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The rapid global spread of the coronavirus is having a major impact on all aspects of society, including the car industry.

Production facilities have been closed around the world, the dramatic stock market falls has hit the value of virtually every car firm, vehicle sales are dropping dramatically and most major motorsport events have been cancelled.

This is Autocar’s round-up of how the car world is being impacted, which will be updated regularly with information and links to more in-depth stories.

Thursday 9 April: Jaguar Land Rover and Ford increase support for emergency services, production to restart

● Daimler plans to restart production at some of its German plants as early as 20 April, as demand for cars from China is on the rebound. Car factories in Sindelfingen and Bremen are to resume work, alongside some van factories. However, the maker is extending shorter hours for German workers until the end of the month.

● Audi also plans to resume production at its factories in Neckarsulm, Germany and Brussels, Belgium on 20 April. The former produces the A4, A5, A6, A7 and A8, while the latter builds the E-tron electric SUV.

● Fiat Chrysler (FCA) has begun discussions with unions on restarting production in Italy as soon as the national shutdown is ended. The current shutdown expires on 13 April, and some reports indicate it may not be renewed as the country is over the peak of cases. FCA is discussing stringent health measures to put in place if it restarts production at that time.

● Jaguar Land Rover has expanded its support for emergency response organisations around the world by increasing the number of vehicles it’s loaning to support services and commencing deliveries of 3D-printed protective visors.

The firm had already loaned more than 160 vehicles from its press fleet to organisations including the British Red Cross and National Health Service (see Tuesday 31 March below) and has now deployed 312 vehicles globally. They include a total of 210 in the UK, 14 of which are being used by the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust to help test staff isolating with coronavirus symptoms. The firm has also loaned vehicles to Red Cross branches and other organisations in Spain, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, Russia, Germany and Belgium.

Jaguar Land Rover has also started delivering to NHS staff 3D-printed protective visors that it designed (see Friday 3 April below) and is producing at its Gayden base. It’s aiming to produce around 5000 masks per week in the UK. It has also made the files open-source so other firms can produce the visors. Jaguar Land Rover Brazil has also started producing the visors at its facility in Rio de Janeiro.

● Ford UK has loaned around 200 vehicles from its marketing and sales fleet to the NHS and other organisations. It has provided 203 cars to 40 different organisations, including 10 NHS ambulance trusts, the British Red Cross and St John Ambulance.

It has also loaned vehicles to care homes, police forces and local councils, among other groups. Ford is also working with service partner DHL to provide logistical support to the East of England Ambulance Service’s fleet team.

● Nissan has become the latest car firm to offer free roadside assistance to NHS and key workers driving any of its vehicles, regardless of its age or warranty coverage. It has also confirmed that vehicle warranties will be honoured if UK customers miss a scheduled service or repair work due to the ongoing lockdown.

● The Volkswagen Group has donated €1 million (£860,000) to provide emergency relief for refugees in Syria, Turkey and Greece who are threatened by the coronavirus pandemic. The fund will be distributed via the German Red Cross and will be used to buy and distribute food and medical supplies, as well as providing training and equipment for volunteers.

● General Motors and partner Ventec Life Systems have secured a $489.4m (£389m) contract with the US government to produce 30,000 ventilators by the end of August. The units will be based on a Ventec design and produced at GM’s Indiana plant. A fifth of the order is due to delivered by 1 June.

GM had previously attracted the ire of president Donald Trump, who had accused it of not responding to the coronavirus outbreak and threatened to invoke the Defence Production Act to compel it to make ventilators. However, Bloomberg reports that GM and Ventec had already been working on the ventilator project for more than a week at the time of Trump’s statements.

● Toyota has extended the production shutdown at all its North American factories until at least 1 May.

 

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