Volkswagen suspends European production
The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand is gradually suspending production at its European plants for an initial period of two weeks. This will also affect Volkswagen Group components plants.
Ralf Brandstätter, chief operation officer of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, said: “The spread of coronavirus in Europe is increasingly having an adverse impact on the demand situation. At the same time, it is becoming increasingly difficult to supply our plants with outsourced parts. For this reason, we have decided to run production down in a coordinated way from the end of the late shift on Thursday. We are convinced that this will also be in the interests of our employees who are becoming increasingly concerned about the spread of corona.”
Volkswagen is also implementing measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The company canteens, self-service shops, cafeterias, bistros, restaurants and catering services will be closed. As a general principle, all meetings will be held by Skype or video. All major events have been cancelled.
Furthermore, employees returning to Germany from other countries after March 14 are forbidden with immediate effect from entering the plant sites and other facilities of Volkswagen AG during the incubation period of 14 weekdays.
