In the United States, GM and Ford are reportedly in talks with the White House over the supply of ventilators. In Italy, Ferrari is mobilising. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also calling on carmakers for help during the coronavirus emergency.
While car production is slowly resuming in China, where Byd, the country's seventh-largest carmaker, has in just three months become the world's largest producer of protective masks against coronavirus, after Europe, production stoppages are also multiplying by the hour in the United States. In place of cars, whose sales have almost completely dried up, some manufacturers are exploring the possibility of producing ventilators and medical equipment in their factories to help American hospitals cope with the growing number of coronavirus cases. Leading the way are General Motors and Ford. The news was broken by the Financial Times, which confirmed both brands' willingness to support the United States by producing ventilators for hospitals; last Wednesday, at a press conference, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo stated that at the current rate of infection, New York could need 37,000 ventilators in the next 45 days (against a current availability of 3,000). Questions naturally remain. How (and above all how quickly) carmakers will be able to modify their plants to make them suitable for the production of medical equipment is not yet known. There is also the fact that, as the Financial Times itself points out, any such production requires precision requirements and complex certification systems.
As the coronavirus emergency worsens in the United States, Ford has announced that it "wants to help the American administration in every way possible" and that it is examining the feasibility. General Motors has also taken the American government's call for help seriously, and a spokesperson for GM CEO Mary Barra has said that the company is in close contact with the White House and is "working to identify all possible solutions for repurposing facilities to produce medical equipment and thus support the nation in this difficult moment".
Similar collaborations are taking shape in Italy too. Following the announcement of production line closures a few days ago, Ferrari and the Fca group are reportedly exploring the possibility of producing ventilator components in Maranello. According to Reuters, a possible collaboration is being studied with Magneti Marelli and Siare Engineering, a company specialising in medical equipment that the Italian government has reportedly asked to significantly increase its production of pulmonary ventilators and respirators to meet the coronavirus emergency. The possible scenario is still to be defined, but the most widely credited hypothesis is that Ferrari could provide technicians and expertise to increase production of ventilator parts. A decision was expected within the coming hours.
The question of partially converting production from cars to medical devices has also reached the United Kingdom, where in recent days the government has summoned a number of carmakers, inviting them to explore the possibility of producing medical kits to meet the demands of the national health service. Ford, Honda, Jaguar Land Rover and Toyota were among the brands contacted. The NHS, the UK's national health service, has announced that it can count on 5,000 ventilators for the coronavirus emergency, but a further 30,000 will be needed "within two weeks", Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the companies (not only carmakers) consulted on Monday, who were also reportedly shown the basic design requirements for a pulmonary ventilator. So far, Honda has been the first to respond to Johnson's request, having, again according to the Financial Times, "identified some production areas capable of providing support".