Automakers assess how to work amid coronavirus travel ban

European automakers are gauging the impact of final week’s U.S. ban on travel to and from most of Europe — a vital challenge for automakers and suppliers with operations, tasks and management teams on the two continents.

But their immediate response final 7 days showed minimal genuine stress.

The ban was 1 of quite a few steps declared by President Donald Trump to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ban will avert most foreign nationals from getting into the U.S. if they have traveled in the previous fourteen days to any of 26 European international locations, together with France, Germany, Italy and Sweden.

The announcement caught European automakers off guard, just as it did political leaders in the affected international locations.

Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo have important U.S. operations, together with design and engineering facilities, R&D hubs, producing plants and supply chains.

Automakers were reticent to publicly go over how they will perform about the travel ban, or how the disruption could impact their U.S. operations. A BMW spokesman declined to comment on the ban, and a Daimler spokesman reported it was too early to know what the repercussions will be.

The providers reported they were nonetheless seeking to comprehend how they will be affected.

Porsche Cars North America, headquartered in Atlanta, had presently executed a restricted global travel order and is not holding big gatherings. Porsche spokesman Marcus Kabel reported the athletics car maker carries on to work normally.

“Digital tools and telecommunications give us lots of avenues for efficiency devoid of actual physical proximity,” Kabel reported.

Volvo spokesman Russell Datz reported the travel restriction will not disrupt operations amongst Volvo Car United states and its world-wide headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden.

“Our ability to interact with our colleagues in Sweden and Europe is not impacted, as we use tools like on-line conferencing on a everyday foundation,” Datz reported.