Barra says N.A. plants secure ‘quite far into this month’

DETROIT — General Motors CEO Mary Barra said on Wednesday the automaker’s North American vehicle production should be secure from parts shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak “quite far into this month.”

Parts manufacturers in China and other countries have had production disrupted as governments imposed quarantines and travel restrictions to contain the Covid-19 respiratory virus outbreak that began in China’s Hubei province.

GM’s profitable North American truck and SUV assembly plants so far have kept rolling, while Chinese manufacturers have struggled to get production back to normal.

Meanwhile, car sales in China, GM’s biggest market, plummeted 80 percent in February, as consumers fearful of infection or restricted by government quarantine measures stayed away from showrooms.

“The market will come back” in China, Barra said, in comments to reporters at GM’s design center in Warren, Mich., near Detroit.