German auto giants Volkswagen AG and BMW AG on Tuesday said that they would temporarily halt production at some plants as the crisis in Ukraine has led to shortages of key components.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has “made the situation more difficult for our Ukraine-based suppliers, leading to shortages,” a Volkswagen spokesman said in a statement.
Volkswagen said that production at its central plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, would be “limited” next week as a result of the sanctions, while vehicles at the plant the following week “will not be able to be finished as it stands,” leading to a complete stop.
Luxury automaker BMW said that “due to supply bottlenecks, there will be interruptions in production,” without specifying which plants in Germany would be idled.
Production at Volkswagen’s plants in Zwickau, the group’s biggest site for the production of electric vehicles in eastern Germany, had been suspended from Monday to today.
Volkswagen said that its plant in Hannover, Germany, and its component production sites would also be affected by shortages, adding that additional “adjustments to production cannot be ruled out.”
The stoppages are the latest blow to automakers, which have had to contend with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a worldwide shortage of semiconductors.
Limited supplies of semiconductors, a crucial component in conventional and electric vehicles, have led to stop-start production at a number of manufacturing facilities in Germany.
Earlier in the day, Volkswagen said that it would “temporarily” cease deliveries of its vehicles to vendors in Russia, but that they would restart “once the impact of sanctions from the European Union and the United States is clear.”
BMW for its part said that it was suspending local production in Russia and exports to the Russian market because of the “current geopolitical situation.”
In a statement on Tuesday, Ford Motor Co told its joint-venture partners that it was immediately halting work in Russia.
Ford had been winding down its Russian operations, which consist of commercial van manufacturing and Russian sales through a minority interest in the Sollers Ford joint venture, the company said.
With the decision, Ford joins a growing group of companies that are leaving Russia or pausing operations, including General Motors Co, Harley-Davidson Inc and Jaguar Land Rover.
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