Ford Motor will severely curtail production at its European plants as the global shortage of microchips that has hit the industry worsens.
The company's factory in Turkey will pause production from April 19 to June 13, including pulling forward a planned summer shutdown, Ford said.
The Transit midsize vans built at the joint venture plant with partner Otosan account for most of the automaker's profits in Europe. The factory had already shut its production lines for two weeks in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ford's factory in Saarlouis, Germany, where it builds the Focus compact, will stop output for an additional 20 days, extending a five-week shutdown that started late February.
Ford will pause production of the Transit Connect compact van in Valencia, Spain from April 28 to July 2. The rest of the plant will stop output for 20 days between now and July 31, affecting production of the Kuga compact SUV, the Mondeo midsize car, and the Galaxy and S-Max minivans.
The two least affected plants are Cologne, Germany, where Ford builds the Fiesta small car, and Craiova, Romania, home of the Puma and EcoSport small SUVs.
Cologne will shut for an undisclosed number of days from April 21 to 23 and April 28 to 30 and the company will "investigate further production cuts for the coming weeks," Ford said in a statement.