Carmakers in Germany halt production amid supply disruption

German carmakers Volkswagen (VW), Porsche and BMW say they are halting production temporarily because of disruptions in the supply chain from Ukraine amid the Russian invasion.

“The supply chains of some German and also European plants are already affected,” VW tells Kallanish. “Suppliers in Ukraine mainly supply wiring harnesses for the vehicle electrical systems, but also numerous switches in the interior. In addition, problems in the logistics chain can arise due to the loss of forwarding capacities and, for example, long waiting times at border crossings.”

At VW’s Zwickau plant, production will be suspended from Tuesday to Friday, and in Dresden from Wednesday to Friday. Production at the Wolfsburg plant is running according to plan this week, but VW expects production restrictions in mid-March and by the end of the month it may no longer be possible to operate at Wolfsburg.

At the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles plant in Hanover, there will also be production stoppages from mid-March. Detailed planning is still in progress at the Emden plant. The component factories are also affected.

Porsche, part of VW, will also interrupt production at Leipzig, from Wednesday until the end of the week. The company already stopped deliveries of its vehicles to Russia with immediate effect.

BMW has decided to stop production in Germany and exports to the Russian market until further notice, due to the current geopolitical situation, the enterprise confirms to Kallanish.  

“The war in Ukraine also has a significant impact on the local automotive supply industry, which in combination with the ongoing semiconductor bottlenecks is leading to production adjustments and interruptions at our European plants,” the company says. “From 7 March, this will lead to production interruptions at the Dingolfing, Munich and Oxford [UK] plants.”

“Together with our suppliers, we are evaluating the situation and defining measures to secure production again as quickly as possible and we are in intensive talks with our suppliers,” it adds.

Svetoslav Abrossimov Bulgaria