By Brenda Goh and Norihiko Shirouzu
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – General Motors and Volkswagen Group China on Monday said that their Shanghai operations have not been affected by the city’s lockdown to try to stem the spread of COVID-19.
Both companies operate factories in the city as part of joint ventures with state-owned Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp.
A GM spokesperson told Reuters that its manufacturing facilities were operating normally.
The snap lockdown announced on Sunday splits China’s most populous city roughly along the Huangpu River for nine days to allow for “staggered” coronavirus testing.
GM’s Shanghai factories sit to the east of the river in areas that have been locked down from Monday to Friday for authorities to carry out mass testing.
The company did not immediately comment on what measures it had put in place to keep production lines running, but Shanghai has said that factories that put in “closed-loop” systems can continue production.
Tesla, which also has a factory on the east side of the river, has suspended production for four days after it was unable to put in such a system, sources told Reuters on Monday.
Volkswagen Group China said its operations in Anting, Shanghai, were unaffected by the lockdown, adding that it is monitoring the situation day by day.
Anting is in the west of Shanghai, where lockdown is scheduled to start on April 1.
Volkswagen operations in the northeastern city of Changchun, however, remain suspended. Its production there has been halted since March 14 because of a COVID-19 lockdown.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh and Norihiko Shirouzu; Editing by Edmund Blair and David Goodman)
