Following parent company BMW’s announcement earlier it was suspending output at plants in Europe and South Africa, Rolls-Royce said production at its Goodwood manufacturing plant would be shuttered from Monday 23 March for two weeks and, “in order to further secure the health and welfare of the employees of the company”, that suspension would be followed by a previously planned two week Easter maintenance shutdown.
The automaker said its day to day operations would be continued by non-production employees who would remain at work at the company’s head office on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex or who would work from home on a rotational basis.
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Social distancing measures had been introduced throughout the company.
This unprecedented action had been taken following the introduction of additional measures by the UK government to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
CEO Torsten Mueller-Otvos said in a statement: “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… and I have no doubt that our resilience will shine through during this extraordinary time.
“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 [customers] for which we apologise while seeking their understanding at this difficult time.”
