The pick-up manufacturers, on the verge of stopping due to lack of tires

The protracted trade union conflict in the three tire factories is already hitting car factories in particular to pick up manufacturers.

In Argentina the five local brands are (according to the sales ranking) Toyota Hilux, Volkswagen Amarok, Ford Ranger, Nissan Frontier and Renault Alaskan.

The Frontier and Alaska are assembled on the same production line, which belongs to Nissan but is located on the Renault campus in Córdoba. So far, that production line she was the only one who must have undergone a “technical stop”, forced due to lack of tires. It happened in mid-June. But now all the factories they are working to the limitaccording to a survey conducted by this newspaper.

“The visibility we have is very short. At any moment we lose productionWas honest the director of one of the major truck manufacturers.

The local auto industry’s specialization in this type of vehicle ended up creating a complicated situation: all pickups leave the factory with the covers that are bought from the factory. Pirellibased in Merlo, and that of Bridgestonein Llavallol.

The other factory, Fate, supplies to some Peugeot models and truck plants.

the three factories they worked at 40% of their production capacity for more than four months, due to a prolonged conflict with the Tire union (SUTNA).

With an installed capacity of over 600,000 tires per month, the factories carry out shipments less than 200,000 per month. The automotive industry has priority delivery, but still it is not reaching.

“At the moment we have not stopped production for this issue, but we are always on the edgeThey said in another of the leading factories. And almost the same script, in another: “So far we have dealt with it. With a lot of effort, but we made it ”.

This “management”, in fact, is the direct import of a commodity that until the end of March they bought from factories. Although it is a forced import due to circumstances unrelated to the automotive industry, negotiations with the Ministry of Commerce and the Central Bank are conducted with discretion, almost as if it were something. not allowed.

“We have achieved results in this context take from outside”Added another manager.

What is striking is that all governments, but this one in particular, (since it canceled the import of automatic vehicles in December 2019) have asked car terminals to increase the degree of local integration of the vehicles they assemble in the country.

This claim, to some extent, it was reflected precisely in the case of pick-upswith more local suppliers now having a market than some 350,000 zero kilometer vans a year.

But in the case of tires, the trade union conflict has left the car manufacturers in a situation of greater vulnerabilitysince it is not possible go out and buy a boat full of tires at night.

The image is not whimsical: there is a local car manufacturer that has already ordered such a shipment, one month ago. But the ship with the bridges, imported from Asia, it will arrive only in November, 90 days after placing your order. And in factories they don’t have much time.

The conflict between the cover producers and SUTNA began in late April, with more than a dozen direct stops and numerous factory assemblies. According to estimates by Javier Madanes Quintanilla, owner of FATE, the three plants in four months shipped 700,000 tires, instead of the two million demand between factories and the replacement market.