China, which is the country of origin for the outbreak of the Corona virus, aka Covid-19, has now subsided. As quoted from Automotivemews.com (16/3), the automotive industry in the country of the bamboo curtain is also rumored to be reviving. Several auto manufacturers in China started operating again. Car sales in the country are also forecast to recover gradually.
Several major automotive companies are reported to have started operating, such as Daimler saying that it has reopened its factories and started sales. Another German brand, BMW, which has a factory in Shenyang, has resumed operations since February 17.
Fiat Chrysler is reported to be in operation, with more than 90 percent of dealerships and 95 percent of staff returning to work. Meanwhile, Ford said the factory had been operating since February 10. Now factory recovery has reached almost 100 percent, although some employees in Wuhan are still on travel restrictions.
For Japanese manufacturers, Honda also said that they had not experienced problems with the supply of spare parts to date. Toyota’s plants in Guangzhou and Changchun have also returned according to regular shift schedules. More than 98 percent of Toyota dealers are back in operation. Several other brands such as Volkswagen, Volvo, Tesla and SAIC are said to have returned to operations gradually. Some of these automotive manufacturers previously stopped producing cars by producing masks on a temporary basis.
The production of masks by several automotive manufacturers is indeed carried out to help the Chinese government cope with the spread of the corona virus outbreak which has become increasingly widespread some time ago. Currently China claims that there is no corona virus and is preparing to resume its activities. This is clearly one of the positive news that can be heard by the whole world community. This very dangerous virus kills several producers for their activities.
Even the impact was felt throughout the world. Many manufacturers have hampered their supply of components because they come from China. Now, it is hoped that automotive manufacturers around the world can return to their production activities.