According to Bloomberg News, GM said on Tuesday that it would withdraw its previously announced financial performance target for 2020, and double its cash reserves by borrowing $654.38+0.6 billion from the existing credit line to cope with the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic.
This move will improve GM's cash position and maintain financial flexibility in an uncertain global market. General Motors originally expected the cash reserves at the end of March to be about $654.38+06 billion. Therefore, after issuing a credit line of $654.38+06 billion, GM will have about $32 billion in cash to deal with risks.
Mary, CEO of General Motors? Bora (Mary? Barra) said in a statement: "We are actively taking austerity measures to save cash and taking necessary measures in a constantly changing and uncertain environment to ensure adequate liquidity, ensure the feasibility of our business and protect our customers and stakeholders."
"In the past few years, we have made necessary strategic decisions and structural adjustments, changed the face of the company, enhanced our business strength, and enabled us to better cope with the economic recession."
GM's share price has fallen by nearly half in the past month, but it rose by more than 5% in pre-market trading on Tuesday. As of Monday's close, the stock has fallen by 52% this year.
GM's statement made no mention of any plans to change the company's dividend payment. The company's spokesperson Julie Houston-Rafe (Julie? Huston-Rough said that GM had paid a dividend of $0.38 per share in the first quarter on March 20th.
She said: "There is still a month or so before we usually announce the dividend for the second quarter. We will evaluate the evolution of the macro environment before making the next decision. "
Ford Motor Company also announced last week that it is taking a series of measures to further ensure the company's cash flow stability, in order to cope with the impact of factory closure and sales decline caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic.
Ford Motor Company decided to suspend dividend payment, withdraw the previously announced financial performance target for 2020, and activate two unused credit lines, including $654.38+03.4 billion under the Ford Motor Company credit line and $2 billion under the Ford Motor Company credit line. These newly increased cash will be mainly used to offset the temporary working capital impact caused by the suspension of production due to the COVID-19 epidemic and maintain the financial flexibility of Ford Motor Company.
General Motors has always performed better than Ford, and continuing to pay dividends to shareholders shows that automakers are more confident in their ability to keep cash during factory closures.
Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets (RBC? Capital? Markets) analyst Joe Spark (Joe? Spak) estimated in the report to customers that GM's cash of $32 billion will be enough to maintain the shutdown for 265,438+0 weeks.
By the end of last year, Ford had $22 billion in cash and $35 billion in working capital. After activating the credit line in this way, Ford will have more than $37 billion in cash, which is almost the same as the company's revenue announced in the fourth quarter of last year.
Ford Motor Company said on Tuesday that its manufacturing plants in the United States, Canada and Mexico do not intend to resume production on March 30 as originally planned, and are reassessing the time to resume production.
A GM spokesman said that the company is also rethinking its plan to resume factory production, but has not yet made a final decision.
General Motors not only pays a dividend of $560 million to shareholders every quarter, but also its financial department, General Motors Finance Corporation (GM? Financial also plans to pay GM $400 million in the second half of this year.
Joel, a credit research analyst at Bloomberg Information? Lewington (Joel? Levington) said: "By maintaining the payment of these two dividends, it shows that the world is not over."
In February of this year, GM predicted in the performance report of 20 19 that the adjusted earnings per share in 2020 would be roughly the same as that in 20 19, and it is expected to be 5.75? -? 6.25 dollars, the average analyst estimate is 6.24 dollars.
Morning star? Inc. analyst David Weston (David? Whiston) said that although GM's dividend has not changed at present, the company may make changes when it announces its second quarter dividend on April 27.
Whiston believes that GM will try to pay dividends, but it may have to suspend dividends.
In 20 19, GM's annual net income was137.2 billion dollars, down 6.7% compared with the same period last year; The net profit was USD 6.7 billion, down 65,438+07.4% year-on-year; The adjusted profit before interest and tax was $8.4 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 28.8%; The adjusted profit margin before interest and tax was 6. 1%, which was lower than 1.9 percentage points in the same period last year.
The strike affected GM's adjusted free cash flow, which decreased by $5.4 billion in 20 19 to 1 1 billion.
General Motors previously predicted that the revenue in 2020 would be the same as that in 20 19, because the unfriendly market environment in the United States and China offset the revenue brought by new trucks and large SUV models, and the automobile business would generate 6 billion to 7.5 billion dollars in 2020. (Source: Sina Auto)
Volkswagen plans to shorten the working hours of 80,000 German employees.
(Source: Volkswagen official website)
According to foreign media reports, audi ag plans to shorten the working hours of about 80,000 German employees, after the company closed its factories in Europe due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
Germany's short-term work law stipulates that the state will pay part of the reduced wages to workers. A Volkswagen spokesperson said that the company will shorten the working hours of its factories in Lower Saxony, Hesse and Saxony until April 3. Audi and Porsche brands owned by Volkswagen Group, as well as MAN, its truck division, also adopt short-time working hours to save costs.
On March 24, Bernd, a member of the public Committee? In a speech in Hanover, Germany, Althusmann said that the current interference suffered by enterprises of all sizes "far exceeds" the level during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Althusmann is the Minister of Economy of Lower Saxony, which is also the global headquarters of Volkswagen.
Volkswagen will also provide additional liquidity support for its German dealer network. The company said that it will provide support to dealers by delaying repayment, increasing credit line and more favorable payment interest rate.
In addition to Europe, Volkswagen's factories in Russia and South America have also suspended operations. Meanwhile, in China, the world's largest market, Volkswagen's factory has started to resume work. (Source: Geshi Automobile? Nebula)
3. Nissan: All new cars sold in Japan in the future will have electric versions.
(Source: Nissan official website)
According to foreign media reports, Nissan can be regarded as a pioneer in the field of electric vehicles. However, although the company's electric car leaf can be seen everywhere on the street, its sales in the United States have been flat. However, in the Japanese market, the situation is different.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, in fiscal year 20 18, the sales of Leaf and Nissan hybrid vehicles accounted for 25% of its total sales, and the company plans to expand this proportion to 50% by 2022. Now Nissan has announced that it will soon provide pure electric versions for all new and redesigned models in the Japanese market. Nissan hopes that more electric vehicles can help reduce battery costs.
The company plans to launch an electric SUV by the end of 2020 and an electric Dayz compact car at 202 1. In addition, the company also plans to launch some new hybrid vehicles for the Japanese market. In addition, Nissan will launch Kicks in the Japanese market this summer? A hybrid version of SUV and Note mini-car. Nissan X-Trail SUV will also join the hybrid version when it is redesigned next year. Nissan's hybrid cars will use the company's unique e-Power system.
In addition to the Japanese market, the company has a long-term plan: to launch more electric vehicles in Europe and China. Nissan's goal is to increase the sales of electric vehicles in these two markets to 50% and 30% respectively before FY22.
Nissan's move reflects the new trend of accelerating the electrification process in the entire automobile industry. Volkswagen plans to electrify all its models; Toyota seeks to equip all models with hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric versions by 2025 and sell them in the global market. (Source: Geshi Automobile? Nebula)
Ford cooperated with General Electric Company and 3M Company to produce ventilators and protective masks.
(Source: Ford official website)
According to foreign media reports, Ford plans to manufacture 3M and General Electric Medical Group (GE? Medical care), * * * With the production of ventilators, protective masks and masks to provide assistance to medical staff, the current COVID-19 epidemic has brought tremendous pressure on the supply of medical equipment.
On March 24th, Ford executives said that the company planned to use its production facilities as early as this week to provide medical equipment for doctors, nurses and emergency personnel. Ford's internal code name for this plan is "ProjectApollo".
Bill Ford, the chairman of Ford Company, announced the company's plan in a TV program. He said, "During World War II, we used to be a democratic army factory. We also made iron lungs for polio patients. Whenever someone calls us, we will appear. "
Ford will cooperate with 3M in two ways to produce breathing masks to purify the air. First of all, Ford will help 3M increase the production of existing products, and at the same time, Ford will also design its own breathing mask. These masks will use the fan on the F- 150 pickup truck, hood materials from the painting workshop of the assembly plant, 3D printing components and portable tool batteries that can make the respirator run continuously for 8 hours.
Ford will produce this respirator at an advanced manufacturing center near Detroit, Michigan. Ford said that in the early stage, the company planned to produce as many as 65,438+0,000 respirators per month, and helped 3M to increase its production by 65,438+00 times. Ford executives said in a conference call that production will begin in a few days or weeks.
In addition, Ford also plans to set up a subsidiary Troy in Michigan? Design? AndManufacturing's factory produces 654.38 million+protective masks every week. Ford expects that the company will produce 75,000 protective masks this week.
Ford will also cooperate with GE Medical Group to help GE increase its production of simplified ventilators. Ford said that in addition to GE's own factory, they can also produce ventilators at Ford's manufacturing base. Ford CEO Hankate (Jim? Hackett) said that the company's goal is to produce "hundreds of thousands" ventilators and will increase the production capacity of ventilators between now and June.
Ford said in a statement: "This is a critical period for the United States and the world. Now is the time for action and cooperation. Through the cooperation of many industries, we can help those in need and those in the front line. Ford deeply feels the responsibility to stand up and make contributions when necessary, just as our company has been doing in the history of 1 17. " ? (Source: Geshi Automobile? Nebula)
5. European parts supply chain is out of stock? Volkswagen will stop production in Russia.
(Source: Volkswagen official website)
According to foreign media reports, on March 24th, the Russian branch of Volkswagen Group said that due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe and the shortage of spare parts from Europe, Volkswagen Group would suspend its automobile production in Russia.
The company revealed that its automobile manufacturing plant in Kaluga, Russia and the assembly line of GAZGroup, a Russian foundry manufacturer in Nizhny Novgorod, will stop production from March 30 to April 10. According to the law of the Russian Federation, the company needs to continue to pay employees' wages during the period of production suspension.
Volkswagen produces Tiguan SUV, sedan version of Polo compact car and Skoda Haorui model in Kaluga factory. In addition, the factory also produces 1.6 liter gasoline engine and SKD Audi Q8 and Q7. Nizhny Novgorod factory is responsible for the production of Skoda Ming Rui, Kodiak and Crocker models.
Last week, Volkswagen announced that its factory in Europe would temporarily suspend production for two weeks, given that COVID-19 has infected more than 330,000 people worldwide.
At present, global automakers have successively announced the suspension of production, aiming at protecting employees and coping with the decline in market demand affected by the epidemic. Although the production is about to stop, the Russian company of Volkswagen Group said that at present they can "provide a stable supply of cars and parts to dealers and customers". The Russian branch of Volkswagen Group has more than 60 local suppliers and has localized more than 5,000 parts. (Source: Geshi Automobile? Nebula)
6. The British factory in aston martin will suspend production.
(Source: Aston Martin official website)
According to foreign media reports, aston martin announced that it would suspend the production of its British vehicle factory from March 25th to April 20th to cope with the COVID-19 epidemic.
The luxury car manufacturer has two factories in Britain, one of which is located in Garden, central England, and is responsible for producing its sports car products; Another new factory in St. Anson, South Wales is responsible for producing the company's latest DBX? SUV models. Aston Martin said that the booking volume of DBX has been increasing continuously, and if the factory can resume production in time, the model is expected to start delivery in the summer of 2020.
Aston Martin said in a press release that the company currently plans to suspend factory operations until Monday, April 20, but the company will continue to assess the epidemic and will "seek to resume operations as soon as reasonably possible". The company also said that the outbreak of the epidemic has added new risks to its financial performance in 2020. At present, only two-thirds of the company's global dealer network is in operation.
Last year, the sales of Aston Martin sports cars were not ideal, and the cost overrun further aggravated the company's predicament. In June 5438+10, the company had to accept billionaire investor Lawrence? Rescue investment led by Strol, in order to get cash injection in the short term.
Before aston martin, many automakers including Bentley, vauxhall, Mini, Rolls-Royce, Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota and Honda announced that they would stop production in the UK. In addition, Ford will also stop engine production at the Dagenham plant near London and the Brigand plant in Wales. (Source: Geshi Automobile? Nebula)
7. Is there a new security supervisor in the modern Washington office? Kia American factory will stop production again.
(Source: Hyundai Motor official website)
According to foreign media reports, Hyundai Motor North America announced that it will expand its security office in Washington and appoint Steve, an industry veteran. Green served as the executive director of its North American safety supervision and policy.
Hyundai said in a press release that Gehring will be responsible for supervising the company's vehicle safety strategies in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and will cooperate with the US Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), the US Department of Transportation and other safety policy organizations and stakeholders. The appointment will take effect on Monday, March 30th, and Gehring will report to Brian, Chief Security Officer of Hyundai Motor North America. Latov reported on this work.
Latov said in a press release: "Regulation and safety are very complicated issues, and we are fortunate to welcome Steve to our team. He will provide us with guidance and expertise in these fields. Ensuring the safety of customers is our most important task. He has 30 years of experience in vehicle policy and supervision, and we are confident that Hyundai will continue to maintain its leading position in the field of traffic safety. "
Before joining Hyundai, Gehring worked for the Global Automobile Manufacturers Association (Association? Yes? Global? Automobile manufacturers) and automobile innovation alliance (Alliancefor? Cars? Innovation), responsible for the policy and supervision of safe and self-driving cars. Previously, he served as the head of GM's security policy in Washington.
Kia Motors, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor, announced that its American factory will stop production again from next week due to the spread of the epidemic. Last week, Kia closed its factory in Georgia for two days due to supply chain problems, and then reopened it on Monday, March 23rd.
Kia said in a press release that its factory in West Point will be closed on March 30th, and it is expected to resume production on April13rd, which is responsible for producing Optima, Souranto and Telluride. According to the company, the suspension of production includes the previous plan to close the factory from April 6 to 10 due to the replacement of new equipment. The company said that during the shutdown of the factory, the workstations in the factory will be cleaned and disinfected. (Source: Geshi Automobile? Nebula)
8. Guangzhou Automobile Group provided 500 million yuan entrusted loan to Guangzhou Automobile Fick according to the share ratio.
A few days ago, Sina Auto learned from Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guangzhou Automobile Group) that the fifth board of directors of Guangzhou Automobile Group was the first? At the 40th meeting, the Proposal on Entrusted Loan of GAC Fick was reviewed and approved, and it was agreed to provide an entrusted loan of 500 million yuan (65.438 billion yuan+0 billion yuan) to the joint venture company GAC Fick Automobile Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as GAC Fick) through its subsidiary GAC Group Finance Co., Ltd., with the term of 1 year and the interest rate announced by the People's Bank of China on the loan date? LPR？ Interest rate.
It is understood that this 500 million yuan loan will be used to supplement the cash flow of GAC Fick's daily production and operation. According to the data, after experiencing rapid growth of 20 16 and 20 17, GAC Fick's sales declined sharply from 20 18, and the sales volume of 20 19 was only one third of that of 20 17. In 2020, GAC Fick is still not out of the Woods. (Source: Sina Auto)
9. Two confirmed patients died in 9.FCA factory in COVID-19, which was the first case in an American automobile factory.
According to Auto News, a spokesman for the United Auto Workers' Union (UAW) said on Tuesday that two workers at Fiat Chrysler Automobile Factory died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 virus. They were the first American auto factory workers who died after being diagnosed.
Rory gamble, President of UAW? Gambling? ) said in a letter to members on Tuesday that one of the workers was in Strindz, Michigan. Heights) works in Ram pickup factory, and the other works in Cocomo factory in Indiana.
Fiat Chrysler has previously confirmed that there are confirmed workers in Stirling Haitz factory and Cocomo factory. At present, it is not clear when these two workers died.
"This is a terrible tragedy for our whole UAW," gamble wrote. "At this unprecedented moment, many of our friends and family members are afraid and face great difficulties and challenges. The United Auto Workers' Federation is making every effort to ensure everyone's safety and stop the spread of this terrible epidemic in the best way. "
Fiat Chrysler declined to comment, saying "out of respect for the privacy of these families and those affected by this situation."
Gamble also wrote, "FCA has told us that they intend to obey the orders of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and do not intend to reopen the factory on March 30."
Last week, Fiat Chrysler, Ford and General Motors were closed in the United States, Canada and Mexico from March 65438+ to March 30, 2008.
Shortly before this, FCA briefly closed the Stirling Haitz factory after discovering that a worker was infected with the virus. On March 12, a worker in Cocomo factory was diagnosed.
Fiat Chrysler did not immediately comment on the extension of the factory shutdown, but said it had not yet decided whether it was necessary to extend the shutdown beyond the end of March.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Company said on Tuesday that its North American manufacturing plant will remain closed after March 30 due to the continued spread of the novel coronavirus epidemic.
Gamble said that the United Auto Workers Union asked General Motors to "put the safety of its members first, follow the advice of the government and health officials, and let workers stay at home."
Ford did not provide a timetable for the reopening of the factory, but said that it would be evaluated every week.
Due to the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus epidemic, several states in the United States issued the order of "staying at home". In Michigan, the order will be extended to April 13. It is based on federal guidelines that exempt key manufacturing industries from the transportation industry, but do not specifically mention automobile manufacturing. (Source: Sina Auto)
10, the American auto industry sought a series of rescue plans from the federal government, such as loan guarantee, deferred tax payment and so on.
According to foreign media reports, with the closure of auto assembly plants, suppliers and dealers all over the country due to the novel coronavirus epidemic, the US auto industry is seeking guidance and assistance from the federal government, but the details of the rescue plan proposed by the US government are still pending.
On Tuesday, local time, in response to the growing impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the economy, the US Senate discussed a nearly $2 trillion emergency economic stimulus plan, but it has not yet been passed in Congress.
Although Washington is discussing a proposal to allocate rescue funds to some industries, including airlines, automakers have not yet asked for direct acceptance of rescue funds. On the contrary, they hope to get financial relief from Congress in the form of loan guarantee, paid vacation tax reduction for employees and deferred payment of corporate tax.
Carmakers also asked for clarification whether dealers are still "necessary" basic business in the case of emergency closures announced by States.
US Congressman Debbie Dingle (Debbie? Dingell) said that ten years after the federal government was forced to rescue GM and Chrysler, automakers were cautious about direct financial assistance from the government.
General Motors and Chrysler received $56,543,880 billion and $65,438,880.5 billion in federal aid 65,438+00 years ago, respectively, but Ford did not receive federal funds.
"They don't want to be seen as begging for charity. They just need to move like all businesses and want to take care of workers. " Dingle said.
In addition, the automobile industry also requested to postpone the alternative agreement to join the North American Free Trade Agreement on June 1. Dealers asked the White House to treat them as basic services and exempt them from emergency shutdown at the state level.
When the U.S. government adopted this series of closure orders, the prospects of the automobile industry were bleak due to temporary asylum orders issued by Michigan and other States.
According to J. D. Power's forecast, the sales volume in March may decrease by 465,438+0% compared with last year, almost all because of the outbreak of novel coronavirus epidemic.
ALG, a subsidiary of TrueCar, an automobile R&D and sales platform? It is predicted that in the worst case, the government will require the factory to be closed until the whole summer, so that the annual automobile sales in the United States will be reduced by 5.7 million compared with the previously expected 6.5438+0.69 million. Even if most factories resume work before May 1, this year's sales will drop by 1.6 million units.
In the past few days, automobile factories all over North America have closed down. Although some of these factories were scheduled to resume work at the end of this month, Michigan Governor Whitmore? Whitmore's emergency order lasted until April 13. Ford said on Tuesday that it would extend the time to close its North American factory indefinitely.
Christine de Zizek, Vice President of the American Automotive Research Center (Kristin? Dziczek) said that the new problem facing the American auto industry will be the interruption of supply sources and the greater evolution of the industry from "supply crisis to demand crisis", which may have extensive economic consequences.
According to the CAR research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan, if consumers don't buy new cars every seven days, the US economy will lose about 94,400 jobs and the overall income of $7.3 billion, while the government tax revenue will be reduced by about $2 billion.
However, the epidemic crisis may have a devastating impact on the automobile industry, but it is still unlikely to be as serious as the 2008-09 financial crisis, when the financial crisis forced General Motors and Chrysler into bankruptcy protection.
Vice President of Industry, Labor and Economy, Automotive Research Center (Christine? Dziczek) said: "If car companies survive 2008-? The financial crisis in 2009 will have a better foundation and different decisions will be made in the next decade, which will enable them to better cope with the storm. "
In response to the factory closure and sales decline caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic, major automobile manufacturers are also taking a series of measures to further ensure the company's cash flow stability.
Ford Motor Company decided to suspend dividend payment and open two unused credit lines of $654.38+054 billion. GM borrowed $654.38+06 billion from the existing credit line, doubling its cash reserves to cope with the impact of the novel coronavirus epidemic. (Source: Sina Auto)
1 1, Porsche provides rescue plan to 192 American dealers to deal with the epidemic.
According to the American Automotive News Network, Porsche will provide rescue plans to its 65,438+092 American dealers to cope with the slowdown of the automobile industry caused by the novel coronavirus epidemic.
Porsche assured the dealers of bonus payment, relaxed the performance bonus target and expanded the scale of funds provided. This is similar to the dealer-centered help programs developed by BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and other automakers.
In the first half of this year, Porsche dealers can get marketing and customer satisfaction bonuses, even if they fail to achieve certain goals. At the same time, in order to boost retailers' profits, Porsche's planning assistance plan will cover "a large part" of the car inventory cost within 60 days.
Porsche dealers will receive an unspecified fixed fee before April 30 to pay for the delivery of new cars to their homes. As customers stay at home to avoid contracting coronavirus, it is expected that the number of cars delivered home will increase.
Dealers can also return cars that are not rented, instead of keeping them in the certified used car project. Some mandatory work standard requirements, such as warranty work, have also been cancelled.
In addition, Porsche Financial Services (? PFS) will also help retail customers. The company extended the lease contract, which was scheduled to expire on April 30, for a maximum of six months, four months longer than the general extension time. At the same time, we will also consider extending the lease payment for 30 to 60 days. (Source: Sina Auto)
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.