Nissan forecasts large output cut; GM sees 2021 rebound

Japan-based Nissan Motor Co. reportedly has indicated it will make 1 million fewer vehicles in 2020 globally compared with its 2019 output. The CEO of United States-based General Motors (GM), meanwhile, has expressed hopes for a “short-lived recession” in an interview with the AP news agency.

The health of the global and North American auto sector will be watched closely by metals producers and the scrap recycling industry that collects scrap generated at auto plants and sells scrap to melt shops making metal for auto components.

A July 16 article by Reuters says Nissan “is planning a 30 percent year-on-year cut in global vehicle production through December as falling demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic complicates its turnaround efforts.” The news agency cites two sources for the figure.

If the automaker produces around 2.6 million vehicles between April and December 2020, that would mark a 29.7 percent decrease from the 3.7 million vehicles made during that same time frame in 2019.

The same sources tell Reuters that Nissan’s production is expected to increase to around 1.1 million vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2020, which would represent only an 8 percent decrease from the fourth quarter of 2019.

A similar “worst is behind us” notion has been expressed by Mary Barra, the CEO of GM, in her interview with AP. “We are seeing a recovery; we think it’s going to be a relatively short-lived recession,” she tells AP.

Barra adds, however, “We have a long way to go because we went to a pretty low base. The new outbreaks do pose potential setbacks, but we’re hopeful that the U.S. economy will be back to 90 percent of prepandemic levels early next year. There’s a lot of uncertainty.”