Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has temporarily shut down several factories in Italy due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Two of its plants will close for a few days each in a bid to implement production changes to allow workers to be stationed further apart and reduce transmitting the virus which has now been classed as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
Production will stop from today, tomorrow and Saturday at the Melfi plant which produces the Jeep Renegade, Compass and Fiat 500X. Also, the Cassino plant that produces the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio is stopping production today and tomorrow.
The facilities are in and around Fiat’s traditional home city of Turin which is close to epicenter of the epidemic in northern Italy. In addition to the new measures, FCA will also be introducing a working-from-home scheme for more office-based employees.
In a bid to contain the outbreak, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had issued a national quarantine, restricting the movement of the country’s 60 million population. There have been 631 deaths in Italy and more than 10,000 people have been confirmed to have the virus.
Meanwhile, Italian tyremaker Pirelli has also cut production at its facility in northern Italy after an employee was found positive on the virus.
