European carmakers shutting plants as coronavirus hammers demand
Car makers across Europe are shutting their plants and slowing production across Europe in response to the growing coronavirus epidemic.
Manufacturers including European giants Fiat Chrysler, Peugeot and Volkswagen are all implementing measures to ease output amid fears from workers about possible infection.
Unions across the continent have demanded that stricter hygiene controls be put in place for workers employed on factory production lines.
PSA, which owns Peugeot, has taken the decision to shut plants until 27 March, including its Vauxhall plant at Ellesmere Port and Luton in the UK.
In a statement, the firm said: “The chairman of the executive board with the members of the crisis unit decided …on the closure of the vehicle production sites”.
Fiat Chrysler will all shut several of its plants for the same period of time, shuttering facilities across Italy as well as factories in Poland and Serbia.
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The automotive giant said: “The temporary suspension … enables the group to effectively respond to the interruption in market demand by ensuring the optimization of supply”.
Italy has been the European country worst hit by the crisis, with nearly 25,000 cases. Yesterday the southern European state confirmed it had suffered 368 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Sources told the Financial Times that Volkswagen was considering curtailing production at several of its plants, including at its headquarters in Wolfsburg, due to severe supply chain disruption.
Audi, which is owned by the German giant, also said it was struggling to keep production going at its factory in Brussels due to employees refusing to continue working because of health concerns.
Seat, the firm’s Spanish subsidiary, also announced that it would lay off 14,800 workers for an unspecified period of time as it shutters production at all of its operations in the country.
A spokesman said that workers would keep 80 per cent of their salary, with other benefits.
French carmaker Renault announced that it would shut production at all its industrial sites in France until further notice, a move which will see 12 sites close, impacting 18,000 workers.