auto-schweiz: Confirmation for François Launaz
2020 IN REVIEW The members of auto-schweiz have confirmed their President François Launaz in office for a further two years. This was done unanimously at the General Assembly of the Association of Swiss Automobile Importers. At the same time, François Launaz announced his intention to retire after these two years and therefore not to stand for re-election in 2022. The search for a [...]
At the same time, François Launaz announced his intention to retire after these two years and therefore not to run again in 2022.
The search for a successor is to begin next year through a search committee
Worst result in 45 years
Before his re-election, Launaz took stock of 2020.
François Launaz: "In view of the effects of the coronavirus crisis, we are facing the worst market year in around 45 years. The decline in passenger cars is likely to be between 20 and 25 percent, and things are hardly looking any better for commercial vehicles."
In addition, the crisis is also having a negative impact on the CO2 average of new vehicles and will lead to an increase in penalty payments through no fault of the company.
No understanding of the signs of the times
François Launaz: "Unfortunately, President Simonetta Sommaruga and the Swiss Federal Office of Energy are still unable or unwilling to understand this. At a time when left-wing would-be do-gooders are allowed to chain themselves to the Federal Palace with near impunity, leaving behind a battlefield of garbage, supporting the evil car lobby does not seem to be in vogue. A very sad state of affairs in our political landscape."
Pleasure at achieving the "10/20" target
The fact that the Swiss automotive industry is successfully doing its homework when it comes to reducing CO2 emissions is shown, among other things, by the current market share of plug-in vehicles of 11.7 percent among passenger cars.
This means that the "10/20" target set almost three years ago is as good as achieved. This year, at least one in ten new cars is to be an electric car or a plug-in hybrid.
Lack of supply of efficient models
Andreas Burgener, Director of auto-schweiz: "Meeting the CO2 targets for 2020 was out of the question from the outset. Corona is making things worse because there is a lack of supply of highly efficient models. Without the crisis, many more electrified and passenger cars would have been on the roads this year."
Hope for a better result in 2021
At the Annual General Meeting, auto-schweiz admitted three new members. These are Genesis Motor Switzerland AG, Maxomotive Schweiz AG and MI DI International S.A.
In addition, the market estimates for 2020 and 2021, which are based on anonymous surveys of members, have been updated. According to these, the outlook for the market for new passenger cars in the current year remains very gloomy with 240,000 registrations.
This would be a drop of around 23 percent compared to the previous year. For 2021, the importers hope and expect an increase of 12.5 percent, assuming 270,000 new cars.
The situation for light commercial vehicles is similar: the earlier forecast of 26,000 vans for the current year has been confirmed. In 2021, sales are expected to increase by 11.5 percent to 29,000.
