Hyundai plans to suspend production in South Korea as its supply of parts has been disrupted by the recent Coronavirus outbreak. South Korea is Hyundai’s biggest manufacturing base, where the carmaker operates a total of seven factories.
The production stoppage follows a shortage of wiring harnesses which mostly come from China, as reported by Autonews Europe.
Two affected suppliers, Kyungshin and the Yura Corporation, said they were trying to boost production in South Korea and Southeast Asia in order to compensate for what’s going on with China.
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“We are in an emergency,” a Kyungshin official told Reuters. Meanwhile, Lee Hang-koo, a senior researcher at Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade stated that both Hyundai and Kia “may be more affected as they tend to import more parts from China than other global automakers.”
“South Korean parts makers followed and built their own facilities [in China] along with Hyundai,” added Lee.
Last year, South Korea imported $1.56 billion worth of car parts from China, compared to $1.47 billion in 2018.
Many other carmakers have already suspended production in China this week as per government guidelines – the list includes Tesla, Ford, the PSA Group, Nissan and Honda. The Coronavirus has so far killed over 420 people and spread to roughly two dozen nations.
“The company is reviewing various measures to minimize the disruption of its operations, including seeking alternative suppliers in other regions,” said the Korean brand. “Hyundai Motor will closely monitor developments in China and take all necessary measures to ensure the prompt nominalization of its operations.”
