The corona pandemic is now severely affecting Volvo Cars in many ways, in the form of a weakening market, a risk for production disruption as well as concerns for the employees.
The company’s primary focus is the health and safety of all employees. Precautionary measures and travel restrictions have already been taken.
Now, there is a need to further reduce the spread of the virus by going into a period of social distancing. This means production closures, working from home and taking more personal precautions.
The Belgium plant will remain closed until 5 April. The Swedish and US plants will be closed between 26 March and 14 April.
People working in our offices will generally work from home as of 26 March and working hours will be reduced.
These actions will secure jobs and ensure that Volvo Cars can come back to normal production as soon as it is possible and safe.
Earlier this month, Volvo Cars reopened its four manufacturing plants in China after an extended closure period. Today’s showroom traffic is indicating a return to normal in China’s car market, which is clearly demonstrating the advantages of being a globally balanced company.
„Our primary concerns are the health of our employees and the future of our business,“ said Håkan Samuelsson, Chief Executive of Volvo Cars. „With the help of valuable supporting programs put in place by governments and authorities, we have been able to act quickly.“
Volvo Cars is confident that these measures strike the right balance between mitigating the continuing impact of the pandemic and protecting its people and the company’s future.
The Volvo Cars manufacturing plants impacted by the measures announced today are located in Torslanda, Skövde and Olofström (all Sweden), Ghent (Belgium) and South Carolina (United States). The affected office employees work at the company’s headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, as well as at the Ghent plant and in its markets.