Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) announced Monday that its subsidiaries FCA Italy and Maserati will temporarily suspend production across the majority of their European manufacturing plants.
Ferrari, another subsidiary of FCA, said in a statement on Saturday March 27 that it was suspending production for two weeks at two of its factories, citing "serious difficulties" related to Italy being in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Production will stop immediately at the Maranello and Modena factories until March 27, Ferrari said in a statement.
The temporary suspension, which will be in effect through March 27, 2020, continues the implementation of a comprehensive set of actions in response to the COVID-19 emergency and enables the Group to effectively respond to the interruption in market demand by ensuring the optimisation of supply.
In particular, the suspension of production is being facilitated to enable the Group to be ready to commence production promptly once market conditions allow.
The updated production plan will temporarily close the following facilities with effect for the month of March:
• Italy: Melfi, G. Vico (Pomigliano), Cassino, Mirafiori Carrozzerie, Grugliasco, and Modena;
• Serbia: Kragujevac
• Poland: Tychy
As previously communicated, FCA has been proactively modifying production protocols at several plants including enhancing social distancing between employees at work-stations.
Across all facilities, FCA has increased cleaning and sanitisation and other improvements for employee safety. Strict controls and security measures have been applied to canteens and to external access to all Group sites.
At FCA offices, the company has accelerated the deployment of working remotely ('Smart Working') with this option now widely available to employees across the world.
The Group will make use of these stoppages to implement revisions to production and quality control protocols to benefit our customers and enhance overall productivity.
The Group is working with its supply base and business partners to be ready to enable our manufacturing operations to deliver previously planned total levels of production despite the suspension when market demand returns.