Due to a second wave of Covid-19 in Malaysia, Volkswagen will stop most production at its Taubaté factory for the third time, hurting sales of the Gol and Voyage
The multinational Volkswagen will carry out a third stoppage at the Taubaté factory, in the Paraíba Valley, due to lack of equipment for the production of the Gol and Voyage models. The reason for this time is Covid-19, but not in the city of São Paulo, but in Malaysia, far away from here, where a new wave of the virus made the country declare lockdown.
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Taubaté factory will be suspended for 10 days
Due to lockdown, the production of electronic components, which are used in the production of the Gol and Voyage, was suspended there, affecting the supply of chips to the Volkswagen factory in Taubaté, here in Brazil.
The closure of ports in Malaysia, a country that has two territories divided by the South China Sea, prevents components from being exported to other countries, even if they are produced. Therefore, the Volkswagen factory in Taubaté will have Gol and Voyage productions suspended for 10 days, starting on the 30th of that month, according to what was informed by the local union.
Third stoppage at the Taubaté plant this year alone
The factory was shut down due to a lack of semiconductor chips between June 7th and 16th. Soon after, it was paralyzed between the 2nd and 12th of July. At this second stop, Volkswagen issued a clarification note on the reason for the plant's stoppage.
According to the multinational, the shortage of semiconductor chips leads to several supply bottlenecks in several global industries and ended up causing problems in the supply of the automotive industry worldwide this year. The result of the absence of chips would be the various transitions across the vehicle production sector, which also impacts Volkswagen brands.
At ABC, Volkswagen maintains one shift in activity and granted collective vacations to the others, while at the São Carlos and São José dos Pinhais unit, they operate only with a period of work.
Therefore, the offer of Gol and Voyage models will remain reduced in the car market, as well as other models from the automaker that fell from second to third place in last month's sales ranking, surpassed by Toyota. In São Bernardo do Campo, the multinational produces the Saveiro, Virtus, Polo and Nivus models, while the Fox and T-Cross come out of Paraná.
Volkswagen removes Fox multimedia center due to missing chips
The multimedia center, which is also used on Gol, was removed from Fox due to the semiconductor crisis. The component had a touch screen and compatibility with Apple Car Play and Android Auto, being one of the best options on the market.
In place of the component, not even a simple radio will come, just a black plastic cover. Despite the vehicle coming without its main attraction, it will also arrive in stores with a discount of R$ 1.560. So its two versions, Connect and Xtreme, will arrive at prices of R$ 61.690 and R$ 67.430, respectively.
