Coronavirus Epidemic Affects Production at Airbus, Hyundai and Other OEMs
BEIJING—Airbus has shut down a factory in China that accounts for almost 10 percent of the production of its most popular jet, as precautions taken to contain the coronavirus outbreak ricochet across global industries.
Hyundai Motor Co. has idling all seven of its plants in South Korea because of a lack of parts from suppliers in China. It was the first big auto maker to shut down production outside of China because of supply-line bottlenecks resulting from widespread factory outages and strict limits on worker movements in China.
As of Feb. 11, 43,101 people were infected with the virus worldwide, and the death tool has surpassed 1,018.
Many multinational companies have suspended production, closed offices and shut retail outlets in China. In many cases, they have extended shutdowns scheduled for the Lunar New Year. To slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus, the Chinese government has ordered most big plants to stay closed. Airbus, which had closed its factory for the holiday, said it would extend the suspension indefinitely, pending further guidance from Beijing.
The list of companies suffering from stoppages in China includes major foreign auto makers as well as technology giants such as Apple Inc. and the biggest assembler of its devices, Foxconn Technologies Co. For the current quarter, analysts expect Apple to ship between 5 percent and 10 percent fewer iPhones than was projected prior to the outbreak.
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