The utilisation rate of European plants rose to 67% in 2023
- After recording good utilization rates in 2017, 2018 and 2019 (around an average utilization rate of 80%), European automobile plants suffered the shock of the health crisis in 2020, the semi-conductors crisis in 2021 and the consequences of the war in Ukraine in 2022 (increase in the price of fuel, electricity and raw materials) and an overall stagnation of the demand. As a result, European automobile plants operated at around 61-62% of their capacities in 2020, 2021 and 2022, which put several largely oversized plants at risk.
- Four European plants closed during this 2020-2022 period: the two Honda plants in Swindon (England) and Gebze (Turkey) and the two Nissan plants in Barcelona (Spain) and Avila (Spain). Many other plants saw their activity decline sharply, but further closures were avoided with a view to a relaunch of markets and production from 2023.
- Of course, a partial recovery took place in 2023, but it remains modest since we went from an utilization rate of European plants of 61% in 2022 to 67% in 2023, far from the results recorded before 2020.
- Carmakers kept their less active plants, maybe expecting that the European market could quickly return to the pre-covidlevel while maintaining a good level of exports to Asia, America and Africa.However, we note that 16 European plants will benefit from a utilization rate equal to or greater than 90% in 2023 (see graph below) with a strong representation of the Volkswagen, BMW and Toyota groups.