World capitalism in October 2016: A looming economic crisis
The situation continues to deteriorate for European dozens of automotive auto plants are threatened in the short or medium term closure, tens of thousands of jobs in Italy, France and Spain are threatening acute and this does not include the impact on related supply industries, which are often the largest employer in many regions.
According to a study by the consulting firm AlixPartners more than half of the European car factories are working at an unprofitable level in Italy auto plants currently operating at only 46 percent, France 62 percent, and Spain 67 percent to be able to operate profitably auto plants need to operate at a minimum of 70-80 percent of capacity, written AlixPartners.
Typical for the current and future development is the situation at Fiat in 2007, the company's factories operated at 78 percent of capacity.
In June this year, in January 13 million vehicles were registered in Europe, 5 to 6 percent less than the previous year While June is usually a good sales month, June of this year has been the worst month in 17 years the study states the source of the high unemployment problem among young and revenue declines, mainly in southern European countries.
The austerity measures dictated by the EU, which all have the seal of approval from the German government, have plunged millions of youth and workers, particularly in Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal in poverty those who have not lost their jobs or homes often survive on a pittance; very few people can afford a car particularly hard hit were the so-called lost generation of young people.
It is not surprising that the most severely affected by the sales drop automakers are Italian and French concerns that produce smaller and more affordable models, especially in southern Europe At the same time, GM-Opel and Ford face to lower sales many experts see no improvement in the foreseeable future in general, the crisis of the automobile in Europe is described as the new standard.
Chrysler has been fundamentally reorganized after Fiat took over the troubled US automaker with billions help thousands of US government jobs have been lost, lowered wages and working hours have increased all this was achieved with using the United Auto Workers Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, who also runs Chrysler and now president of the European automobile association ACEA, has announced plans to close several plants in Italy part of the company's production for the Chinese market must be transferred directly to China.
Marchionne refers to bloodshed in the European automotive industry and threatened to transfer the headquarters of Fiat in Turin in Detroit and Fiat commercial vehicles division employs Fiat Industrial company about 80 000 people in Italy media reports said the merger with Chrysler allowed to restructure the new company.
German carmakers BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche looking to offset declining sales in Europe with an aggressive strategy to sell vehicles of the high-end market on the Chinese, Russian and American Marchionne appears to have similar plans and is also seeking a greater share of the pie in China on sales of premium brands such as Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Ferrari and Jeep.
The 2014 closure of the GM-Opel plant in Bochum, Germany, with more than 3,000 employees, is imminent and Ford also plans to close three of its plants in the UK and Belgium, erasing 6,200 jobs The lights go out in Southampton Dagenham and at the end of this week and Genk at the end of 2014 is to reduce excess capacity and production, Manager Magazin online wrote last week.
The German automotive industry is using the crisis to increase its domination over rivals in Europe According to a study by the accounting firm of Ernst and board Young, from German market the European car industry rose from 31 percent in 2009 to 37 percent in the first half of 2013 over the same period, the share of French market, Italian and US companies declined by 50 percent to 42 percent according to the report, a bloody battle for market share takes place in Europe where German companies hope to emerge stronger from the crisis, while others are struggling to survive.
According to this market adjustment, Business Week gave the German Government the following tips in early July Given the financial situation of the EU countries, the risk is low that the year 2013 will witness fireworks absurd subsidies at best politicians should sit, let market forces prevail, look like any car brand in Europe disappears, five or ten car factories are closed and industry can do it again profits on the basis of the current level of sales.
The crisis in the industry deepens European automotive World Socialist Web Site, crisis, European, automotive industry.