Production Adjustment at Mazda due to Spread of Novel Coronavirus
Mazda Motor Corporation would like to express our sympathy and concern for all of those who have been suffering from the novel coronavirus outbreak and extend our condolences to the families of the deceased.
Since January this year, preventative measures for the spread of the novel coronavirus such as stay-at-home orders and restriction of business activities have been taken in various countries. Voluntary restriction of activities and dedicated activities to support people’s lives and health, including health care workers, have been seen all over the world. Recently, these regulations and restrictions are starting to be relaxed, especially in Europe and North America. Also, businesses have started to prepare for the resumption of their operations while there still remains some restrictions and requirements.
In response to the relaxation of regulations and restart of business activities, Mazda dealers have been gradually taking back up their operations while complying with the restrictions and requirements in each country and region. In addition, we have resumed delivery of vehicles in line with demand while carefully managing inventory at our plants, offshore, at ports, and at dealer outlets from where we had temporarily suspended delivery. We have also been increasing production volume little by little. With the above in place, all factories in Japan, namely Ujina Plant No.1, Ujina Plant No.2, Hofu Plant No.1 and Hofu Plant No.2, will be free of suspensions and are expected to operate day-shifts only all days in June. Our Mexican plant, Mazda de Mexico Vehicle Operation, who stopped operations from April to May, will resume production in June. The total volume planned for June combining major production facilities in Japan, Mexico and Thailand is expected to be more than double the amount in May.
Though things have started to shift towards recovery, we decided to maintain the production adjustment put in place since March through into June, as we still haven’t reached pre-production adjustment levels. Although we expect it to take a long time before the global market will return to pre-pandemic levels, we will proceed cautiously with business in order to ensure that we can meet requests from customers considering to buy Mazda vehicles, while continuing to implement infection prevention measures.
Furthermore, as an effort to minimize the impact of Mazda’s production adjustment on our local business partners, we are going to continue discussions with them regarding their financing and/or how to retain their employees. In addition, support activities for medical professionals who work tirelessly every day on the front lines as well as our efforts to reduce the use of public transportation when commuting will continue.
