A new wave of COVID-19 in China’s sixth-largest province is forcing several giant auto corporations to keep their staff in a quarantine bubble.
Volkswagen, electronics maker Foxconn and car supplier Bosch have factories in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and have switched to a “closed-loop” production plan to keep the plant running despite the strict closures of the city’s 21 million residents. .
Meanwhile, Volvo discontinued the S60 sedan and XC60 SUV at its Chengdu plant.
The closed-loop production formula usually forces staff to remain on site at the company’s factory or directly from their homes to the factory, avoiding contact with strangers and obtaining normal COVID testing.
It’s rarely the first time a quarantine bubble has been used to keep an auto company running, as earlier this year, Tesla pushed away thousands of employees in disused factories and a former military camp to keep them COVID-free during a similar two-month lockdown. In Shanghai.
Some Tesla employees even slept in factories during the shutdown in Shanghai.
The latest COVID-19 measures, reported through Automotive News Europe, apply to the 6,000-worker Volkswagen plant being built by the Jetta and Sagitar for the Chinese market, such as two Bosch production sites and a Foxconn components plant.
Foxconn is the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, in addition to Apple’s iPhones, and is a large organization of companies in the United States, Canada, China, Finland and Japan.
Chengdu is the most populous city to have been blocked under China’s strict “COVID zero” policy since Shanghai in March, and it comes just as it emerges from a two-week “electritown crisis” that halted business operations to prioritize electritown. homes.
The “closed cycle” production formula, with staff on site, was originally developed from the plan used at the Beijing Winter Olympics to isolate athletes and staff from the wider Chinese population.
There is still no indication of when restrictions will be eased or when factories will return to general production.
“Due to the closure in Chengdu, Volvo Cars is temporarily postponing production at a production plant there. We are assessing the effect on the company and will continue to monitor the situation,” a corporate spokesperson said in a statement.
The Chinese government has just extended COVID-19 restrictions in Chengdu and Shenzhen, according to the Financial Times, with 68 Chinese cities now in full or partial shutdown.
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Senior Journalist
Paul Gover has been an automotive journalist for over 40 years, working for newspapers, magazines, websites, radio and television. A qualified generalist journalist and sports journalist, his fondness for vehicles led him to Wheels, Motor, Car Australia, Which Car and Auto Action magazines. It is a driving force of champion racing, as well as an opinion on the world vehicle of the year.