International. Last year was complex for the automotive industry in terms of sales; the record was similar to that of 2011 and, added to that, there was great uncertainty in terms of inventories, production and international logistics, which poses enormous challenges for the sector this year.
In 2020, the first half registered a contraction of 26%, while the second reflected a growth of 4%, benefited by the dynamics of the market in the Western Hemisphere, where the recovery process against covid-19 was more accelerated.
It is worth mentioning the behavior of the Chinese market, which registered a contraction of 2%, a very relevant figure compared to that of the US (the second largest market worldwide), which presented a fall of 15%. Latin America was the most affected region of the world, reporting falls above 25% in its main markets. Figures that continued to reflect impact during 2021.
For 2022, the automotive industry expects a "complicated and hard" year, not only because of the shortage of chips, but because in the face of the breakdown of production chains worldwide, it is expected to lack other components and raw materials that will put them in "trouble" for the manufacture and marketing of vehicles.
This was argued by Guillermo Rosales, president of the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors (AMDA) and Erik Ramírez, president and director of the Latin American region of the Urban Science Agency, after recognizing that the situation to achieve stability in the supply of inputs in the sector has been extended until 2023.
According to Erik Ramírez ,we would expect that during 2022 we will have a crisis of components, they are not only semiconductors, after the Covid-19 pandemic many supply chains were affected and they are being reevaluated, rearmed and we brought spare parts from the other side of the world (from Asia)".
Impact on demand
It is estimated that automobile manufacturing generates about 3% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the last year, about 8 million vehicles stopped being produced. This situation translates into a loss of revenue close to US $ 200,000 million for the automotive industry.
Willy Shih, a professor at Harvard Business School, told BBC World that the shortage affects the entire manufacturing chain in the automotive industry. That is, to all the companies that manufacture parts.
"This has an effect on the employment generated by all businesses associated with the manufacture of a car. So, the consequences have spread rapidly." In Japan, home to brands such as Toyota and Nissan, the shortage of parts caused exports of the sector to fall by 46% in September, compared to the previous year, a clear demonstration of the importance of the automotive industry for its economy.
