The North American automotive sector is accelerating preparations for the restart of its factories in the region, taking advantage of the impatience of the American president, Donald trump, for reopening the economy of his country, paralyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, Trump announced the roadmap to restart the US economy after “passing the peak of new cases,” he said, despite doubts by many specialists about the alleged flattening of the curve and that some of his advisers have noted that a premature reopening may backfire in the medium term.
But with more than 20 million Americans applying for unemployment insurance in recent weeks, Trump is in a hurry to restart activity in an election year in which, until before the coronavirus outbreak, it was his main focus for winning re-election was the economy.
A fundamental part of Trump’s plans is the automotive sector, key in states that can be decisive in the face of the presidential vote, such as Michigan or Ohio.
Trump has included in his group of industrial leaders who are advising the leaders of General Motors (GM), Ford and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) in the economic reopening, with whom he spoke by phone last Wednesday.
All three have had to delay reopening their facilities in North America, originally scheduled for the end of March, given the rapid spread of COVID-19 in the United States, Canada and Mexico, but are now speeding up plans to return to work at the plants. of production.
The three main American manufacturers want to gradually restart their production.
FCA plans that the Saltillo (Mexico) plant, where it produces Ram-brand pickups for North America, will return to business in the coming days.
Other of its plants in the United States and Canada are reportedly preparing to start production again in the first half of May.
GM and Ford have not yet indicated on what dates they could restart production in North America, but industry sources consulted by Efe pointed out that the two manufacturers are finalizing their plans due to the different conditions created in the United States, Canada and Mexico by COVID-19. .
For these manufacturers, the coordination of their manufacturing plants is basic, since the vehicles are assembled with parts from the three countries, so if one of them does not authorize the return to work of its employees, production in the others would remain affected.
But it is not only the three large American manufacturers that are preparing to resume activity at their North American plants.
The German manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has indicated that the plant of luxury off-road SUVs that it has in the town of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will return to produce vehicles on April 27 after almost a month paralyzed as a result of the Coronavirus.
And the world’s largest parts maker, Canada’s Magna, has already finalized its plans to gradually return to production on May 4, although the end date may vary depending on the situation.
Part of this renewed interest in car manufacturers to return to business is the result of the latest sales data released by J.D. Power and that point out that sales in the United States in the first two weeks of April did not drop as much as feared.
J.D. Power estimates that if the trend for the first two weeks continues for the rest of April, sales will drop 55%, which will mean the sale of almost 600,000 vehicles in April amid the worst of the pandemic.
The 55% reduction figure contrasts with the 80% that J.D. Power had originally envisioned.
In addition, the US government suggested on Friday that car sales be considered essential, which would mean they would be in the initial set of activities to restart once states begin to lift restrictions.
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