China’s most populous urban area, Shanghai, has been locked down following the country’s biggest spike in COVID-19 infections in more than a year. The lockdown is affecting production in the city, with the likes of GM, Tesla, and suppliers Aptiv PLC and Bosch all scrambling to react.
The lockdown has forced Tesla to shut down its plant in the city as did its (and GM’s) supplier Aptiv. The latter company told its employees to go home on Tuesday as a result of COVID controls, unnamed sources told Reuters.
General Motors’ joint venture with SAIC, meanwhile, managed to keep its factory running. It is doing that by employing an Olympics-style bubble. Unfortunately for employees, that means sleeping on factory floors and not interacting with the outside world in order to try and prevent the coronavirus from spreading. The joint venture facilities produce Buick, Chevrolet, and Cadillac vehicles.
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German auto supplier Bosch, on the other hand, said it is working with reduced personnel at its plant in order to keep the operation running. “We are doing everything we can to maintain the supply chains as much as possible and to serve the demands of our customers,” it said in a statement.
China’s people are suffering from the worst spike in COVID-19 infections in two years. Already this year, the country has seen more local symptomatic cases of the virus than it had in all of 2021. The government has implemented severe “zero-tolerance” policies to attempt to suppress the wave as much as possible.
Already, though, that has led to plant closures in Shenzen, a production hub, and may force organizers to cancel the 2022 Beijing Auto Show.
For automakers, this is just the latest interruption following years of pandemic-related production issues and, more recently, supply chain concerns stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
