Buried in the story is the tidbit about production resuming in China, the epicenter of this “pandemic.”
Volkswagen Group (VOWG_p.DE), the world’s biggest carmaker, is suspending production at factories across Europe as the coronavirus pandemic hits sales and disrupts supply chains, the company said on Tuesday.
The German carmaker, which owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Lamborghini, Porsche, Seat and Skoda brands, also said that uncertainty about the fallout from coronavirus meant it was impossible to give forecasts for its performance this year.
“Given the present significant deterioration in the sales situation and the heightened uncertainty regarding parts supplies to our plants, production is to be suspended in the near future at factories operated by group brands,” Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Tuesday.
Volkswagen’s powerful works council concluded it was not possible for workers to maintain a safe distance from each other to prevent contagion and recommended a suspension of production at its factories from Friday.
Production will be halted at VW’s Spanish plants, in Setubal in Portugal, Bratislava in Slovakia and at the Lamborghini and Ducati plants in Italy before the end of this week, Diess said.
Most of its other German and European factories will prepare to suspend production, probably for two to three weeks, while Audi said separately it would halt output at its plants in Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Mexico.
Volkswagen’s vast factory in Puebla, Mexico, and plants in Brazil and the United States were not affected but that would depend on how the coronavirus spreads, VW said.
While VW was preparing to suspend production in Europe, manufacturing has resumed in China, with the exception of plants in Changsha and Urumqi, and the company still plans to boost its operations in the country where the coronavirus first emerged.
“We are looking at ways in which we can strengthen our position in China,” CEO Diess said. VW has joint ventures with Chinese automakers FAW (000800.SZ) and SAIC (600104.SS).
ht/ fdr in hell
I got an email at 23:00 last night that my gun club is shut down. WTF, it is an outdoor facility and on weekdays you have the place pretty much to yourself. This shit is getting out of hand.
Are the chinks going to quit building cars that no one in their right mind would buy anyway? And what about the Koreans with KIA and Hyundai and Daewoo?
The global Leftists -actually those who are using them to achieve their goals- have finally hit the winning formula and are taking over.
At this point, I expect them to win.
And they will be welcomed in by the majority of the people in all countries who base their thinking on fear (that includes both the right and the left in the US).
If you doubt that or how this can happen, when the public is driven by fear, look back a few years to Nazi Germany and study how Hitler used the peoples fear to defeat the Wiemar and establish it.
I was reading this morning that supposedly this latest CDC recommendation of basically a 15 day quarantine is all due to a British study that 2 million Americans will die. I really don’t understand why we put stock in British studies, didn’t they also have a study that climate change was going to kill millions of people?
I was reading a doctor this morning that believes they’re handling this the wrong way because if you have the majority of people not exposed and no immunity built up to it, then in the fall it’s just going to come back with a vengeance. He asks a logical question, just how long do you think you can keep a country and world shut down over the flu?
@JD Hasty they’re shutting down just about all outdoor activities, public parks, zoos, little league baseball and softball, shooting ranges, racing.
The UAW has also been filing grievances against the automakers here saying they’re not doing enough to address worker safety. We will probably be right behind VW. This panic needs to stop. Can’t turn on the radio or television without doom and gloom. Thank goodness for my vinyl collection. We’ve become a nation of sissies.
This is all nuts. Everything has become hollywood melodrama.
And it’s a pain in the ass to find a news story WITHOUT corona included. So annoying.
Does VW really sell that many cars in China for them to ‘play along’ with the bullshit? Or did they threaten them?
How cheap is the rent there? Usually, when China does you a favor, they end up taking all your stuff. Ask the Africans, Central Americans and the SE Asians about that.
@JDHasty MARCH 17, 2020 AT 9:30 AM
Places like your gun club aren’t worried about the Caronavirus, they’re worried about the lawsuitvirus.
Lawyers and greedy plaintiffs are just as harmful to society as any virus.
@F4UCorsair, very true. I think I’ve said before dirt racing is something I love to go watch. Yet tracks across the country are cancelling big races or postponing their seasons.
I’ve heard a few track owners say they’re willing to pay the fine, but then turn around and say our insurance company have told us they won’t be covering us when the lawyers crawl up our ass because someone claims they were infected with Corona at our track.
I was surprised when the Indian casinos closed down until someone that works at one told me they were told that although the government can’t force us to shut down, lawyers could sue our asses off.
Little leagues are saying the same.
So it seems everyone is more scared of the lawyers than they are the government or the Chinese flu.
VW has sucked for years. German engineering coupled with Mexican and Chinese manufacturing equals crap cars.