Renault-Nissan, VW's Seat halt Spain output after virus hits supply chain

BARCELONA -- Supply problems caused by the coronavirus epidemic prompted Renault-Nissan and Volkswagen Group's Spanish division, Seat, to announce temporary stoppages that could last for days or weeks.

Most affected will be Seat's main plant in Martorell, near Barcelona, where about 7,000 people will stop working on Monday for an unspecified period of time because of production and logistics problems linked to the outbreak, a Seat spokesman said.

Matias Carnero, a union leader at Seat, told Reuters the stoppage could last up to six weeks.

Seat's spokesman said the length of the shutdown was yet to be defined, but suggested it would be linked to the evolution of the coronavirus outbreak in Spain.

The country has become one of the worst-hit in Europe and its prime minister said on Friday it would declare a 15-day state of emergency starting on Saturday.

Seat officials and union leaders will meet on Monday for talks about the stoppage, which could lead to temporarily layoffs, the spokesman said.

The company said earlier this week it was considering potential layoffs at its main plant in the Catalonia region, in northeastern Spain.

Separately, Nissan's two Barcelona plants stopped work on Friday afternoon as a wheels supplier was affected by a lockdown in the nearby town of Odena because of a coronavirus outbreak there.

The stoppage would last at least until Monday, a company spokesman said. The plants are closed on weekends.

About 3,000 people work at Nissan's Barcelona plants.

Renault's plants in northern Spain will cease production for two days next week due to a lack of components.

"[Thursday], we had no problems, and now we have to stop for two days from Monday in Palencia and Valladolid," a spokesman said, explaining that the supply chain had suffered setbacks in Catalonia. There are about 6,000 workers at the two plants.