Auto industry well prepared to deal with coronavirus impact, says Mercedes-Benz official

The global automobile industry is well prepared to deal with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak due to its strong supply chain management mechanism, according to a senior Mercedes-Benz official. "...I firmly believe the auto industry is probably one of the best-prepared industries for this type of problem because it has a lot of experience in supply chain management", Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, Martin Schwenk told PTI here.

He said there has always been "some kind of disruptions" that the auto industry faced in the past. Schwenk referred to the tsunami that hit Japan in 2011, as an example, saying its ripple effects were felt at the time in the entire global auto industry.

"...every manufacturer has set up processes, procedures, and teams to deal with that (supply chain disruptions). I would believe the industry should be able to mitigate to some extent the impacts (of the coronavirus)", he said.