The rapid global spread of the coronavirus is having a major impact on the car industry.
Monday 23 March: More plant closures, US car manufacturers to start ventilator production
Ford’s Dagenham engine plant will be closed from today onwards, with the Bridgend engine plant in Wales following suit on Wednesday. The break is scheduled for a four-week period, with the firm bringing forward its regular summer closure. The shutdown will be extended across non-business critical Ford UK operations, and workers will receive “payments at least equivalent to their base pay.”
In similar fashion to efforts seen in the UK, leading American car firms are set to step in to assist with ventilator production in the United States. In a tweet, US President Donald Trump said that Ford, GM and Tesla “are being given the go ahead” to make ventilators and other metal products. Few further specifics of what role the cars firms will play have yet to be announced.
Jaguar Land Rover and Bentley have both closed their UK plants, effectively halting mainstream car production in the UK. Both firms are aiming to reopen their facilities on 20 April. Full story here
Volvo will close its plants in its home country of Sweden and Charleston, South Carolina from 26 March until 14 April to protect its workforce. It has already closed its Belgium factory, which will not reopen until at least 5 April. Volvo’s Chinese plant reopened earlier this month.
Honda has suspended production at its UK plant, where the Civic hatch is built, “in light of increasing difficulties with supply chains and considering the wellbeing” or staff. The firm says it intends to restart production on 6 April, dependent on government advice and market conditions.
Both Ford and GM will suspend production at their North American factories until at least 30 March. The two firms say they will take the time to clean and sanitise their plants in the USA, Canada and Mexico, and both are in talks with unions about keeping workers safe when production resumes. Audi has also suspended production in its Mexico plant due to supply chain issues.
Hyundai has suspended production at its US factory in Alabama after a worker tested positive for Covid-19. The firm is working with local officials to sanitise the site and determining when it it safe for production to resume.
Rolls-Royce has confirmed it will suspend production at its Goodwood manufacturing plant from Monda 23 March. The suspension is currently planned for two weeks, and leads into the already scheduled two-week Easter maintenance shutdown. It added that day-to-day operations will be assured by non-production staff at the company’s head office, or working remotely.
Porsche has announced that it will stop production for an initial period of two weeks. The decision will affects its Zuffenhausen and Leipzig plants in Germany, with the suspension starting from Saturday 21 March. The firm cited the protection of its personnel due to coronavirus, but added that bottlenecks in its supply chain no longer enabled “orderly production”. The firm also said it is anticipating a decline in demand.
Toyota is suspending production at all of its European plants, including its two UK facilities in Burnaston, Derbyshire and Deeside, Flintshire. Full story here.
The BMW Group is also in the process of halting production at all of its European factories, along with its site in South Africa. They will all be closed by the end of the week, and is currently scheduled to last until 19 April.
Honda will suspend production at all of its North American plants for six days from 23 March, due to an “anticipated decline in market demand”. It said it will continue to pay staff fully during the suspension, and will also utilise the period to enhance deep cleaning measures. The move will affect plants in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
The Tesla factory in Fremont, California is set to be forced to close, with officials in Alameda County having reportedly determined it is a “non-essential” business.
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The European Auto Industry is shuting down
As the novel coronavirus continues to spread around the world, automakers are taking extreme measures in the form of plant closures to halt the spread of COVID-19, the disease the coronavirus causes. The situation remains fluid, but automakers in Europe and the US are starting to inch closer to returning to work.