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Porsche to halt its vehicle production amidst the Coronavirus pandemic

The German brand follows other companies in its effort to protect public health and safety.

Autodeal on Mar 23, 2020

Porsche will be suspending the vehicle production of two of its plants in Germany. This includes the Zuffenhausen assembly plant and the Leipzig factory located in the manufacturer’s home country. The factories will have a total of two weeks of downtime starting from March 21. The move to halt production was in response to the significant rise in Coronavirus infections in Germany coupled to this was the addition of global bottlenecks which the company says no longer allows for efficient production.

With the factories being temporarily closed the sports car manufacturer is also preparing for a decline in demand and is securing its financial strength with the suspension of plant operations. The steps for the suspension are being taken up with the close cooperation of the Porsche labor council in order to make sure the workers are compensated for the downtime.

Other measures that the German sports car brand is taking in order to keep its workforce healthy and to cut costs is a ban on traveling for business purposes. The company has expended a mobile working arrangement for personnel as well as shifted its meetings via video or conference calls. With these steps, Porsche is fulfilling its entrepreneurial and social responsibility and will continuously reassess the situation.

With these measures, our company contributes to the protection of the workforce and the reduction of the spread of the Coronavirus. The actual consequences are not yet predictable. It is therefore too early for forecasts. What is clear is that 2020 will be a very challenging year.

Oliver Blume
Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche AG

What does it mean for the Philippines?

PGA Cars currently handles the distribution of the German luxury performance brand in the Philippines. With that being said Porsche vehicles aren’t exactly volume sales drivers and as such not every Filipino can afford to own one. This means that despite the factory shutdowns the German brand in the Philippines will remain relatively the same.