Nissan has stopped production at the UK’s biggest car factory due to the spread of coronavirus as it evaluates supply-chain disruption and the fall in demand, the most significant closure to impact the country’s autos sector so far from the outbreak.
Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port car factory located in northern England is also set to close until March 27 as party of parent company Peugeot’s strategies to shut sites throughout the continent to handle the crisis.
Nissan’s Sunderland factory in north-eastern England made almost 350,000 out of Britain’s 1.3 million cars in 2019. It produces the automaker’s Qashqai, Juke and LEAF models.
“Additional measures are currently under study as we assess supply-chain disruption and the sudden decline in market demand caused by the COVID-19 emergency,” the automaker said.
About 2,626 people in the United Kingdom have been confirmed as being infected with the coronavirus. The virus has killed about 104 people in the country.
