Carmakers suspend European production in face of coronavirus crisis

REUTERS: Automakers are halting production at plants across Europe as they grapple with coronavirus and diving demand.

BMW the German company said on 18 March it was preparing to suspend production at its plants in Europe and Rosslyn, South Africa, until 19 April, responding to lower demand and to help reduce risk of contagion. The shutdowns will start at the end of the week.

Luxury carmaker Ferrari said on 14 March it was closing its two plants until 27 March in response to the coronavirus outbreak in Italy and an emerging shortage of parts.

Fiat Chrysler said on 16 March it was halting production at its Italian plants of Melfi, Pomigliano, Cassino, Mirafiori, Grugliasco and Modena as well as Serbia’s Kragujevac facilities and Poland’s Tychy plant for two weeks.

Ford said on 17 March it was temporarily suspending vehicle and engine production at its manufacturing sites in continental Europe in response to the growing impact of the coronavirus. Effective from Thursday, 19 March, it is expected this action will continue for a number of weeks.

The Ford vehicle manufacturing sites in Cologne and Saarlouis in Germany, together with the Craiova facility in Romania, will halt production temporarily from Thursday, 19 March, the carmaker said.

Ford said its Valencia assembly and engine facility in Spain temporarily halted production from Monday, 16 March, after three workers were confirmed with coronavirus over the past weekend. tive for coronavirus.

French carmaker PSA, which owns the Peugeot, Opel and Vauxhall brands, said on March 16 it was closing its European factories until 27 March.

Renault said on 16 March it was shutting production at its industrial facilities in France, affecting 12 sites and 18,000 workers. Renault said on 17 March it would also close its factories in Spain.

Volkswagen said it was suspending production at its sites in Europe. It has 124 production sites worldwide, 72 of which are in Europe, with 28 in Germany.

VW said it was suspending production in Wolfsburg, Emden, Dresden, Osnabrck, Zwickau, Bratislava, Pamplona, Spain, Palmela and Portugal, as well as the components factories in Braunschweig, Chemnitz, Hannover, Kassel, Salzgitter and at its Wolfsburg-based seats plant SITECH.

Volkswagen said on 17 March it would halt production at factories in Spain, Setubal in Portugal, Bratislava in Slovakia and the Lamborghini and Ducati plants in Italy before the end of the week.

Audi, Volkswagen’s premium unit, said on 17 March it would halt output at its plants in Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Mexico.

The owner of the Mercedes-Benz brand said it will suspend most of its production in Europe for two weeks in an effort to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

“The suspension applies to Daimler’s car, van and commercial vehicle plants in Europe and will start this week,” the Stuttgart-based carmaker said.

Global supply chains currently cannot be maintained to their full extent, it said, adding that the economic effects of the coronavirus on Daimler cannot be adequately determined or reliably quantified at this time.

Nissan has ceased production at Britain’s biggest car factory as it assesses supply chain disruption and the drop in market demand, the Japanese carmaker said on 17 March. The company said on 18 March that it has stopped vehicle production at its European plants.

Toyota Motor Corp said it had stopped operations at plants in Britain and Poland from Wednesday, while its Czech site would be halted on Thursday. Operations at its Turkey site would be suspended from Saturday.

Honda Motor Co said it was temporarily closing all its dealerships in Italy. Sweden’s Volvo Cars, owned by China’s Geely, closed production at its plant in Ghent, Belgium, until further notice, the company’s spokesman said on 18 March.

The British carmaker, owned by Tata Motors, on 18 March said it will suspend production at its plant in Nitra, Slovakia from Friday onwards.