Volvo Cars to close China plant due coronavirus restrictions

OSLO (Reuters) -Sweden's Volvo Cars will temporarily close its plant in the Chinese city of Chengdu due to local coronavirus restrictions, a company spokesperson said on Thursday.

"Due to the lockdown in Chengdu, Volvo Cars is temporarily suspending production at a manufacturing plant there. We are assessing the impact on the business and we'll continue to monitor the situation," the spokesperson said.

Volvo's plant in Daqing had also been affected by a lockdown in recent days, he added.

Earlier on Thursday, Chengdu announced a lockdown of its 21.2 million residents, the most populous city to be locked down since Shanghai earlier this year.

Stockholm-listed Volvo, majority owned by Chinese automotive company Geely Holding, has produced cars in China since 2013 and last year sold almost 172,000 vehicles in the country, some 25% of its overall sales.

The company's shares traded 3.3% lower at 1058 GMT, lagging the Stockholm benchmark index which was down 1.7%.

(Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, editing by Terje Solsvik)