Corona measures slow down
Bosch stops production at two Chinese plants
04/12/2022 11:03 am
China wants to prevent the spread of the corona virus with strict lockdowns. This also has consequences for the country’s car market. More and more manufacturers and suppliers are unable to produce under these circumstances – including Bosch.
The automotive supplier Bosch has suspended production at two locations in China due to regulations to contain the corona pandemic. This affects the production of thermal technology in Shanghai and that of car parts in Changchun in the northeastern province of Jilin.
Two other auto parts factories operated in “closed loop” systems, in which workers sleep, live and work in isolation from the rest of society to prevent transmission of the virus. “We are currently seeing temporary impacts on logistics and the supply chain,” Bosch continued. “In this situation, we are doing everything we can to maintain supply chains as much as possible and to meet demand.”
China wants to prevent the spread of the corona virus with strict lockdowns. Production is therefore also halting at other car manufacturers and suppliers, such as Tesla, Volkswagen, the Chinese e-car manufacturer Nio or the battery manufacturer CATL.
Car sales plummet
This is also slowing down the car market in China considerably: In March, sales fell by almost twelve percent to 2.23 million vehicles. Other car manufacturers and their suppliers also had to stop production in many places. “The recent pandemic situation was quite serious, so the numbers in March weren’t too good, and we don’t see much improvement in April at the moment,” said Chen Shihua, the association’s deputy secretary-general.
The car manufacturers demanded financial support from the government in Beijing, such as a reduction in vehicle tax. China severely restricted citizens’ movement, including in Jilin Province and Shanghai, to curb the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant. As a result, production is halting, for example, at the US electric car manufacturer Tesla and at Volkswagen in Shanghai. The joint ventures of VW and Toyota in Changchun, the capital of Jilin, had to stop the assembly lines since mid-March.