The group jointly manufacture vehicles with brands like Volkswagen, Toyota and Audi in China
An official document from the Bureau of Industry and Information Technology of Changchun city, the capital of northeastern China's production hub Jilin province, revealed that one of the country's largest auto groups, FAW Group, decided to shut down five whole car production bases since March 13 to cooperate with the government' s measures to contain a new wave of Covid cases.
The plan was to halt production until March 16 at the earliest. The government will decide when to restart production lines based on the status of the epidemic prevention and control .
China is battling a new Covid outbreak, with Jilin province being the hardest-hit. The health commission of the province announced on March 15 that there had been 3,076 new local cases of Covid-19 in the region as of 12am on March 15, and 991 asymptomatic patients, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 5,169.
The shutdown will affect many brands, including Hongqi, Bestune and Jiefang, as well as joint ventures formed with Volkswagen, Audi and Toyota, all of which have manufacturing plants in Luyuan District of Changchun.
Jilin Province will accelerate the expansion of Covid testing for citizens, map risk and containment areas, and strengthen personnel evacuation and isolation.