Fiat Chrysler (FCA) stated on Friday it had temporarily stopped production at its Serbian plant, the first such suspension by an automaker in Europe in response to the coronavirus outbreak in China.
Planned downtime at the Kragujevac plant in Serbia, where FCA constructs its Fiat 500L car, has been rescheduled because of the “availability of certain components sourced in China”, a spokesman for the Italian American automaker stated.
He stated the supply of audio system components had been disrupted.
Chief Executive Mike Manley said earlier that disruptions to auto parts production in China could negatively impact output at one of FCA’s European plants in about two to four weeks.
The next few weeks will be challenging for automakers.
Parts made in China are used in millions of vehicles produced across the world. China’s Hubei province, epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, is a major center for production and shipments of vehicle components.
Hyundai previously this month suspended production in South Korea because of the coronavirus outbreak, the first major automaker to do so outside of China.
Hyundai and sister firm Kia Motors stated on Monday stated they would gradually boost production in South Korea from this week.
Production at Serbia’s Karagujevac plant would resume this month, an FCA spokesman stated, adding that the group did not expect the announced changes would impact overall production forecasts for this month.
“We’re in the process of securing the future supply of those affected parts,” the spokesman informed.
