Ford, GM, and Fiat Chrysler, which have so far resisted shutting plants down to help combat the coronavirus pandemic, will shut down its American factories, according to Automotive News.
Ford plants will close through March 30 after tomorrow night’s shift, the company said in a statement. GM said its suspension will last until March 30 as well, with “production status reevaluated week-to-week” after that. FCA did not immediately say how long its shutdown would be.
It was just last night that the UAW met with the Big Three and walked away satisfied that measures to protect workers were good enough, but since then Honda said this morning that they would be shutting down their North American plants for six days. And everywhere you look with coronavirus the news is getting worse, not better.
Detroit 3 have agreed to temporarily close all of their U.S. plants, a source tells @Automotive_News. Just last night the automakers agreed to enhanced safety measures but had planned to keep production going.
— Nick Bunkley (@nickbunkley) March 18, 2020
There are no details yet on how long the shutdown will be, but you can expect something along the lines of what Honda did. The UAW had first asked for a two-week shutdown on Sunday, asking again earlier today in the wake of Honda’s decision.
From The Detroit Free Press:
“The UAW is going to convene the Big Three one more time today in light of the fact that they had asked for shutdown on Sunday and now Honda North America has announced the shutdown of all its U.S. plants and Tesla has been shut down by the health department in California,” said a person with knowledge of the UAW plans who was not authorised to share them with the media.
That meeting was supposed to be at noon.
This post will update.