Thorsten Muschal, Executive VP of Sales and Program Management at Faurecia, was elected to lead the European suppliers association CLEPA in January. Two months later…pandemic! Here is an excerpt from his interview with Automotive News Europe:
“What we are experiencing with COVID-19 shows that a European voice and aligned behavior joined in a shared policy approach is more needed than ever. The big members, Bosch, ZF, Continental have put task forces in place to manage social systems and protect their people in different countries. They are looking for coordinated political and financing support. For smaller companies it’s more a question of survival.
“It’s key to make sure that everybody pays to keep the supply chain up and running so the smaller companies don’t fall into bankruptcy. The first thing we say is that nobody should take advantage of this situation. We need to push this discipline. It’s a question of ethics.
“We have a lot to learn in this crisis. We are all learning the lesson that globalisation is a challenging topic, and we see how difficult it is to keep our supply chain working. We also need to think about how we start up again.
“The auto industry is under a lot of pressure, and it’s facing its biggest transformation ever. It started several years ago with Dieselgate, and now we have digitalisation, carbon neutrality and autonomous vehicles. We need to build Europe into an automotive industry powerhouse. To do that, to build on our strengths, we need to make Europe an attractive marketplace.
“Innovation is a key differentiator for Europe. We have all the ingredients. We have strong European customers, which are leading automakers, and we have the strongest supply base in the world. This is a position we need to defend and make even stronger. But we are undergoing a huge transformation.”