The car manufacturers will see Massa: they will ask him for “the necessary means” to continue producing

Local auto terminal executives have a meeting scheduled for next week with Serge Massa, where there is a unique question that they will ask you to pass on to their parent companies. They want to know if in 2023, the year of the elections, there will be enough dollars to power the car manufacturing circuit: an “ecosystem”, as they call it in factories, involving both terminals and their auto parts suppliers, who are having serious difficulties in importing supplies.

Martin Zuppidirector of the Argentine automaker Stellantis, told Clarín that the Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ADEFA) has a meeting with the Minister of Economy scheduled for next week, and that the sole purpose of that meeting is to hear from the mouth of the new strongman of the Government that they will “the necessary means” support the current production rate in 2023 “and also with some increases”.

“For us the most important thing about that meeting is the production. No terminal can interrupt production, in order to give sustainability to the business and generate the export volumes necessary to have the necessary import volumes in exchange. and thus supply the local market, “Zuppi said Clarione, in a telephone interview. “There are other topics to discuss such as the Investment Law project, or electrification. But what matters today is production. It is the number one priority not to stop producing and to be able to generate as much agility as possible with suppliers and parts, this is the central point. “

Earlier this year, ADEFA had expected vehicle production close to 590,000 units for this year. Those numbers, already after seven months, have not been revised downwards.

On the part of the suppliers of the car manufacturers, on the other hand, grouped in the Association of Auto Parts Manufacturers (AFAC) are already suffering from the restrictions on imports.

According to AFAC’s June “Activity Report”, the projection of vehicle production for this year there are no longer 590,000 units, but 509,000. “We no longer estimate that this year’s growth will be 24% but 12%“adds that report, released this Thursday.

Zuppi, on the other hand, has estimated that the terminals will not only maintain a good production rate, but that in 2023 they could increase it.

“The terminals started putting together production plans for the following year between August and September. What we need to know is if we have the necessary means and the logical ecosystem at the production and commercial level to be able to work with these production programs. Today there is nothing to indicate no, but it is always important to have the word, in this case the Minister of Economyenough to start making budgets for next year, “the executive said.

-Seems optimistic, in the midst of a dollar drought.

-Yes, but for the Government it is essential that we produce. Next year is an election year and it is essential that the factories work. For us it is the number one priority, because that is what we are dedicated to. But for the government it is also important not to have bad news, to have a sustained production, it is important to increase production, to generate foreign currency with exports.

Stellantis is the result of the worldwide merger of automotive companies Fiat Chrysler Y Peugeot Citroen. In Argentina, this merger had an impact like few other places, since it ended up generating a single car manufacturer with two factoriesthat of Fiat in Córdoba and that of Peugeot in El Palomar.

Between those two factories, now the new brand Toyota Argentina is fighting head-to-head for production leadership. This year, for example, the Japanese carmaker’s subsidiary aims to generate a new production record for the local auto industry, with 167,000 units produced in the Zárate plant.

But in the case of Stellantis, with its two factories, production will also be around 160,000 units: according to estimates, Zuppi will close 2022 with a production of 85,000 Fiat Crono in Cordoba e another 75,000 vehicles in El Palomar, mainly Peugeot 208 and a few thousand Peugeot Partner and Citroën Berlingo utility vehicles.