The automaker aims to have 198 dealerships using Transit vans upfitted with repair equipment this year. Many already offering mobile service have helped doctors, nurses and first responders who are fighting the virus outbreak.

Mid-April appears to be the earliest that most North America production could resume, but the deaths of at least eight UAW members at Ford and FCA underscore the worries many workers have about returning to the factory floor.

The pair are the first Ford employees known to have died from the virus. One of the victims worked at the automaker's Dearborn Stamping plant while the other was a skilled trades employee at the Ford Data Center in Dearborn, Mich., the UAW said. The union on Sunday confirmed two more deaths of FCA workers.

The next Detroit auto show is now scheduled for June 2021, organizers told sponsors Saturday. The TCF Center, where the show was set to take place in June, is being converted by FEMA into a field hospital as coronavirus cases in Michigan rise.

The willingness to meet marks the latest effort by UAW President Rory Gamble to stave off potential federal oversight, which the U.S. attorney in Detroit has said is a possibility.

In an SEC filing the automaker also said CEO Jim Hackett, COO Jim Farley and CFO Tim Stone will defer 50 percent of their pay, beginning May 1.

Ford said it will reopen some key truck factories by mid-April while Honda and Toyota, citing slumping sales,  extended shutdowns at North American factories. Ford's plans raised more concerns at the UAW, which has pressed the Detroit 3 to shutter plants to protect workers and help stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The automaker did not offer a new date when production would resume.

The automaker said it will use fans from the seats of F-150s and portable battery packs to build up to 1,000 respirators per month. It's also planning to make 100,000 face masks per week and to help with an undisclosed number of ventilators.

CEO Jim Hackett is creating some flexibility by maxing out two credit lines and suspending dividend payments even before the financial toll of the enveloping crisis becomes clear.

Lincoln is using adaptive-pixel headlights that can read the road lines, sense an upcoming curve and focus light where it will be most needed.

To weather the global pandemic, the automaker is also tapping two lines of credit, raising an additional $15.4 billion in cash. Ford will hoard another $2.4 billion a year by suspending the quarterly cash dividend.

GM and Fiat Chrysler said the shutdowns will begin today, while Ford’s will take place Thursday. Other automakers are following suit throughout North America as coronavirus fears spread.

FCA said it was temporarily shutting its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant after a worker there tested positive for COVID-19. Ford idled a final assembly building at its Ranger plant in Wayne, Mich., and Hyundai its plant in Alabama for the same reason. VW closed its office in suburban Detroit after an employee there tested positive.