Volkswagen re-starts Europe's largest car factory after coronavirus shutdown

Volkswagen, the world's largest carmaker by sales, resumed work at its biggest factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, on Monday.

Volkswagen Group, which owns the Skoda, Audi, Bentley, Porsche and Seat brands, is also re-starting production in Portugal, Spain, Russia, South Africa, the Czech Republic and South America this week.

In Wolfsburg, around 8,000 workers started building cars again on Monday, including the Volkswagen Golf. This week 1,400 cars will be built, followed by 6,000 cars in a fortnight, Volkswagen said.

Production capacity in the Wolfsburg plant will be at around 10%-15% to begin with, and reach around 40% of pre-crisis levels in the week after, Andreas Tostmann, Volkswagen brand's board member responsible for production, told.

"The restart of Europe's biggest car factory after weeks of standstill is an important symbol for our employees, our dealers, suppliers, the German economy and for Europe," Tostmann said.

Volkswagen has overhauled its procedures to include extra hygiene measures. Workers are told to measure their temperature and to get changed into their overalls at home, to prevent crowding in factory changing rooms.

Extra markings have been put on the factory floor so that workers are better able to adhere to a 1.5 metre social distancing rule, and extra time is provided so that employees can disinfect their tools and surfaces, Volkswagen said.

(With inputs from Reuters)