China’s zero-Covid strategy hampers auto output in Shanghai
By Jason Dunn2022-04-05T10:51:00
Covid restrictions in Shanghai are hitting operations for a number of carmakers including SAIC, GM and Tesla and VW, as well as their tier suppliers, with some looking at keeping workers on site for the duration of the lockdown
The city is one of China’s main manufacturing hubs and home to the largest domestic vehicle manufacturer, SAIC Motor, which has been impacted by the restrictions designed to control the spread of the virus.
The government measures are also impacting SAIC’s various joint ventures in the area.
The SAIC Volkswagen joint venture was forced to halt some production from March 31 because of a shortage of staff and the arrest of essential parts supplies.
Major component and plant equipment suppliers, such as Aptiv and ThyseenKrupp, said they were shutting down their operations until at least April 6 to comply with local regulations.
Meanwhile, Tesla’s gigafactory has been inactive since March 29 and so far no announcements for reopening have been made.
GM said that, along with its joint ventures, the supply chain and engineering teams had developed and were continuing to execute contingency plans on a global basis with suppliers to mitigate the impact of Covid restrictions.