The upstream sector is “at the crossroads», assures Clepa. The European organization of self-alert suppliers: in Europe, “during the first six months of the year, the loss of 32,000 jobs was announced, which exceeds the worst period of the pandemic, in 2020, with 29,000 jobs cut in the second half of the year. According to Clepa, 86,000 jobs have been lost in four years in the automobile industry.
The picture is no better in France. A note from the General Directorate of Enterprises puts the drop in the number of companies in the sector at 7% between 2009 and 2020. In 2024, the approximately 4,000 industrial companies in the sector will employ 57,000 people, or half as many as in 2007! “The weakening is clear», Regrets Jean-Louis Pech, president of the French Federation of Vehicle Equipment Industries (Fiev). He fears a further collapse in the workforce, judging that one in two jobs is threatened. “LVolumes are not there, particularly for electric vehicles. And when the volumes are not there, you do not absorb your fixed costs», he laments, referring to equipment manufacturers with “structurally low” margins compared to those of their clients, the manufacturers.
«Many sites have loading problems. The sector is not only in difficulty in France, it risks disappearing», alerts Denis Bréant, responsible for automobiles at the CGT Métallurgie. This unionist has reason to be worried. His company, Valeo, a multinational specializing in technological products such as engines, radars and headlights, is going through a turbulent period. The factories at L’Isle-d’Abeau (Isère), Mondeville (Calvados) and La Suze-sur-Sarthe (Sarthe) as well as the R&D center at La Verrière (Yvelines) are to be sold. Worried, the unions fear further bad news.
Difficulties are increasing among other major players like Bosch and Forvia, but they are not limited to companies with several billion euros in turnover. Smaller structures are bearing the brunt of the transition to electric, coupled with market stagnation. At the start of the year, the highly publicized closure of MA France, the last automobile production site in Seine-Saint-Denis, abandoned by Stellantis, is the perfect illustration of this.
The sector is crumbling
Examples are multiplying: the Walor forges and the Fonderie de Bretagne looking for a buyer, a job protection plan at Dumarey Powerglide, the judicial liquidation of Impériales Wheels, Logiplast-TeamTex or Amis, the difficulties of GMD, jobs threatened at Inteva and Autoliv… “NWe also have difficulties at Dumarey Powerglide Bouthéon, Sanden and MMT-Bordeaux», Lists Anne-Claude Vitali, the national secretary in charge of automobiles at CFDT Métallurgie. “The level of concern is high, the sector is crumbling. In September, we had identified nearly 7,000 jobs at risk since the start of the year. There has been more bad news since», Relates Karim Nedjar, another national secretary of the union.
To reduce costs, equipment manufacturers are getting rid of temporary workers and opting for partial unemployment. But for some, the drop in income is such that more radical measures are necessary. “Starting in April, we saw a sharp 25-30% drop in orders, all over the world, in Europe, Mexico and China », Tells L’Usine Nouvelle François Loubeyre, the general director of Cottinet. With a factory in France and the other in Poland, the specialist in metal components for shock absorbers exports to the entire planet. Faced with the plummeting turnover, he had no choice but to stop using temporary workers. There were 25 to 30 in France, around ten in Poland. Worse : “We will have to lay off six or seven people in France”explains the manager, forced, like everyone else, to adapt as best he can his production rate to the weak dynamism of the market.
Manufacturers are turning away from Europe
After two decades of intra-European relocations, a more worrying trend is emerging for European subcontractors: supplying their clients in Asia. Both Stellantis and Renault are turning more to China to source components. “In 2019, on a base of 100 in Asia, our production costs were around 130, or 30% more expensive, in Europe,” explained the CEO of Michelin in an interview with AFP in early November. They remained at 100 in 2024 in Asia, but are 195 in Europe. Producing on our continent costs us almost twice as much. » He is not the only one to make this observation. The general director of Valeo, Christophe Périllat, estimates the additional production costs of his French factories at 25% compared to those in China. He recently called for the establishment of a local content obligation per car in order to preserve the competitiveness of European subcontractors in the face of Chinese competition. #
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Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
