VW postpones restart of China production amid virus outbreak

BEIJING -- Volkswagen Group has postponed the resumption of production at its China joint ventures, in the latest sign of the coronavirus's impact on economic activity.

VW cited limited travel options for its employees and said in a statement that its supply chains were in the early stages of re-starting after production stopped for national holidays at the end of January. That break was extended as the virus spread.

SAIC Volkswagen Automotive postponed production at its factories by seven days until Feb. 17, except for one plant in Shanghai, which will restart on schedule on Monday.

Most vehicle production at FAW-Volkswagen Automotive will also restart on Feb. 10, one day later than announced at the end of January. Its plant in Tianjin will not reopen until Feb. 17.

Ford and Daimler were among automakers restarting production at their Chinese factories on Monday.

Tesla's factory in Shanghai will resume production on Monday with assistance to cope with the outbreak, a Shanghai government official said on Saturday. The company had said the closure would delay an increase in production of Shanghai-made Model 3s. Tesla is also evaluating whether the supply chain for cars built in its California plant will be affected.

Other automakers and suppliers have longer shutdowns.

• Honda will restart its three plants in Wuhan, which it operates with Dongfeng Motor, on Feb. 13. On Friday Honda said there were currently no supply chain issues that would impede production.
• Nissan is considering restarting production in China at its venture with Dongfeng sometime after Monday. Production in Hubei will start sometime after Feb. 14, it said.
• PSA Group's three plants in Wuhan, which it runs with Dongfeng Motor, will remain closed until Feb. 14.
• Toyota extended the shutdown of its China factories to Feb. 16 from Feb. 9. The automaker operates 12 car and parts factories in regions such as the northern city of Tianjin and the southern province of Guangdong.
• BMW said production at its plant in Shenyang will resume on Feb. 17.

China’s Hubei province, which is home to local automakers including Dongfeng Motor and global companies such as PSA Group, is an industrial powerhouse the size of Sweden.

The coronavirus outbreak is also disrupting auto production outside of China.

Hyundai and Kia said on Monday that they will gradually increase production in South Korea from Feb. 11.

Hyundai last week became the first global automaker to suspend production outside China due to the coronavirus outbreak disrupting parts supply from China. Kia suspended most production at its three car plants in South Korea on Monday due to a shortage of parts.

Hyundai Motor's union spokesman said that suppliers had resumed production in China on Monday and most of the automaker's plants in South Korea were expected to resume production between Feb 11 and Feb 17.

Renault said its South Korean subsidiary, Renault Samsung Motors, would suspend production at its Busan site for four days from Feb. 11 due to supply chain disruptions in China.

Fiat Chrysler warned on Thursday that disruption to parts supplies could threaten production at one of its European plants within two to four weeks.

Suzuki said on Friday it was considering sourcing vehicle components from outside China because the outbreak is threatening to disrupt vehicle production in its biggest market, India.

Reuters contributed to this report