Global car sales decreases, # of IATF 16949 certified suppliers increases
Technical unemployment, rescheduling, postponing, damage control, back-up for teams affected due to covid-19, wave 1, 2, 3, 4 …. Yep, 2020 – 2021, the years which shook the world and disrupted the entire automotive supply chain, resulting into lead times up to one year and more for new vehicles.
Despite the challenging times, a global drop in production and sales of (new) cars -until now considerably lower than prior to Covid-19-, existentially threatening situations for several suppliers and the market being confronted with its dependence on mainly China for semiconductors and battery parts, the number of IATF 16949 certified suppliers worldwide grew with 14% from +/- 71.000 around end of 2019 to +/- 81.000 end of 2021. China noted a close to 20% growth from roughly 34.000 end of 2019 to +/- 41.000 IATF-certified suppliers end of 2021, now representing +/- 51% of the total market of IATF 16949 certified suppliers worldwide.
In the same period, impressive growth figures are noted as well for Iran (+33%, current total of +/- 800 certs), Taiwan (+25%, current total of +/- 1500 certs), India (+23%, current total of +/- 6800 certs) and Japan (+15%, current total of +/- 6800 certs). Some more growth figures in Asia, Thailand +13% growth up to +/- 1750 certs and South Korea +9% growth up to +/- 5100 certs, just to name a few.
In Latin America, 6 countries who together used to have a total of +/- 30 IATF certificates now have no more IATF certified sites at all, Brazil stagnates at + 1100 IATF certified sites and Mexico grew with +13% and now has + 2000 IATF certs. The USA grew with a modest 3,5% and now has +/- 3800 IATF certified sites.
Within the European Union, the strong holders are Poland who grew with 9% and now has a total of + 730 certified sites, Italy + 9% up to + 1500 sites, Czech Republic +8% growth up to +/- 770 certified sites. Automotive hub Germany barely grew and has a bit less than 3000 IATF certified sites, UK ‘s # of IATF certified sites decreased with close to 2% down to +/- 530 certified sites. France’ # of IATF certified sites decreased with 3% down to +/- 920 certified sites.
Summing up more than 90% of the growth in # of certified suppliers takes place in Asia. We see the same growth in IATF ‘s structure: where its original members were based in Europe and the USA, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR, subsidiary of Indian multinational Tata Motors) joined the IATF as an active OEM member end of 2019/beginning of 2020, and Chinese automotive multinational Geely Group joined the IATF as active OEM member since the spring of 2021. Some of Geely ‘s globally renown Car brands are Lotus, Lynk & Co, Polestar, Proton, Smart and Volvo Cars. Last but not least, in January 2022 IATF announced that the Dutch OEM IVECO Group will be the first dedicated Heavy Truck and Commercial Vehicle member to join the IATF, which is a clear signal of IATF’s intent to boost the scheme’s growth in different areas of the automotive sector.