Always disabled by the lack of components, the sector crosses a crisis of a rare intensity that sees builders and subcontractors to return the ball, causing the irritation of the government.
By
Finally, everyone went well on the day of the automobile industry, this tricolor grand-mass organized by the automotive platform (PFA), which took place Tuesday, October 26 in Paris. No splinter or invective on the part of the thousand participants at the event … it’s almost a miracle, because the automotive sector is crossed with tensions of a rarely known intensity in the profession. This Zizania sees opposite the major manufacturers, subcontractors and public authorities, responsible for providing a framework for an essential activity for the country. The sector represents 400,000 jobs in France for the only upstream industrial part (design, production, etc.).
“The automobile lives a deep crisis related to Covid. It is the only industry to have not restarted, summarizes Luc Chatel, the President of the PFA. Sales fell by 20% in September, the factories Turn 60-70% of their capacity. And all this happens at the moment when the automobile has to engage a historical transition to the electric vehicle. “
This makes it particularly acute the current discord, it is first of all the brutal productive crisis related to the shortage of components – especially semiconductors – and the overall increase in the costs of materials. “This inevitably generates friction between the actors of the sector,” notes Mr. Chatel.
“Legal guerrilla”
The first of tensions is crystallized between manufacturers and their subcontractors. Few on the niche. No question of angering a customer as important as Renault or Stellantis. But the reproaches fuse. In particular that of cutting the orders overnight. “A manufacturer warned us yesterday that an assembly plant, which we deliver, would stop today until the end of the year, testified François Liotard, of the LISI group, which manufactures systems of Fixing. The treasury is in great suffering. “
Even Bruno the Mayor, the Minister of the Economy, who closed the day, went from his anecdote. “I see in my office of senior subcontractors, second rank, third rank, and builders,” he said. Some do not understand that suppliers complain. The others tell me: “Especially Do not give my name, but it’s really abominable what the great manufacturers make life. “The truth must be between the two. And the truth is that it’s not going!”
A French equipment manufacturer, novares, specialist in plastics components, has chosen to set foot in the dish in mid-October, claiming several tens of millions of euros of damages to its customers. “We counted 2,000 sudden customer production stops since the beginning of the year, and a big hundred with a notice of less than forty-eight hours,” said Pierre Boulet, the general manager, in a Interview in Reuters.
You have 52.92% of this article to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.