According to a report by Australian-based Datium Insights published in December 2020, new vehicle supply chains have been extensively disrupted, particularly in Europe and the US as the global Covid-19 pandemic rages on.
Isuzu Ute recently suspended production in Thailand after a European parts supplier was shut down by Covid-19, and Renault halted production in South Korea to better manage its supply chain in light of the pandemic.
According to the Datium Insights report, Jaguar Land Rover has furloughed more than 3000 workers and a key factory is running at only a fraction of capacity.
It says globally 15 million fewer vehicles were produced by automotive manufacturers in 2020 as opposed to 2019.
Production fell by 34% in the United Kingdom, 33% in Germany, 24% in the US, 23% in Japan, 12% in South Korea and not surprisingly by 6% in China.
Sales of new vehicles to the end of October 2020 fell by 36% in Spain, 31% in the UK, 30% in Italy, 26% in France, 25% in Canada, 23% in Germany, 17% in the USA, and 15% in Japan.
Australia however saw the new vehicle sales market rebound in November and December 2020 finish the year overall just under 14% down.
A total of 916,968 vehicles were sold by Australian dealers in calendar year 2020, down 13.7% on calendar year 2019 when 1,062,867 vehicles were sold.
The New Zealand market didn’t see such a rebound in new vehicle sales in November and December, overall registrations dropped by 35,121 units to 119,620 for the year equating to a 22.7% decline.
The supply chain of new vehicles for Australia and New Zealand is a complex one.
Currently most of the mass market pick-ups/cab/chassis are sourced from Thailand, although the Volkswagen Amarok which is produced in Germany and Argentina depending on the variant and market supplied.
Toyota vehicles for the Australian and New Zealand markets are sourced from manufacturing plants in North America, Thailand, and Japan.
Nissan sources new vehicles from the United Kingdom as well as the United States, and some Hyundai/Kia products come from European factories as well as South Korea.
Being a true global producer Ford vehicles are exported to Australia and New Zealand from manufacturing plants in North America, Romania, Turkey, Thailand, Spain, and India.
Autotalk reached out to the automotive industry to ask how the supply chain will be affected by the fallout from COVID-19 and the responses received from the top-ten best-selling brands in Australia approached were varied.
A spokesperson for Kia Australia says it is expecting reduced supply across the range but not specific to any particular models.
Nissan Australia’s spokesperson says it is confident it will not have issues regarding stock levels in the first quarter of 2021.
Mazda Australia’s spokesperson thanked us for our interest and says the brand is not expecting any supply issues or delays.
A Volkswagen Group Australia spokesperson says the brand would always like more stock but has no major supply issues to speak of. The brand confirmed that the Golf and Tiguan models are currently in run-out and are short on the ground but both will be replaced with the next models in the first half of 2021.
A Subaru Australia spokesperson says the brand faced some vehicle delays earlier in 2020 due to COVID-19 forced production stops.
The spokesperson says Subaru Australia can now report that supply is largely back to normal, just in time for new generation Outback, which is officially on sale in March. The company is cautiously optimistic for 2021 and has a very strong order book.
The Hyundai Motor Company Australia spokesperson simply replied with: “Our supply is all good.”
Toyota Motor Corporation Australia, the Ford Motor Company of Australia, and Honda Australia did not respond to email requests for comment on the matter.
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