CHICHESTER: The British luxury automobile maker, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited is set to temporarily shut down its' production at the manufacturing facility in Goodwood, United Kingdom. The facility will be shutting down for 2 weeks i.e. from March 23, as the coronavirus pandemic is spreading all around the world. Apart from this, another 2 weeks of additional lockdown is also to happen as a part of a pre-planned easter maintenance shutdown. This means, that the manufacturing area will be closed for a month.
The pandemic has already been affecting the automobile sector of the world resulting in less production and components not being able to get supplied. The virus is known to be of the highly-contagious kind and has also resulted in deaths in adults. The country of UK has over 2,600 reported cases and a death toll of 71. Hence, stringent rules and regulations are being followed all over the country.
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Chief Executive Officer Torsten Muller-Otvos, representing Rolls Royce Motor cars revealed, "This action has not been taken lightly, but the health and well-being of our exceptional workforce are first and foremost in our minds. We are a tight-knit community at the Home of Rolls-Royce and I have no doubt that our resilience will shine through during this extraordinary time. As a deeply customer-focused company, we are aware that this decision to pause our production will possibly cause some discomfort or inconvenience to a few of our esteemed patrons, for which we apologise while seeking their understanding at this difficult time."
The internationally renowned automobile company also shared that they are initiating work from home for the employees on a balanced basis. Some of the non-production employees will be working from the head office of the company which is also in Goodwood Estate. Norms regarding social distancing have also been initiated by the company.
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The automobile companies including Rolls-Royce, Honda and Ford were also asked by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the country to make medical equipment to fight off the virus outbreak. The defence industry has been contacted by the UK government in order to create healthcare resources to overcome increasing coronavirus cases.