Displaying items by tag: COVID19

Wednesday, 01 April 2020 16:57

Impact of Coronavirus on car industry in US

More than one million people are employed in automobile and auto parts manufacturing in the United States, and 1.3 million work for auto dealerships.

The companies bowed to pressure from union leaders and employees who called for protection from the pandemic that’s spread to more than 212,000 people in nearly every country across the globe.

According information which we receive from Ford Company the plans to close its factories from March 30 up to end of April in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. That pressure intensified after it was revealed on Wednesday that a worker at a Ford truck plant in Dearborn, Mich., had tested positive for the virus.

In addition to G.M., Ford and Fiat Chrysler, Honda, Toyota and Nissan also said they would idle their North American factories. The shutdown of car plants will force hundreds of companies that produce parts and components to follow suit over the coming days.

Ford, which has 55,000 U.A.W. employees, said those with at least one year of service would receive 75 percent of their regular pay through a combination of unemployment benefits and supplements paid by the company. G.M. is discussing a similar plan with the U.A.W.

From Honda we receive information that that will restart production at first week in April. They stop with production on Marth 23. They will provide full pay for the 27,000 employees in North America affected by the decision.

Nissan stop production on Mart 27, and also make a plan to restart production at first week in April.

According information from General Motors all North American factories will be closed and will evaluate the situation on a weekly basis after that. 

Adjustment regarding stocks - that fallout from the coronavirus could send global auto production down 16% in 2020, fueled partially by an expected 20% decline in U.S. sales. 

 

Published in Ford
Sunday, 29 March 2020 13:25

Volkswagen suspend production

Volkswagen Group suspend production 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 (Covid-19). VW, like Ford, FCA, and Toyota, is looking to resume some manufacturing operations wherever it can.

Volkswagen spending about $2.2 billion (about 2 billion euros) a week on fixed costs. So this year the VW group probably will have a significant loss in balance sheet.  

Production will be halted at VW's Spanish plants, Setubal in Portugal, Bratislava in Slovakia and the Lamborghini and Ducati plants in Italy before the end of this week.

VW Group's powerful works council has concluded it's not possible for workers at its plants to maintain a safe distance from one another to prevent contagion and recommended a suspension of production.

VW Group, which owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda brands, said on Tuesday that the uncertainty about the fallout from the pandemic of Coronavirus (Covid-19) meant it was impossible to give any forecasts for its performance this year. Definitely, 2020 will be a very difficult year. The Corona pandemic presents us with unknown operational and financial challenges. At the same time, there are concerns about sustained economic impacts.

Only last month Volkswagen had predicted that vehicle deliveries this year would be stable at 2019 levels and forecast an operating return on sales in the range of 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent in 2020, but said this depended on external factors.

CFO Frank Witter said it is uncertain how severely or for how long the spread of coronavirus will also affect the automaker. "Currently, it is almost impossible to make a reliable forecast," he said.

VW Group said its full-year operating profit rose 22 percent to 16.9 billion euros ($18.5 billion) in 2019, thanks to strong sales of higher-margin cars and lower diesel charges, defying an industry downturn that has cut the earnings of rivals.

Earnings were driven by higher profits at its VW, Porsche, Seat and Skoda brands, and a return to profitability for Bentley.

Improvements in the mix and price positioning in particular compensated for lower sales of Volkswagen Passenger Cars models and for launch costs and negative exchange rate effects, the company said.

 

Published in Volkswagen
Thursday, 26 March 2020 11:24

2020 Geely Icon virus-proof

The Geely Group announced on February 5 that it will spend 370 million Chinese yuan (US$53 million) to develop cars that purify the air and filter out viruses.

Geely Auto promote its latest model, the 2020 Icon, but it's no ordinary compact SUV.

It's a compact SUV equipped for the Coronavirus, as Geely said it comes with a filtration system capable of purifying air and filtering out viruses.

Geely, whose parent company has bought names like Volvo and Lotus,  released the SUV just three weeks after the company pledged it would spend 53 million USD to design cars to protect passengers from viruses such as Covid-19.

Geely launched the Icon only for the Chinese market, and described its production of the purification system in the Icon as "developed in record time." 

For now Coronavirus has infecter over 500.000 people all over the world. Forecast are that every 7th citizen of the world will be infected.

2020 Geely Icon Certification of ventilation system

Regarding Certification the Icon's air filtration system is N95 Certified. That means he blocks at least 95% of small particles that measure 0.3 microns. The problem is when we speak about Covid19 or Coronavirus particles measure between 0.05 and 0.2 microns. So conclusion is that new feature may not be able to entirely protect occupants from an outbreak despite limiting exposure.

Beside that, Geely said it received more than 30,000 orders for the Icon in the hours before its launch through online pre-ordering.

"Geely ICON's launch not only showcases the core strength of Geely's global development network, it also shows our forward thinking and demonstrates the high-tech digital future we are all moving toward,"

Anyhow, we must admit that idea for virus-proof ventilation system in cars is very good, and they shoud keep forward to improve this system. Probably in near future, most of the cars will have similar virus-proof system.

 

 

 

 

Published in Volvo

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