Toyota and Honda extend plant downtime due to coronavirus
February 7, 2020 Toyota and Honda have announced the extension of plant downtime in China due to an outbreak caused by a new type of virus. Both companies will resume production in China no earlier than February 17, reports Automotive News.
The forced extension of the “holidays” will complicate the situation in the world’s largest automobile market, which continues to show a decline for the third year in a row. Analysts at LMC Automotive note that by the end of 2020, due to the situation with the coronavirus, sales of new cars in China may be reduced by a record 10% or more.
Hubei Province, where the epicenter of the outbreak is located, is the fourth largest car hub in the country. In particular, the largest enterprises of Dongfeng Motor, Honda and General Motors are located there.
Earlier it became known that Hyundai stopped the production of cars at its enterprises in South Korea due to a shortage of Chinese components, the supply of which is delayed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic in China. Hyundai was the first global company forced to suspend production outside of China.
In addition, the head of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Mike Manley said that the alliance may suspend the production of cars at one of its European enterprises due to the likelihood of a delay in the supply of components from China. According to Manley, due to the fact that the Chinese enterprises extended the New Year holidays, the production of cars at one of the FCA plants in Europe could be stopped until the end of February or the beginning of March.
