The COVID-19 crisis has been going on for so long it can be hard to keep track of what day it is, much less all that has happened in the auto industry.
To help you keep up, Automotive News is launching a series of Intelligence Reports, in which we examine segments of the industry -- automakers, suppliers, dealers, mobility -- and summarize what key companies have been up to since the end of February.
Feb. 28: The Geneva auto show is canceled 3 days before it was scheduled to open to the media after the Swiss government banned gatherings of more than 1,000 people.
March 3: Ford, FCA and the UAW ban all nonessential air travel. GM bans travel to China, South Korea, Japan and Italy.
March 6: GM bans all travel without “senior leadership approval.”
March 10: The New York auto show is postponed to August from early April.
March 15: The Federal Reserve cuts its benchmark interest rate by a full point to 0.
March 16: Most U.S. white-collar employees of GM, Ford, FCA, Nissan, Mercedes, BMW and other automakers begin working from home. GM starts offering 0 percent, 84-month loans.
March 17: Alameda County, Calif., tells Tesla its factory in Fremont is a nonessential business and must close under a shelter-in-place directive.
March 18: Ford, GM and FCA tell the UAW they will agree to close all U.S. plants. GM and Ford tell the Trump administration that they are exploring the possibility of producing medical equipment.
March 19: Ford suspends its quarterly dividend, draws $15.4 billion from existing credit lines and withdraws financial guidance for the year.
March 22: FCA postpones work at its test laboratories and pilot plant after a nonunion employee reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 and died.
March 23: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer orders residents to stay at home for 3 weeks. The order has since been extended to May 15.
March 24: The Tokyo Summer Olympics, on which Toyota spent a reported $835 million to become a top sponsor, are postponed to 2021. Two FCA hourly employees become the first UAW members known to have died from COVID-19. GM says it will draw $16 billion from its credit lines.
March 26: GM says it will freeze work on some programs, defer 20% of salaried employees’ pay for about 6 months and furlough 6,500 salaried employees in the U.S. Ford says it will defer a portion of executives’ salaries but decides not to cut other salaried workers’ pay.
March 27: President Donald Trump uses the Defense Production Act to order GM to make ventilators. He says GM, which already had formed a partnership to do so with Ventec Life Systems, is “wasting time.”
March 28: The Detroit auto show, which was to be held in mid-June after a move from its traditional January slot, is canceled because the convention hall is being converted into a field hospital.
March 30: FCA says it will defer 20% of salaried workers’ pay for 3 months and cut CEO Mike Manley’s pay by half.
April 3: The Beijing auto show is postponed to September from late April.
April 8: The U.S. government gives GM a $489 million contract to produce 30,000 ventilators by the end of August.
April 9: Volkswagen furloughs workers at its assembly plant in Chattanooga for up to 4 weeks.
April 14: GM begins ventilator production at a parts plant in Kokomo, Ind.
April 21: Oil futures contracts fall below $0 for the first time in history. FCA draws $6.8 billion from an existing credit line. GM says its Maven mobility business will close.
April 23: UAW President Rory Gamble comes out against plans to reopen auto plants in early May, calling it “too soon and too risky.” Honda extends its North American shutdown through May 8.
April 27: GM suspends quarterly dividend payouts and share buybacks.
April 28: Ford posts a $2 billion first-quarter net loss and projects an operating loss of at least $5 billion in the second quarter.
April 29: Volkswagen extends its Chattanooga plant closure indefinitely, and Toyota delays its restart plan until May 11.
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