[Jason]

Via: https://europe.autonews.com/automake...ut-down-plants

BMW to shut down plants

BMW said it is preparing to suspend production at its plants in Europe and Rosslyn, South Africa, until April 19, responding to lower demand and as a way to help reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus.

The plant shutdowns will start at the end of the week.

BMW abandoned hopes for another record vehicle sales year due to the coronavirus, predicting deliveries will be “significantly below” 2019 levels and profitability the weakest in years.

“We take our responsibility seriously, both when it comes to ensuring the protection and health of our employees and to achieving the best possible balance in terms of profitability,” CEO Oliver Zipse said in a statement on Wednesday.

Reuters contributed to this report.

[mnbrennan]

BMW has stopped production in Europe for four weeks

https://translate.google.com/transla...F25655672.html

EDIT by Artemis:

Official statement by BMW of March 18, 2020 (see here):
("Statement and Presentation by Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Annual Accounts Press Conference 2020")

"We have made far-reaching decisions that affect our daily business. Many people are focusing on their health and well-being and what is most essential right now. In light of this, we have already temporarily closed the first dealerships in Europe. Demand for cars, like many other goods, will decrease significantly.
Our production is geared towards sales development forecasts – and we are adjusting our production volumes flexibly in line with demand. Since yesterday: We began to shut down our European and Rosslyn automotive plants, which will close by the end of the week. The interruption of production for the mentioned plants is currently planned to run until April 19."

.

[Nahlem]

Hmm if this keeps going on with everything shutting down, i am beginning to wonder how many companies will survive to the end of the month, not that BMW won't but all the other smaller companies out there who pretty much lives by day to day basis wonder if they will even afford to pay out the salaries to their employees.

In Sweden at this writing moment it is really questionable how many of the smaller companies with 1-3 employees will survive this economic disaster.

The future looks quite bleak for now, lets hope they solve this issue with the virus but the economic repercussions will be felt far and wide in to the future after this.

[JustChris]

Safety first always and as disappointed as we may be, right decision.

[GOLFFRR]

almost have to do this at this point with everyone else doing the same.

Just have to hunker down and ride it out, hope that it gets back to normal very soon

[MachinesWithSouls]

Originally Posted by Nahlem

Hmm if this keeps going on with everything shutting down, i am beginning to wonder how many companies will survive to the end of the month, not that BMW won't but all the other smaller companies out there who pretty much lives by day to day basis wonder if they will even afford to pay out the salaries to their employees.

In Sweden at this writing moment it is really questionable how many of the smaller companies with 1-3 employees will survive this economic disaster.

The future looks quite bleak for now, lets hope they solve this issue with the virus but the economic repercussions will be felt far and wide in to the future after this.

It also affects the suppliers, shipping, dealers...hopefully everyone makes it out ok.

[bimmer456]

They didn't shut down in Mexico or China?

[Kief]

Bring on those killer deals from years past...80% residuals

[535i MSport]

Originally Posted by Kief

Bring on those killer deals from years past...80% residuals

80% residuals?

Really? The last new BMW I bought lost more than 20% off list in a day.

[TomHudson]

I’m curious about the fallout with regards to the associated business of production facilities, parts etc, the impact of the worker and economic fallout.

Will auto industry shutter it’s doors to protect investors and leave labour high and dry to further decimate the economy and further distress and panic.

[AUSf22]

Ahhh the M2CS will be slightly delayed to hit the market. I wonder what happens to all the production schedules?

[Miko M]

That's the best for safety! US may halt soon if Big Three cannot satisfy UAW safety concerns.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/17/...week-shutdown/

[g0p]

Well it looks like we will all have to have X5s with V8s built in the good ole USA

[Poochie]

Looks grim for BMW and the entire auto industry..

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-b...-idUSKBN2150YL
("BMW says pretax profit to be significantly lower in 2020")

[W///]

Originally Posted by g0p

Well it looks like we will all have to have X5s with V8s built in the good ole USA

I don't see this lasting for much longer

[M2Cmtl]

Here all schools/daycare are closed for 2 weeks for people are expecting way longer then that now. My wife had to go to the dentist and she was told they are forced to close for a few weeks.

My M2 arrived at my dealer early this week... might not want to take delivery now!

[W///]

Originally Posted by f31mtl

Here all schools/daycare are closed for 2 weeks for people are expecting way longer then that now. My wife had to go to the dentist and she was told they are forced to close for a few weeks.

My M2 arrived at my dealer early this week... might not want to take delivery now!

Heck, if I were you, I'd take delivery and go enjoy the empty roads (while practicing social distancing). They might end up shutting down dealerships too FYI

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by W///

I don't see this lasting for much longer

Even US based BMW factory depends on parts made in Germany. The supplies chains are so tightly integrated that it's only a matter of time for X-series orders to be affected.

[GSG5]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Even US based BMW factory depends on parts made in Germany. The supplies chains are so tightly integrated that it's only a matter of time for X-series orders to be affected.

I agree. Avoiding a full scale production delay at Spartanburg in the very near future seems like a very long putt indeed. With every new day of cascading economic realities, I suspect BMW NA is also realizing that demand itself - or the expected lack thereof - will convince them to close the SC plant as well. I suspect a fair amount of people in that make up the BMW target market have lost 10-30% of their net worth in the last month. People start thinking twice before buying USD 75k+ depreciable assets with less discretionary income after a black swan event...perhaps as they should.

Thus, the combination of supply chain interruptions, blunted demand and, of course, health considerations for their employees/community make seem unlikely that Spartanburg isn’t put on ice for at least 2-4 weeks, maybe longer. We’ll see.

[Barry0305]

I have ordered an F32 4 series on March 2nd just to get one in before the rat faced G22 comes around. Still don't have an allocation but the dealer told me when I was ordering the car (before the whole coronavirus outbreak) they probably will get me one before the end of production. He also told me that the F32 will end production a little earlier in April of 2020, not June. Do you have any information about this?

This halting of production (which I've been expecting for at least the last week) is making me nervous. If the F32 ends in April, I think I'm screwed. If it ends in June, I probably still might get the car, but then again, who knows if they'll even return to making F32s on April 18th, only to end its production 2,5 months later...

[F32Fleet]

Well, Tesla has been given the green light to keep on working in spite of being in a county which has a mandatory lock down for all but essential services.

[flybigjet]

.....aaaaaaand, Honda's out until at least the end of the month.

https://www.foxnews.com/auto/coronav...ican-factories