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COVID-19 Fears bring Yamaha to shut down two of their factories in France and Italy

The Yamaha facilities in France and Italy will remain closed until at least March 22.

Monzit Purugganan Monzit Purugganan on Mar 19, 2020
Yamaha Factory

Two more factories in Europe belonging to Yamaha join KTM, Husqvarna and Ducati in shutting down its operations as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread globally. Yamaha ordered the temporary suspension of two of its factories in Italy and France until March 22, 2020, on which they will reassess the situation if the suspension shall continue or not. The Moto Minarelli engine factory, located in Calderara De Reno, Italy and the MBK Industrie assembly plant in Saint-Quentin, France is among the facilities that Yamaha decided to temporarily shut down. 

Yamaha Factory Worker

Eric de Seynes, President and Chief Executive Officer of Yamaha Motor Europe in an official statement said, “The health of our employees and our social responsibility are our priorities at this stage, which is why we took the decision to suspend production at these two facilities in the face of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic."

De Seynes, however, reassures their employees that this is for the best and that he would not want them placed in a difficult financial situation because of this. 

"We also value highly the skills and commitment of a workforce that has shown tremendous loyalty to Yamaha, but now face an unprecedented situation outside of the workplace. For their peace of mind, we are working to ensure that no employee will lose out financially between now and the return to a stable situation both in Italy and France." 

Eric de Seynes

President and CEO, Yamaha Motor Europe 

Yamaha MT-07

Yamaha produces among the best performing and best selling naked motorcycles in the market, the MT-07 and MT-09. They have also been known to be very supportive of the custom motorcycle scene through their Faster Sons program. Suspension of factory operations may interrupt the delivery of its newer motorcycles to the market such as the much-anticipated XSR155.

France and Italy have both enforced lockdowns throughout the country and implemented measures for social distancing in its efforts to fight the rampant spread of the COVID-19. 

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