Rolls Royce has announced that it will shut down its factory for 2 weeks, starting March 23, 2020. The decision was taken considering the health risk posed to workers due to the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said, “This action has not been taken lightly, but the health and well-being of our exceptional workforce is 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.” He continued, “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 apologize while seeking their understanding at this difficult time.”
Employees who are not directly involved in the production process will continue to work from Rolls Royce’s head office at Goodwood Estate in West Sussex. Some employees will be working from home on a rotational basis.
The decision comes in the wake of the UK Government’s announcement introducing additional measures to contain the spread of the infection.
Earlier, Ferrari and Lamborghini had announced a temporary shutdown of their production lines. Production at Bugatti’s atelier in Molsheim is also expected to be affected, although there hasn’t been any official announcement yet.