Volkswagen readies to suspend production in Europe

German Volkswagen Group, the world’s largest carmaker, announced that it is readying to shut down some of its European plants in Italy, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain before the end of this week.

Production at the rest of the European plants will also be halted for two to three weeks, VW said. The company aims to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak by the move.

“Given the present significant deterioration in the sales situation and heightened uncertainty regarding parts supplies to our plants, production is to be suspended in the near future at factories operated by group brands,” the Chief Executive Herbert Diess said on Tuesday, according to media sources.

Several countries in Europe have been facing lockdowns as part of their efforts to combat with COVID-19 pandemic recently, which led to visible disruptions in logistics and consumption.