2020, progress in the strategic positioning of the Irizar Group
2020 will go down in history due to the Covid-19 impact, a period of inaction that marks a change in the upward trend in the productive and economic activity of the Irizar Group.
Tight restrictions on public transport and general mobility to control the spread of the virus have hit this sector hard, especially medium and long-distance passenger transport, as well as international tourism.
The fall in passenger volumes had an uneven effect in the different market segments, practically 100% of discretionary transport, except for school and personal transport; around 60% in interprovincial transport and 40% in urban and commuter transport. Consequently, there has been a 60% collapse in bus and coach registrations in Europe in discretionary and regular lines and 30% in intercity-school.
In the specific case of Spain, the decreases are 90% in discretionary transport (disappeared except for school), 70% in regular lines and 50% in commuter lines, an average fall of 54%.
The Irizar Group's majority volume, despite its growing diversification, is based mainly on the manufacture and sale of buses and coaches, which has led to a drop in consolidated turnover of 56% compared to 2019 (a record year). Despite this, it is a period of opportunities and progress in strategic positioning and reaffirmation of our approach to sustainable mobility.
Investment in new propulsion systems, such as natural gas in both CNG (compressed natural gas) and LNG (liquefied natural gas), as well as new hybrid vehicles, especially on routes that converge in cities, has enabled us to enter new market segments and win the first CNG orders in France, the first tender of more than 80 LNG units in Italy and the commissioning of more than 50 hybrid units for Spain. Furthermore, the Group's commitment to electro mobility has continued to bear fruit, and Irizar e-mobility has experienced growth of 50%.
Irizar e-mobility continues to establish itself as a benchmark in offering zero-emission turnkey solutions and is continuing its expansion with collaboration and distribution agreements that have made it possible to capture new orders in cities such as Madrid, Strasbourg, Burgas (Bulgaria), Hamburg, Bilbao, Orleans, Frankfurt and Genoa. 2020 has also been a year of continuous developments; new chargers, new generations of power train and battery packs, designed both within the Irizar Group and with the participation of strategic suppliers. The Irizar ie truck electric truck is proving popular and continues to take part in demonstrations with positive results in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Marseille, San Sebastian or Strasbourg.
Regarding units, the Group's total in 2020 is 1523 buses and coaches, of which 724 were manufactured at Irizar Ormaiztegi. 230 were for the national market and 494 for export.
The output of the other production plants was similar. In spite of the falls, we remain leaders in countries such as Spain, Mexico, Morocco, Chile and Australia. Irizar Mexico remains in a strong position with market share of 66%.
In Chile, the mining sector has continued its activity despite the pandemic, so not only the expected forecast for 2020 has been maintained but it has grown by almost 7%,
In Australia, Irizar Asia Pacific is established as the benchmark company in the tourism, school service and medium- and long-distance segments. The strong growth in the school bus market and contracts with mining companies have been paramount and represent an increase of 10%.
In Morocco, we remain leaders in the discretionary and interprovincial transport segment. The strategy of investing in generating significant local industry has enabled us to become the benchmark for the manufacture of urban and commuter buses in the country, which led to us being awarded an order for 200 i3 Low Entry units for the city of Casablanca, the largest in our history of suburban buses.
Regarding the rest of the Group's companies, they have also been affected by the crisis, although to a lesser extent. Jema Energy has obtained important international orders in the advanced systems division, continues to evolve in the electromobility sector with new developments in chargers, charging interoperability with different vehicle brands, communication standards and the launch of heavy duty traction systems on the market. In addition, in the area of Renewables, Grid Quality and Storage, it continues to add projects. In the latter area, it has developed turnkey solutions for islands where the quality of the electricity grid is very unstable, enabling the transition to renewable energy. In Hispacold and Masats, the declines in activity and turnover in the road passenger transport sector have been partly offset by increases in activity in the rail and electromobility sectors. Masats has suffered a downturn in bus accessibility systems, especially in the tourism sector, but has strengthened its position in the rail market, winning a major order for rail doors, and also for urban doors in Singapore. Datik is growing with new public tenders in operating Aid Systems that have set a historical record at the level of gaining orders and order books. For Alconza, 2020 has been a year of growth in billing and order book.
In 2020 we must also highlight the following actions:
New products and new technologies. We continue to invest in the development of new products and new technologies, setting efficiency and sustainability as key values for the future. As we have mentioned, we have launched the compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) technologies, as well as new hybrid vehicles,
Customer approach strategy We are redoubling our efforts to be closer than ever to our customers and adapt to their new situations. In 2020 we provided anti-Covid safety solutions to prevent the spread of the virus and reactivate public transport. Among other innovations, protective screens for drivers and passengers, access temperature control cameras, eCo3 air purifiers, air renewal systems and passenger compartment disinfection. We fitted more than 3,600 coaches with these systems.
Job protection In spite of the sharp falls sustained, we safeguarded the posts of the people who work in the Irizar Group.
Redefinition of strategic plans. We are redefining the strategic plans to adapt to the different recovery scenarios. We are also reinforcing areas such as training, communication, flexibility for the customer or the ability to adapt to change. We do not want to lose sight of the extraordinary year the Irizar Group closed in 2019. It is that vision that should be our guiding light to come back even stronger as soon as the recovery is under way.
Social support. We have continued to provide social support, in accordance with our principles and mission.
A future ahead
At the Irizar Group, we are continuing to strengthen our brand positioning and customer approach strategy with an eye to the future.
Sustainable mobility is and will be a fundamental factor in the energy transition, and our strategy is based on offering turnkey solutions for sustainable, efficient, smart, accessible, safe and connected public transport. In this context, in addition to continuing to promote electro-mobility, we recently started a number of hydrogen-powered coach projects, one in the Basque hydrogen corridor and the others in Europe. The Irizar Group's technological road map for the coming years includes the development of short-, medium- and long-distance hydrogen-powered coaches that will gradually be extended to the rest of the Irizar Group's range of vehicles (buses and trucks for urban uses).
Driverless and smart driving is another of the great challenges we want to rise to. In fact, our first driverless zero emissions bus has operated in the city of Malaga within the AutoMOST Project. This is a pioneering project as it is the first high-capacity driverless bus actually commissioned in Europe.
