Elm Analytics - Automotive Supply Chain Risk Digest #167 - April 17 - 23, 2020
BANKRUPTCY
GM is shutting down its unprofitable car-sharing subsidiary, Maven. Maven's assets and resources will be transferred to GM's Global Innovation organization.
EARNING DIP
New car sales in Europe plunged by 51.8% in March due to lockdowns imposed to fight coronavirus.
Hyundai's Q1 profit slipped by 44% compared to last year due to a drop in Chinese demand spurred by the coronavirus. It is the lowest selling quarter in a decade for the automaker.
HUMAN CAPITAL
Thirteen workers at a Lear plant in Juarez, Mexico, died from COVID-19 before Lear finally shut down the factory on April 1. Another factory owned by Eaton subsidiary Cooper Lighting was shut down by authorities after operating illegally and with chains on its doors to prevent its roughly 800 workers from leaving.
Jaguar Land Rover has furloughed around 20k workers in the UK, which is around half of its workforce there.
INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS
A team of Swedish physicists has developed the world's first megapixel photon-counting camera, which they say could maker lidar systems faster and more accurate. The new camera is capable of detecting single photons of light at record speeds.
Mercedes-Benz is ceasing the development of fuel cell-based passenger cars and will run out production of its only fuel cell model, the GLC F-CELL. Mercedes' parent company Daimler will instead focus on fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicles v with Volvo announced this week.
LABOR DISPUTE
The UAW doesn't feel it is safe to restart automotive production in early May.
LITIGATION
Subaru recalled over 200k cars in the US and Canada due to the risk of fuel pump failure. The recall covers specific 2019 Impreza, Outback, Legacy, and Ascent vehicles.
PLANT OPENING
GM has started work on building its new Gigapower EV battery factory in Lordstown, Ohio. The factory is expected to produce the Ultium battery cells unveiled by the automaker recently.
China's Shandong Linglong Tire Co will begin construction of its seventh global plant in Changchun, China. The plant will have the capacity to build 12m passenger tires, 2m truck/bus tires, and 200k truck/bus retreads per year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has delayed plant construction projects. The Mazda-Toyota joint venture has had its projected completion date pushed out six months.
The Center for Automotive Research has compiled a series of maps of North American automaker assembly plant restarts by week.
It's also worth watching CAR's Restart Playbook Webinar.
PLANT SHUTDOWN
Honda will halt production at its Saitama and Sayama plants in Japan due to supplier parts shortages.
REGULATION
China plans to cut the recently extended subsidies to stimulate sales of NEVs by 10%.
RISK ANALYTICS
IHS Markit: Automotive Rapid Response Report (pdf)
A new forecast from LMC Automotive is expecting global light vehicle production to drop more than 20% this year as a result of COVID-19. LMC says the drop will cost automakers 19 million units in lost production for 2020.
SUPPLY CHAIN
Ford is warning that a tornado that damaged its supplier BorgWarner's plant in Seneca, SC could disrupt the production of its popular F-150 pickups and Explorer and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. The BorgWarner plant supplies Ford with transfer cases for those vehicles.