German car giant Volkswagen was hit by IT problems on Wednesday that brought production to a standstill in at least five of its factories, the company said. — AFP pic
BERLIN, Sept 28 — German car giant Volkswagen was hit by IT problems on Wednesday that brought production to a standstill in at least five of its factories, the company said.
The disruption began at 12:30pm (1030 GMT) and had still not been resolved by the evening, Volkswagen said in a statement.
“The VW brand plants are at a standstill in Germany,” a spokesman told AFP.
Other brands were also affected, the spokesman said, though it was not clear to what extent.
Volkswagen’s factories in Wolfsburg, Emden, Zwickau and Osnabrueck were all affected by the outage, as well as the “Transparent Factory” in Dresden, conceived as a showcase for the auto giant’s electric future.
Offices at VW’s Wolfsburg headquarters and production at the Audi plant in Neckarsulm were also affected, according to German media reports.
The problem was not restricted to Germany but affected Volkswagen sites worldwide, according the Handelsblatt financial daily.
The cause of the technical problems was not known but “an external attack is unlikely to be the cause”, Volkswagen said.
“We are working hard to resolve the problem,” the company added.
Volkswagen has been hit by several setbacks lately as it attempts to manage the shift towards electromobility.
The carmaker is pouring tens of billions of euros (dollars) into its pivot to electric vehicles, but the sector has been blighted by a weak global economy and low levels of demand.
Chief executive Oliver Blume has pledged to “work hard” on cutting costs to boost the group’s performance.
Earlier this month, VW said it was cutting 269 temporary jobs at its flagship electric car plant in Zwickau.
The 10-brand group — whose marques include Audi, Seat and Skoda — is facing tough competition in the electric vehicle sector, particularly in key market China.
In the first half of 2023, Volkswagen’s deliveries of vehicles in China were down 1.2 per cent compared to the previous year. — AFP
