Porsche Cayenne. Credit: Faurecia

Faurecia said it had to shut down a number of production sites in Europe and North America, with South America to follow, as its customers in countries badly impacted by the virus have had to temporarily halt operations. Consequently, due to the crisis and the subsequent lack of visibility for the automotive industry, the full-year 2020 financial objectives announced by Faurecia on February 17 are no longer relevant. The Group said it will present its new financial objectives for 2020 as soon as the macro-economic outlook for the rest of the year is sufficiently clear.

The Group has also implemented drastic measures to manage its cash flow as well as a strict control of expenditure and investments during the slowdown of activity. Faurecia said it currently has more than €900 million of credit lines available with options to increase liquidity further in the event the pandemic extends beyond the first half of the year.

The seating manufacturer said it is preparing the safe restart of production as soon as this is possible, including in an environment where the virus is not completely eradicated. “This ramp-up is ongoing in China, where all of the Group’s sites have now restarted production, with an average capacity utilisation rate of around 70% today. Based on this experience, Faurecia is confident in its ability to get through the crisis in other regions of the world and to be able to quickly mobilise its teams to accompany its customers as they restart production”, said Faurecia.