PRAGUE, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Volkswagen’s (VW) (VOWG_p.DE) Czech car producer Skoda Auto said on Friday it would halt production at its Kvasiny plant for at least a week from Sept. 11 and did not rule out limiting output at its main plant in Mlada Boleslav due to a shortage of parts.
It said the reason for the shortage was flooding at a supplier of parts for combustion engines in Slovenia, which affected the whole VW group.
“Due to a disruption in the provision of components across the Volkswagen Group’s supply chain, Skoda Auto will also face shortages in the upcoming period,” Skoda said in a statement confirming the halt at Kvasiny in the east of the country, as reported by Czech media earlier.
“At the moment, we cannot rule out any changes to production volumes at the Mlada Boleslav plant, where production is currently running without alterations.
“Our teams are working diligently to minimise any potential impact and deliver as many cars as possible to our customers,” it added.
The car industry, anchored by Skoda Auto, is the backbone of Czech manufacturing and has outperformed manufacturing output that has mostly been stagnant or weakening this year.
A Czech-based car assembly plant of Toyota (7203.T) has had an outage since Aug. 22, which will last at least until Sept. 15, due to a fire at a Czech supplier, CTK reported on Thursday.
Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Philippa Fletcher
