Coronavirus hits Fiat Chrysler hard

Italy’s Coronavirus shutdown has put the locks on the gates at Fiat Chrysler Automobile’s plants across the country.

While the factories remain open to FCA’s workers, it has all but banned visitors from entering any of its facilities, scattered across Turin in the north, Modena in the north-east and Cassino in the south.

Another Turin-based automotive icon, the Volkswagen-owned ItalDesign Giugiaro, has closed both of its facilities after one of its employees tested positive for Coronavirus, renamed COVID-19 by the World Health Organisation.

The impact of the China-sourced virus has forced the Italian Government to shut down schools, government offices and public structures across the country, while it is also enforcing closures on bars, pubs and restaurants after 6pm.

In a letter obtained by

The ban also covers anybody who has been in direct or indirect contact with an infected person and anybody with any flu-like symptoms.

Three cases of the virus have already been found in Turin, which is FCA’s long-term European base.

While its factories are still fully operational, and no Chinese FCA facilities have been directly impacted by the lockdowns, though it warned of potential supply-chain issues.

ItalDesign, meanwhile, has suspended production at both its sites after an employee at the Nichelino factory tested positive to Coronavirus. ItalDesign is trying to map out which of its 928 employees the infected worker may have had contact with before the illness was identified.