US, Europe, and Japan See 80% Plunge in Car Production in March and April This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] The United States, Europe, and Japan saw a decrease of 4.88 million vehicles in automobile production from March to April this year due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

On the 13th, Japan's Nihon Keizai Shimbun cited data from a UK analysis firm to report this. The figure was derived by reflecting the number of days of factory shutdowns based on the average production capacity of factories in these regions.

During the same period, a total of 6.19 million vehicles were produced in these regions. The reduction in automobile production amounts to 80% of the production volume during the same period last year.

The annual production performance for this year is also expected to record the worst results. During the height of the global financial crisis in 2009, the annual operating rate in these regions was only 62%, but this year’s operating rate could fall to 50%, which is even lower.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.