production of its Fiat brand in Italy will also be suspended until May 4, following the Italian government's decision to extend the blockade order to May 3rd. A Fiat spokesman said the company would comply with the government's latest restraining order.
Fiat's previous plan was to restart production on April 14 at three Italian plants in Melfi, Mirafiori and Atessa. However, Fiat is likely to resume production by May 3rd. Italian media reported that the government is considering allowing a portion of the manufacturing industry to return to work earlier, including the automotive industry. Local media said the government will probably authorize manufacturing companies to resume production in a few days.
Fiat reached an agreement with labor unions last week to take protective measures at its Italian plants after the government eased restrictions on business activity, including disinfecting plants, screening workers for temperature, providing protective gear such as masks and disinfectant, rearranging work stations and staggering shifts.
Generic mass-produced respirators
As of 16:00 EST on the 14th (04:00 GMT on the 15th), the number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia in the United States was close to 600,000, at 598,670, and deaths reached 25,239 cases.
The U.S. epidemic is becoming increasingly serious, and the conversion of car companies to medical substances is also on the agenda. According to foreign media reports, GM is working with ventilation company Ventec?Life?Systems to produce medical equipment, and the company says it will ship more than 600 ventilation units in April.
In fact, this comes on the heels of the U.S. Department of Health and Human **** Services (HHS) signing nine contracts totaling close to $2.6 billion to produce 137,000 ventilators for the U.S.?Strategic?National?Stockpile by the end of 2020. HHS signed a $489.4 million contract with GM, which requires GM to produce 30,000 respirators by the end of August, after President Donald?Trump invoked the Defense?Production?Act?
GM said it plans to fulfill nearly half of the order by the end of June and the other half by the end of August. The company will make the ventilators at its Kokomo, Indiana, plant.
In addition, the company announced that it will produce 1.5 million masks a month at its plant in Toluca, Mexico, starting at the end of April, with a goal of producing 9 million masks over a six-month period to help curb the spread of the outbreak. Some of the masks it produces will be donated to Mexican public hospitals, while others will be made available to GM employees and dealers, GM Mexico said in a statement.
Most car companies to resume production in Europe
With the new coronavirus outbreak gradually being brought under control, car companies that are about to "die" due to production stoppages are also preparing to gradually return to work. According to foreign media reports, Toyota will resume production at its European plants from April 22 onwards. Among them, Toyota's French plant will resume part of the production from April 22; Polish plant will resume production on April 23; Toyota's factories in the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Turkey and other countries are expected to resume operations after May 4; Toyota's Russian plant is expected to resume production on May 6th.
But at the same time, the shutdown dates of Toyota's plants in South Africa and Southeast Asia have been extended again, with the resumption dates of the South African plant, the Thai plant, and the Philippine parts plant, which were originally scheduled to resume in mid-April, being extended to April 30; and the Venezuelan plant, which was originally scheduled to resume on April 13, being delayed directly to May 29, the resumption of work.
Besides Toyota, other overseas automakers are also "recovering."
On April 13, Audi said it had restarted a single-shift assembly line at its Joel plant in Hungary with about 100 workers, and was scheduled to restart a second line by the end of the week.
In addition, Daimler Group announced that production at one of its parts factories in Germany would begin gradually from April 20, but that workers at the plant would have shortened hours until April 30, given employee health and supply chain concerns. Opel, on the other hand, said it will wait until market conditions and regulations allow it to start production at its Szentgotthard plant.
This article comes from the authors of AutoZone, and does not represent the views of AutoZone's position.