The state of Puebla in Mexico is not yet ready to restart operations in the automotive industry, dealing a blow to the Volkswagen Group and Audi that have plants in the state southeast of Mexico City.
In an official decree issued on Friday night, the Puebla state government said the conditions “do not exist” for the resumption of automotive production region. It added its decision also applies to the local construction industry and says nothing will change until sanitary and safety conditions permitted a restart.
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“The worst is still to come, the wave of infections and the health risk is everywhere,” Puebla governor Miguel Barbosa said in the decree, Auto News reports.
Audi Puebla
Barbosa added that he wants to reopen the state’s economy “but not at the cost of the lives of the people of Puebla.” Mexico has 68,620 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 2,082 of them registered in Puebla.
Late on Sunday, Mexican auto industry groups urged Barbosa to allow a gradual restart of operations in the state.
In the letter, viewed by Reuters, the groups asked to “be allowed to start the preparation, cleaning and planning of our plants as soon as possible, in order to start gradually and staggered, the production of vehicles, auto parts, marketing and the entire value chain.”
The auto groups added their members would take precautions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
The automotive industry represents 3.8 per cent of Mexico’s gross domestic product and 20.5 per cent of its manufacturing GDP.
VW Puebla