THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON AUTOMOTIVE
With all the economic headwinds our country is experiencing as summarised above, the automotive industry has not been insulated from these challenges brought on all of us by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The automotive industry across the entire value chain overwhelmingly confirmed that the underlying impact of COVID-19 on their operations this year, has had major implications for their businesses which includes, but not limited to the following challenges:
the liquidity of their respective businesses in the short to medium term;
cash flow pressures that compelled companies to honour their normal payment commitments notwithstanding their inability to generate sufficient revenues under lockdown restrictions;
managing peoples’ expectations for salaries and wages to be paid in full and/or in part notwithstanding the fact that limited services were rendered and consequently, partial revenue earned;
supply chain management and logistics challenges with numerous delivery disruptions at national ports of entry and on national roads;
limited and/or no service provision at numerous licensing and registration centres across the country which gave rise to delays in getting new vehicles sold; and
the sustainability of small and medium businesses who were the hardest hit by the lockdown restrictions and who struggled to access Government support and/or respond to their financial difficulties.