Good start to 2021 with an overall increase in production in the sector

There is a good perception of this first quarter of 2021, with a higher production than expected". This was the opinion expressed by different companies at the third Top Management Meetings held every month by the Automotive Industry Cluster (CIAC) to discuss and share data on the sector with the top managers of the associated companies.

Despite the good outlook for Q1 2021, companies have also expressed their uncertainties regarding the second quarter, as orders are concentrated in these first three months of the year. On the other hand, there are also fears about how the logistics issues from Asian plants to the rest of the world will evolve, as container prices have multiplied exorbitantly. For example, if the price was around 1,500 dollars per container, now up to 12,000 dollars are being asked for.

To all this must be added a very important problem of semiconductors for the construction of chips. In view of the lack of material, some plants have announced that they will be affected, such as Seat in Barcelona and Fort in Valencia, Germany and the United States. Chrysler USA has also been affected by the lack of semiconductors.

In relation to Covidien-19, it was commented at the meeting that there are few positive cases in the sector as a result of the safety measures applied, such as the promotion of teleworking, temperature controls and prevention protocols such as the use of personal protective equipment.

Finally, the Roadmap 4.0 evaluation project was also put on the table, one of the key projects presented by the Next Generation EU funds, which aims to detect the state of digitalization in the automotive sector.