[AUTO] Automotive suppliers will bill 30% less in 2020

[YaKuZa--BoSs]

 

 

 

The Spanish Association of Automotive Suppliers (Sernauto) expects the auxiliary industry to experience a "sharp drop" in its turnover this year, with a drop of between 20% and 30% of revenue and between 6% and 10% of direct employment.

As indicated by Sernauto, the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has accentuated the "complex" situation in the sector, which was previously undergoing an "unprecedented" industrial and technological transformation.

Even so, automobile suppliers will maintain their investment in research, development and innovation (R + D + i), in which they spend 4.1% of their turnover, "triple" the Spanish industrial average, as claimed by Sernauto.

"These figures demonstrate, once again, the pressing need to implement a shock plan that allows for a faster revival of the sector, also combined with a medium and long-term country plan given the strategic role it plays in the economy and Spanish society ", stressed the association.

As for the end of 2019, the automotive suppliers installed in Spain reduced their turnover by 3.6%, to 35,822 million euros, despite the fact that world vehicle production fell by 5.2% last year.

"The reduction in vehicle production worldwide, uncertainty and commercial tensions, together with the profound transformation process that the sector is facing (mobility, autonomous driving, digitization and electrification), have made the turnover figure of Automotive suppliers installed in Spain in 2019 will be slightly reduced, "said Sernauto.

In this way, there was also a reduction in direct employment of 2%, so that at the end of 2019 the sector employed about 225,400 people, 5,000 fewer people than in 2018.

Among other figures, investment in R + D + i amounted to almost 1,460 million euros, while the sector's exports fell by 3.1%, to 20,754 million, almost 60% of its turnover.

In the national market, 15,068 million euros entered, of which 9,798 million correspond to supplies of equipment and components (-4.6%) and 5,270 million come from the spare parts market (-3.9%).

"We cannot afford to lose the leadership we now have at the European and global level because this would seriously affect the employment and well-being of millions of families. It is time to innovate, work together and boost the supply and demand for vehicles" , the general director of Sernauto, José Portilla, has added.