“We are going to be kicked out like dirty people”: big brake on automotive equipment suppliers

Employees at the Dumarey Powerglide factory in Stransbourg (Bas-Rhin) have just learned: 248 positions will be eliminated, or almost half of the workforce. “I’ve been working in this company for 34 years. We’re going to be kicked out like trash.”denounces an employee into our microphone. “I was always positive. I thought it would be a company that would never close”laments another.

This company manufactures gearboxes, mainly for a German car manufacturer. But the decline in car sales in Europe and the switch to all-electric in ten years is causing a crisis in the sector. “Me, I am in the plan and my position is eliminated”says Sébastien Graff, factory worker and CGT union representative at Dumarey Powerglide. “Do you feel like a victim of the transition to electric?”asks our journalist. “Yes, yes, because we are going too fast”replies the trade unionist. The company’s management declined to comment.

“It was violent after returning from vacation”

Faced with falling new car sales, the entire automotive industry is seeking to reduce costs. Another illustration, still near Strasbourg, Novares, a plastic manufacturing factory, will close in a few months. 122 workers are employed by this company. Here, employees are not denouncing the switch to electric cars but relocations to Eastern Europe and the Maghreb to be more profitable. “We expected a small restructuring, but never a total closure of the site. It was violent when we returned from vacation,” denounces Isabelle Weber, production assistant for 38 years at Novares.

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This factory is far from being an isolated case in a context where major automobile brands are themselves in difficulty. Indeed, car manufacturers’ subcontracting companies sometimes manufacture almost the entirety of a car, from the dashboard to the seat, including mechanics and electronics.

Try to adapt

Some large companies are trying to cushion the crisis by innovating. In this new Forvia factory in Allenjoie (Doubs), there are 250 employees. Two thirds make exhaust pipes and a third make hydrogen tanks. “That’s why we made this site. We could have thrown in the towel and said to ourselves that we were going to stop the exhaust pipes and not have a solution. At any time, we can switch our teams ‘one side and the other depending on the market’explains Olivier Lefebvre, vice-president of low-carbon mobility at Forvia.

A difficult situation in an uncertain automobile market. The result also of the price of new cars which has soared by more than 20% in five years.