Coronavirus Causes Mayhem in the Auto Industry: Update

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Since the publishing of our last article on the novel Coronavirus, COVID 19, we have seen it go from pausing life in China to rapidly halting everyone’s day to day life around the world. We went from pondering the impact of shutting down Chinese factories to Amazon Prime isn’t delivering in a day? Wait, 30 days? Wait, toilet paper is unavailable?

WTF 2020.
 
These days you’d be hard pressed to find an open car dealership, but their service bays are still open. The lack of focus from federal leaders has left everyone around the country wondering what’s next as they attempt to mitigate the waves of a halted economy.

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As we try every trick in the book to keep our heads above water, the waves are still unpredictable and without a clear end in sight. As of this writing, we are not quite sure what’s happening as the unseen enemy is just getting started it seems. In the following months , we’re going to talk about how the auto industry is handling this pandemic, and how you can take this time to focus and reset your business. Make no mistake about these recent events, they are tragic; but within this tragedy, there are amazing opportunities for you and your business.

Read about our Pandemic To Do List.

 

   First and foremost, the issue of closing factories has made its way across the world. Industry giants across the world are accumulating idle factories all across the globe and leaving many people out of work. However, some of the United States’ top brands like GM, Tesla, and Ford are all trying to find ways to repurpose their facilities geared towards fighting the pandemic that is causing them all to lose business.

President Trump announced that these brands will help the country by producing ventilators used to help patients who are suffering from critical cases of the Coronavirus. Another giant, Fiat Chrysler Automotive stated that it would be utilizing one of it’s factories located in China (someone ring an irony bell here) to begin to make over 1 million masks per month to protect people from being exposed to this extremely contagious virus. This type of mobilization of the American auto industry is similar to what has been seen during the WW2 era where these big brands worked hard to help the nation during a time of hardship.

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  The next thing that is a major concern is the cash flow of the industry that now has come screaming to a halt. The hope is that government bailouts will assist these brands make it through a time of no production and no cars being sold. In South Korea, the auto industry is at the heart and soul of the country, accounting for 12% of the country’s workforce. With Europe and the United States making up 70% of the nations exports, the country is in trouble as it is becoming more apparent by the day that it will be quite some time for supply chains to bounce back. South Korea as a nation has come up with a $39 billion stimulus package that will try to help the country’s economy pumping during this time of uncertainty. The United States recently just reached a $2 Trillion economic bailout with $500 Billion in emergency loans to businesses. We only hope that some of that money is used to keep the service facilities that support local communities, alive and well.
 
   One the other hand, German auto giant Daimler has actually insisted on not receiving any financial aid during this time of crisis and ensures everyone that they will be just fine without it (shocking coming from a company that had its market value drop over 46% since January 2 of 2020.

Here are some links to help you stay up to date on what is going on around the world and in our communities.

 

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