Outbreak: Hyundai suspends production

The global car industry operates on tight supply lines and was thrown into turmoil when Japan’s Fukushima earthquake and tsunami in 2011 knocked out a Renesas Electronics factory producing a vital and widely used computer chip.

The virus outbreak in China had disrupted wiring component procurement, a Hyundai spokeswoman said.

“For now, the production line for the Genesis sedans at the Number 5 plant in Ulsan has been temporarily suspended,” she said. She could not estimate when production might resume and added the company was discussing possible suspensions of operations at more plants with its labour union.

“The situation doesn’t look good,” she said.

Hyundai has seven domestic plants and several overseas, including some in China.