The global auto industry has been traveling on rough terrain since 2019. It doesn't look like conditions are going to improve soon.
The big post-holiday news awaiting the auto supply chain on Dec. 2 was Carlos Tavares' resignation as CEO of Stellantis, the automaker that oversee the Chrysler, Jeep, Ram and Fiat brands. That wasn't completely unexpected. Tavares had ruffled feathers with car dealers while suing suppliers over price disputes.
"By late last year, Tavares was feared by his staff and despised by dealers and suppliers," Luca Ciferri, a reporter with our sister publication Automotive News, wrote in a column.
Stellantis saw a healthy operating margin in 2023, but early in 2024 it suffered from inflated inventories. By September, the company issued a profit warning it might lose money in the second half of the year, adding pressure to Tavares.
But of course the woes of one company aren't necessarily indicators of an entire industry that's struggling. Look, instead, to closures and job cuts. There have been a handful in the U.S., but Europe seems to be the canary in the coal mine when it comes to an auto environment that faces higher costs and lower sales.
Turning again to reporting from AN, Europe's biggest auto suppliers have announced nearly 50,000 job cuts in 2024 — with 10,000 in Germany. The shakeout at smaller suppliers isn't tracked as well, but CLEPA, the European association of auto suppliers, says the supply chain has shed 86,000 positions in Europe since 2020.
None of that spells an end to auto manufacturing, obviously, but it's also clear it will be a long time until conditions improve.
