Volkswagen, the world's largest carmaker, shutting down
Prepares to suspend production across facilities in Europe due to the coronavirus outbreak
As the global economy continues to come under increasing pressure due to the coronavirus outbreak, Volkswagen, the world’s largest carmaker, has announced it is to shut production down temporarily.
The German giant will shut down production "at the vast majority of its plants" starting this Friday. Plants in Spain, Portugal, Slovakia, and Italy will close and other European plants will follow.
VW says it is taking this decision in consideration of the health and welfare of its factory employees.
White-collar office workers have already been instructed to work from home, as is the situation with most automakers and companies in general.
Several high profile carmakers have closed already including Lamborghini, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and FCA but for now, American automakers such as Ford and GM are keeping their factories open. It seems very likely that this will soon change.