By William Boston

BERLIN--Porsche AG, the sports car maker, said Wednesday that it would idle production at its factories in Germany for an initial period of two weeks to help contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and take steps to confront a fall in the demand for new cars.

Porsche, which is owned by Volkswagen AG, manufactures cars in Stuttgart in southwestern Germany and in the eastern city of Leipzig. The production stop begins Saturday, March 21. The company gave no details about the anticipated business impact of the stoppage or whether it would be able to resume production after two weeks.

"The actual impact is not foreseeable," Porsche Chief Executive Oliver Blume said in a statement. "It is too soon to make forecasts. What's clear is that 2020 is going to be a very challenging year."

Porsche said it also implemented a range of measures to contain the virus, including a ban on work travel, expansion of remote working, and moving meetings to video or telephone conferences.

Write to William Boston to William.Boston@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 18, 2020 09:18 ET (13:18 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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