Production stop or short-time work at Fiat, Seat and Audi; VW works council warns of massive effects.
The rapid spread of the corona virus is now leading to production restrictions in the European auto industry. First, FCA (Fiat
Chrysler) to temporarily shut down several plants in Italy to inhibit the spread of lung disease. The plants in Pomigliano, Melfi, Atessa and Cassino are each scheduled to rest for two days between Wednesday and Saturday, as the carmaker announced.-
Seat
prepares the workforce for temporary layoffs due to supply chain problems. At Volkswagen
the works council anticipates massive effects on the work at the car manufacturer and criticizes the management board, which he calls for more leadership in the corona crisis.-
There is a shortage of parts replenishment
At first it was unclear how strongly the supply of parts to European car factories has already stalled. At Fiat, the temporary shutdown of the factories was justified by containing the disease rather than by missing components. An insider even said that the production interruptions were in no way the result of incomplete supply chains. Italy has been particularly hard hit by the epidemic, and public restrictions across the country are now in place. The Spanish VW subsidiary said that the Martorell plant near Barcelona is currently operating normally. “However, there are risks arising from Covid-19 that has impacted the supply chain,” said a Seat spokesman.
Audi
Due to current bottlenecks in parts delivery, announced that the Brussels plant would only produce on average in three instead of five days in March. “Short-time working was agreed, a procedure that is common for Belgium,” said Audi. The carmaker denied any connection with the corona virus. As early as February, replenishment problems with Audi battery components had a temporary production stop
of his flagship electric car e-tron.-
VW problems with Golf 8 and ID.3
The VW works council warned “Management and responsibility from the board” in the corona crisis. Management is “too little” in this regard. Works council chief Bernd Osterloh took the topic as an opportunity to generally point out grievances. “We have too many open construction sites and too little management from the board,” he said in a leaflet published on Wednesday by the workers’ representatives. He misses clear statements on the question of responsibilities. As an example, Osterloh mentioned problems when starting the new Golf in the eighth generation
. It runs “anything but round”. For the new electric car ID.3, which is also important for VW
(Picture above) the situation is not much better. Insiders have been reporting problems with the software in the two models for some time. “You wanted too much at once with a technique that was not mature,” said a person who knew what was going on.-
Virus crisis comes out of time
The corona crisis, which originated in China, affects the industry in a phase in which demand for cars is already shrinking due to the weakening economy and the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s exit from the EU. In Austria, new registrations slumped in February 2020
. Experts believe that car production in Europe will also suffer because of the virus spread. “If fewer cars are sold anyway, it will not be a problem if production drops,” said an employee representative at one of the car manufacturers.-
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