PARIS — PSA Group will gradually restart production at its assembly and powertrain factories beginning this week.
A first wave in the partial resumption in industrial activity will take place between May 4 and May 11, with French sites gradually re-starting from May 11 onwards, PSA said in a news release.
Key operations restarting this week will be the factory in Kenitra, Morocco, which builds the Peugeot 208 small hatchback, the group’s best-selling vehicle, and a plant in Magualde, Portugal, which produces vans, Yann Vincent, PSA's head of industrial operations, said in a conference call Monday.
PSA’s factory in Vigo, Spain, which builds vans, will resume production starting May 11, as will car factories in Villaverde and Zaragoza, both Spain, and the automaker's factory in Trnava, Slovakia, that also makes the Peugeot 208.
The first assembly plant to reopen in France, starting May 11, will be the van factory in Hordain, France, known as Sevelnord.
Vincent said that van plants would be restarted first because PSA had a large order book for light-commercial vehicles, and the demand for the fleet and van market is more predictable than for privately owned passenger cars.
Sevelnord plant will reopen with between 400 and 900 workers out of 2,500.
The first French factories to reopen will include powertrain and transmission plants in Tremery, Douvrin and Metz, as well as its metal foundry in Mulhouse.
PSA's factory in Poissy, outside of Paris, which produces small SUVs for DS and Peugeot, will be limited to stamping operations at first.
PSA is taking a cautious approach to restarting its plants, guarding against inventory build up should consumers stay clear of reopened showrooms.
Output will be very closely correlated with new orders. "We don't want to be left with mountains of unsold cars," Vincent said. "This is very finely tuned and dependent on how sales evolve. We will make what we can sell."
Vincent noted that showrooms remained closed in some countries, including France and the UK, but had opened in Germany. French showrooms will be allowed to reopen, subject to regional restrictions, on May 11.
"We don’t know how the market will rebound," Vincent said. "Our restart will be very strongly linked to commercial activity."
European car sales fell 52 percent in March, the steepest decline on record, and French registrations were down 89 percent in April.
PSA is one of the most vulnerable carmakers to a downturn in Europe. Last month the company posted a 16 percent slump in first-quarter revenue and forecast the region's market will shrink by a quarter this year.
The automaker closed its European plants in mid-March as governments introduced coronavirus restrictions, including Opel's factories in Germany, Spain and Poland, and Vauxhall plants in the UK, along with Peugeot, Citroen and DS facilities. The company had originally planned to restart output on March 27.
PSA said it would have reinforced health and safety measures at its factories, such as checking the temperatures of employees, and supplying masks, hydro-alcoholic gel and protective glasses, and social distancing between staff.
The automaker is planning to merge with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The pandemic is a blow to CEO Carlos Tavares, who before the crisis struck had said that plants were running at full speed to satisfy robust order books.
Reuters and Bloomberg contributed to this report
