Volkswagen paralyzes three more plants in Brazil due to the impact of floods

Volkswagen granted ten days of collective vacation starting this Monday in three automobile plants in Brazil due to the shortage of parts caused by the floods in recent weeks in the south of the country.

The multinational reported in a statement that production at its three plants in the state of São Paulo will remain paralyzed until June 3 due to the impact of the floods, which have forced operations to cease in several factories of parts suppliers based in the state. state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The three factories in São Paulo join the one in Gravataí, a municipality in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, the most affected by the floods, which has been paralyzed since May 8 and has not yet planned to resume its operations.

The measure suspended operations at Volkswagen plants in the cities of São Bernardo do Campo, Taubaté and São Carlos, while that of São José dos Pinhais, in the neighboring state of Paraná, continues normally.

In the paralyzed plants, with about 6,200 employees, Volkswagen produces the Nivus, Virtus, Polo, Saveiro and Polo Track models, as well as the engines for all its cars in Brazil.

The serious floods that have hit the southern region of the country for two weeks have left 158 ​​dead and some 2.3 million homeless, of whom some 620,000 have had to leave their homes.

Rio Grande do Sul, bordering Argentina and Uruguay, is the state most affected by the climate disaster, which has left a trail of unprecedented destruction in that prosperous area of ​​the country; affected important grain-producing areas and paralyzed hundreds of industries.

The economic damages from the climate disaster exceed 18,839 million reais (about US$ 3,680 million or 3,390 million euros), according to preliminary calculations that, according to regional authorities, are a minimum assessment.