You may have noticed that the southeastern US is currently dealing with the powerful Hurricane Ian. After Florida, it is now South Carolina’s turn, causing two car manufacturers to also experience problems. European car manufacturers, that is.
You might rather look for problems by Ian for car manufacturers in the corner of General Motors, Stellantis or Ford, but the misery seems to mainly affect European brands. Automotive News reports that Mercedes-Benz and Volvo are laying down work at their South Carolina plants. Volvo employees already stopped building the S60 on Thursday, also for the European market. The factory in Ridgeville near Charleston employs 1,500 people. Mercedes will lay down its work in Ladson, also at Charleston, from today. Here – without Ian at least – the Sprinter and the Metris (the American version of the Vito) are built. 1,600 people work in the Mercedes factory.
There is another big car factory in South Carolina, that of BMW. However, it is located near the much more northwestern Spartanburg and is therefore outside the danger zone. Ian will reach the coast of the state sometime this afternoon and is predicted to be at its strongest around Charleston. In addition to strong winds and a lot of rain, a storm surge is expected around that city, with all possible consequences. Florida is still assessing the damage and can look back on one of the worst storms in that region ever.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl