Motor Mouth: How the coronavirus is affecting the auto industry

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So far, North American auto sales are unperturbed — but the rest of the world is in deep turmoil.

Have you snuck a peak at the stock markets this week? Have you ever seen so much red? My Lord, there hasn’t been this much panic in the streets since Donald Trump won the Republican primary .

Particularly devastated is the auto industry. Wuhan — and who knew that name before January 23? — is China’s “Motor City,” home to plants for General Motors, Honda, Nissan, Peugeot Group, and Renault. It is also the capital of Hubei province, which accounts for roughly 10 per cent of the 23 or so million cars annually produced in the country. That pretty much all stopped when the entire region got quarantined, though operations are just now starting to slowly open up.

And that’s just China. The downstream effects for just-in-time manufacturing is devastating. European automakers are already reeling. Jaguar Land Rover’s supply chain system is in such desperate straits, says the BBC, that the factory has taken to shipping crucial parts from China to the UK in suitcases to keep supplies flowing.

Indeed, if there’s a cause for concern for in North America, it’s the seeming lack of concern from our politicians, especially south of the border. President Trump has so far downplayed the dangers, claiming that infections will soon fall to zero, and appointing Vice-President Pence — he who delayed a supply of clean needles during Indiana’s 2014 HIV outbreak — to spearhead the administration’s response to the coronavirus.

 

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