In the latest issue of Die Casting Engineer, NADCA President Stephen Udvardy reports on the overall North American die casting health. This piece discusses a variety of manufacturing topics ranging from political factors, macroeconomics, and surveying current business challenges.
Below are three takeaways in regards to the automotive industry.
Manufacturing Capacity Increase
The report states that overall, consumer sentiment is high (Figure 1). The high consumer sentiment has had a positive impact on U.S. manufacturing outlook. This has lead manufacturers to increase capacity. U.S. manufacturing capacity increased to 77.5% in the third quarter of 2019, a two-point increase from 2017 (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Consumer sentiment from 2009 through the third quarter of 2019.
Light Vehicle Sales
"The current forecast for light vehicle sales in 2019 is 16.9 million units (Figure 2). Stephen explained, " 16.9 million units represent strong light vehicle sales, defying the predictions in 2017 that sales above or near 17.0 million could not be sustained."
Figure 2: Monthly light vehicle sales from November 2018 to November 2019.
Electric Vehicle Sales
The report cites Statista that 1.2% of 2018 U.S. auto sales were of plug-in electric vehicles. Sales of plug-in electric cars are forecasted to grow to 7.6% of total U.S. auto sales by 2026.
In Conclusion
This report highlights a variety of economic and political barometers. Overall, the data indicates that the U.S. manufacturing outlook is healthy and encouraging.
