Global Auto Production Expected to Tank by 20 Percent This Year

Auto makers are going to be bracing for a very tough year ahead with global production now expected to fall more than 20 percent.

Forecasts from LMC Automotive, a market analyst and insights provider that focuses on the automotive industry forecasts that global auto output will fall 19 million units to 71 million units as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ensuring economic recession.

This steep decline is far greater than what LMC Automotive anticipated earlier this year and yet, they warned that those projections could slip even further depending on how quickly major regions recover.

LMC Automotive expects that vehicle sales in North America and Europe to tank in April with post-pandemic recovery “unlikely to be rapid” after. True enough, carmakers there were forced to delay key model launches including the Ford Mustang Mach-E, and the Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe.

China, which was among the first countries hit by the novel coronavirus, already has restarted most of its auto plants, but will still see a sales decline of 12 percent this year.

For the Philippine market, Fitch Solutions is projecting zero growth for the local auto industry this year. Meanwhile, the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines (CAMPI) expressed that a double-digit decline for 2020 is more likely.