Finally, everyone held out well during the day of the automotive industry, this tricolor high mass organized by the Automotive Platform (PFA), which took place on Tuesday, October 26 in Paris. No outbursts or invective on the part of the thousand participants in the event… It is almost a miracle, because the automotive industry is crossed by tensions of an intensity rarely known in the profession. This discord sees the big builders, their subcontractors and the public authorities, responsible for providing a framework for an essential activity for the country, oppose each other. The sector represents 400,000 jobs in France for the upstream industrial part alone (design, production, etc.).
“The automobile is going through a deep crisis linked to Covid. It’s the only industry that hasn’t restarted, summarizes Luc Chatel, the president of the PFA. Sales fell 20% in September, factories are operating at 60-70% of capacity. And all of this is happening at a time when the automobile must embark on a historic transition to the electric vehicle. “
What makes the current discord particularly acute is first of all the brutal productive crisis linked to the shortage of components – in particular semiconductors – and the general rise in the costs of materials. “This inevitably generates friction between the players in the sector”, notes M. Chatel.
“Judicial guerrilla warfare”
The first of the tensions therefore crystallizes between manufacturers and their subcontractors. Few are those who step up to the plate. There is no question of angering a customer as important as Renault or Stellantis. But the reproaches fuse. In particular that of cutting orders overnight. “A manufacturer warned us yesterday that an assembly plant, which we deliver, would shut down today until the end of the year, testified François Liotard, of the Lisi group, which manufactures fastening systems. The treasuries are in great pain. “
Even Bruno Le Maire, the Minister of the Economy, who closed the day, went there from his anecdote. “I see first row, second row, third row subcontractors and builders scrolling through my office, he said. Some do not understand that suppliers are complaining. The others say to me: “Above all, don’t give my name, but it’s really abominable what the big manufacturers make me experience.. ” The truth must be in between. And the truth is, it’s not right! “
A French equipment manufacturer, Novares, a specialist in plastic components, chose to set foot in the dish in mid-October, claiming tens of millions of euros in damages from its customers. “We have counted 2,000 sudden customer production stoppages since the start of the year, and a large hundred with less than forty-eight hours’ notice,” said Pierre Boulet, the managing director, in a interview to Reuters.
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