April 30, 2020—Volkswagen and Toyota are delaying the restart of U.S. production due to the coronavirus pandemic and concerns about the automotive supply network, reported Reuters.
The German automaker in a statement said that before it sets a new date it “will weigh the readiness of the supplier base, as well as market demand and the status of the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Toyota said it will delay the resumption of North American manufacturing operations to the week of May 11 from the week of May 4 after an “extensive review with our supplier and logistics network.”
Reuters also reported that Denso, the Japanese auto parts maker, has slashed its global production by about 50 percent due to the coronavirus.
Denso said that as of April, global production was down by roughly half, largely due to production stoppages at plants in North America, Europe and Asia, brought about by a fall in demand as automakers stopped output due to the virus, according to the report. The firm said it did not see any major bottlenecks in its supply chain, but that it could have problems procuring parts if plant closures continued into June and beyond.
