How carmakers around the world are churning out ventilators and masks to help fight coronavirus

Mar 29, 2020

This article is published in collaboration with Reuters

An employee works at a car body production line of the electric Volkswagen model ID.3 in Zwickau, Germany, February 25, 2020. REUTERS/Matthias Rietschel - RC2Q7F9GRA1U

Volkswagen is one of the companies offering their expertise. Image: REUTERS/Matthias Rietschel

Paul Lienert

Correspondent, Reuters

Our Impact

What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Health and Healthcare Systems?

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Automotive and New Mobility is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Automotive and New Mobility

Carmakers and manufactures have joined the fight against coronavirus.
They've ramped up production of vital healthcare produce and machines.

Auto companies and suppliers around the world are ramping up production of critical healthcare products and machines - everything from cloth face masks to sophisticated ventilator systems - to meet a critical shortage of those items at hospitals and care facilities in North America, Europe and Asia.

Here is a look at what some companies have announced.

Have you read?

General Motors

General Motors Co said it will partner with Washington-based Ventec Life Systems to make ventilators at GM’s Kokomo, Indiana, electrical components plant as soon as April, at the rate of 10,000 a month, up to 200,000 units. GM also will make surgical masks at its Warren, Michigan, facility, starting in early April and ramping up to 50,000 masks a day, with the ability to double that.

Ford Motor

Ford Motor Co said it would partner with GE Healthcare to expand production of GE’s ventilators, while developing a simplified design that Ford could build at one of its plants. Ford also said it will work with 3M Co to increase production of 3M’s respirators, while also developing a simpler model to be built in a Ford plant. The automaker said it may make face shields for first responders to use with N95 respirator masks at an undisclosed Michigan plant, at a rate of up to 100,000 a week.

Toyota Motor

Toyota Motor Corp said it is finalizing deals with at least two companies to help increase production of ventilators and respirators. It expects to begin mass-producing 3D-printed face shields next week, and is seeking partners to make filters for face masks.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said it will begin making more than 1 million face masks a month, to be distributed initially to first responders and healthcare workers in North America.

coronavirus covid19 covid-19 pandemic country stastistics

Global confirmed coronavirus cases Image: Statista

Tesla

Tesla Inc said it would reopen its Buffalo, New York, solar panel plant to produce Medtronic ventilators. The company also said it bought 1,255 ventilators in China and is distributing them in North America.

BYD

China’s BYD Co said it had opened the world’s largest face mask plant in China, making 5 million masks a day, plus 300,000 bottles of disinfectant.

SAIC Motor

The joint venture between SAIC Motor Corp Ltd, GM and Wuling is converting one of its China plants to make face masks and is building additional machines to increase mask production.

Discover

What is the World Economic Forum doing about the coronavirus outbreak?

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forum’s mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

Since its launch on 11 March, the Forum’s COVID Action Platform has brought together 1,667 stakeholders from 1,106 businesses and organizations to mitigate the risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency that is COVID-19.

The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.

As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched – bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.

GAC Motor

GAC is converting one of its China plants to make face masks.

Volkswagen Group

Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) said it is testing 3D printers to make parts for ventilators.

Mahindra

Mahindra CIE Automotive Ltd said it is working with a ventilator manufacturer in India to help simplify the design and scale up production, including at some Mahindra plants.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.