Corona crisis: experts do the calculations - car manufacturers lose three-digit millions every day

The auto industry was going through a turbulent time before Corona. In view of the current pandemic, further drastic measures need to be taken.

• The auto industry is also fighting the spread of the coronavirus pandemic .
• Opel parent PSA stops manufacturing cars across Europe.
• More and more production halls in Germany are also affected.

Update of March 24th, 1:56 pm: Every day a loss of sales means a loss of 360 million euros for the German car maker according to a rough calculation by the industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. The VW Group, Daimler and BMW should have made 530 billion euros in sales last year and 15 percent of them, i.e. 80 billion, should have spent on depreciation and interest , Dudenhöffer explained. These costs continued, even when factories were closed and there was no sales. In addition, there would be additional wage costs even for short-time work. With 220 working days, every day without turnover means a loss of almost EUR 360 million.

Corona crisis: Car manufacturers stop production in rows - After Audi and BMW now Tesla

8:15 p.m .: The automotive supplier Continental is also ceasing work in some of its factories due to the corona crisis until further notice. Due to the spread of the pathogen, production in the factories worldwide is gradually being adjusted and "temporarily partially reduced to zero", the Dax group said on Wednesday on request. This serves to protect employees and is done in coordination with customers and suppliers. The Hanoverians did not provide any more detailed information on the individual locations affected and the time frame, even with reference to "ongoing planning".

3:57 p.m .: Tesla , the electric car manufacturer, has to prepare for a week-long production loss in its main plant in Fremont, California, in the coronavirus crisis. Since a curfew was imposed in the region due to the spread of the virus, the tapes must also be stopped in the Tesla factory with around 10,000 employees. The local sheriff's office made it clear on Wednesday night that Tesla's operation would not be considered an essential business that would be exempt from the order.

3:12 pm: Audi has announced short-time work for the Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm locations. In both German plants, the tapes will stop working next week. "The worldwide demand situation, which is limited by the Corona crisis, and upcoming delivery bottlenecks therefore force us to apply for short-time work," said Production and Logistics Director Peter Kössler on Wednesday.

Corona crisis: car companies stop production - now BMW is also completely shutting down

2.10 p.m .: The auto industry has already suffered from the massive restrictions resulting from the coronavirus crisis . Demand on the European car market had already shrunk before. Across the EU, new registrations fell by 7.4 percent year-on-year to around 957,000, as the European manufacturers' association ACEA said in Brussels on Wednesday. According to the figures, the decline was greatest in Germany at minus 10.8 percent. But the car market in Italy (minus 8.8 percent), Spain (minus 6.0 percent) and France (minus 2.7 percent) also saw a decline in demand. The association attributes this to "a combination of factors", including tax changes in several EU countries as well as worsening global economic conditions and consumer uncertainty.

Due to the corona pandemic, the sports car manufacturer Porsche is now also stopping production from next week. Production will initially be stopped for two weeks, as Porsche announced on Wednesday. The main plant in Zuffenhausen and the Leipzig production site will therefore remain closed from next Saturday.

According to the car manufacturer , it is responding “to the significantly accelerated infection rate caused by the corona virus and the resulting recommendations from the authorities”. In addition to protecting the workforce, bottlenecks in global supply chains also no longer permitted orderly production.

10.08 a.m .: Just a few minutes after the group only wanted to react to the corona crisis with short-time work, the Munich-based carmaker BMW also announced that it would stop producing cars in Europe for four weeks. CEO Oliver Zipse said on Wednesday in Munich: “Starting today, we will shut down our European automotive plants and the Rosslyn plant in South Africa. The production interruption is expected to be scheduled for April 19. ”

Corona crisis forces automakers to take action - BMW and VW react

Update of March 18, 9:37 a.m .: After some European carmakers have shut down their plants because of the massive spread of the corona virus , BMW is now also reacting. But in Europe, apparently, one does not want to close yet. As the group announced on Wednesday, an adjustment of production including short-time work is planned due to the significant drop in profits. The spread of the corona virus is likely to significantly affect the demand for cars in all major markets, the company said on Wednesday in Munich.

CEO Oliver Zipse said BMW is countering the foreseeable decline in demand with an “early adjustment of production”. Works council chief Manfred Schoch said that the health of employees should be protected and their jobs and income secured. There are three instruments agreed with the works council : working time accounts, home office and short-time work. A tariff employee also receives at least 93 percent of his net wages for short-time work. With these three instruments, the group wants to steer the workforce safely through the corona crisis.

Corona crisis: car companies already have to close factories - Germany also affected

Update 1:28 p.m .: Audi completely canceled its annual press conference planned for Thursday in view of the coronavirus epidemic . The webcast planned as an emergency solution with the outgoing CEO Bram Schot is also not taking place, as the carmaker announced on Tuesday in Ingolstadt. "The focus is on the preservation of everyone's health: We will draw our conclusions from this." The annual financial statements and annual report would be published on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. along with press releases, spokesman said.

Update from March 17th, 12.47 p.m .: The carmaker VW announced on Tuesday that it will largely cease production in Europe . The necessary safety clearances on the assembly lines are not to be kept, explained the executive board. Previously, two employees of the German company were demonstrably ill with the new virus . But not only car manufacturers are suffering from the consequences of the corona crisis for the economy.

Corona crisis: car companies already have to close factories - Germany also affected

Original message from March 16, 2020:

Rüsselsheim / Eisenach - Due to the corona virus crisis , auto companies are also using rigid means to prevent the further spread of the virus infection . Opel parent PSA will close all European plants by March 27 due to the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic. This also affects the French Group's two production sites in Germany. Work will be suspended in the Opel factories in Eisenach and Rüsselsheim from Tuesday (March 17th), as PSA announced. The production lines in Mulhouse in France and Madrid in Spain have been idle since Monday.

Opel: First home office, now the factories are closing

The German subsidiary Opel sent hundreds of employees temporarily to their home office last week after an employee in Rüsselsheim had tested positive for the corona virus.

In addition to the German Opel plants , other locations will close on Tuesday - one in France, another in Spain and the factories in Poland and the UK. The following day, three plants in France, Spain and Portugal were closed, and on Thursday two in the UK and Slovakia.

The "Groupe PSA" is not the only car company that has to close plants because of the coronavirus pandemic : On the same day, French rival Renault and the Italian company Fiat Chrysler announced closings. Meanwhile, patron Dietmar Hopp, whose company apparently had a tug of war with US President Donald Trump, is expecting a corona vaccine soon.

Coronavirus: Ford takes action in Valencia and Saarlouis

As the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger reports, Ford is also reacting to the rampant lung disease Covid-19 and will close the plant in Valencia, Spain for a week from Monday. According to the paper, there are also measures at the Ford plant in Saarlouis , where production has been reduced from a two-shift to a single-shift operation.

The reason for this measure is the lack of employees. Apart from that, it is a precautionary measure because numerous employees come from nearby France. At the Ford plant in Cologne, however, everything is largely normal for the time being, a spokesman said.

The corona virus has long since reached BMW, and measures already taken have been expanded. At Merkur.de *, a spokeswoman evaluates the current situation.

PF with dpa

* Merkur.de is an offer from the nationwide Ippen Digital editors network