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Berlin / AFP
Embattled automaker Volkswagen has been forced to suspend manufacture of the popular Golf model at its main production plant in Germany, a spokesman said on Saturday.
But the decision by the car giant, locked in a legal battle with parts suppliers, will not affect its annual production target.
Production of the Golf will be suspended “from Monday for the whole of the week” at its main Wolfsburg plant in northern Germany, the spokesman said.
Some 815,000 vehicles rolled off the production line at Wolfsburg last year, including nearly 500,000 of its Golf model and its mini-van version the Golf Sportsvan.
Volkswagen secured temporary injunctions on August 12 ordering ES Automobilguss, supplier of cast gearbox components, and seat cover maker Cartrim to resume deliveries, suspended since the start of the month.
But the two suppliers appealed the decision, leaving production at VW limping along. On Friday judges in Brunswick ordered the two firms to resume deliveries, but neither obeyed and ES has appealed.
The parts suppliers accuse VW of having cut several contracts with no advance warning or compensation, leaving them no choice but to suspend deliveries to protect their own workers.
According to media reports VW — wracked by crisis after admitting last year it had installed software to cheat on diesel engine emissions tests — has been seeking concessions from all of its suppliers, amounting to several billion euros.