VW halts production at China plant amid COVID wave

BERLIN – Volkswagen Group's plant in Chengdu, China has halted production due to the rise in coronavirus cases in the country and two production lines at its Changchun plant are also on hold, a VW spokesperson said.

VW operates the Chengdu plant with its local partner FAW Group.

Other plants are all stable but the situation is volatile, the spokesperson added on Monday.

Protests erupted in cities across China over the weekend, including in Chengdu, Shanghai, Beijing and Lanzhou, as frustrations mount over the government's zero-COVID policy.

While low by global standards, China's case numbers have hit record highs for days, with Chengdu residents subjected to mass testing from Nov. 23 to Nov. 27.

BMW's CEO Oliver Zipse said on Friday the company's plants in China were running as normal but that offices were closed with staff working from home. Zipse added that the automaker sees further COVID-19-related lockdowns in China as a risk for next year, despite healthy demand there for the automaker’s full-electric models and expectations of stable global sales.

Mercedes-Benz did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether its plants were affected.