Volkwagen resumed production at its Pacheco plant in Tigre, Argentina and São José dos Pinhais facility in Paraná, Brazil this week.
Other Volkswagen plants in Brazil, including São Paulo, São Bernardo do Campo, Taubaté and São Carlos, will resume operation by the end of May, the company said in a statement.
Production at the Pacheco plant was resumed with permission from the Ministry of Productive Development, the province of Buenos Aires and municipality of Tigre.
The plant has more than 3,700 employees and will follow the same strict health protocol applied at its Cordoba plant in Argentina after it was successfully implemented at its China and Germany plants.
Argentina’s automobile production fell 100pc last month, to zero cars produced due to the impact of the pandemic.
The São José dos Pinhais car plant will restart gradually operations and the first production line to be resumed will be the SUV T – Cross, Volkswagen indicated.
Brazil’s car production dropped by 99.4pc to 1,847 cars in April compared to the same period the prior year, due to the suspension of plants to contain COVID-19’s spread, according to the latest figures from the country’s Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea). Sales also fell by 76pc to 55,700 units in April, compared to the same month last year.
Brazil automotive industry has around 237,000 cars of inventory, a volume of units that would cover four months of sales at the current slow levels, Anfavea said.