Ford says it won't restart North American factories at the end of March because of the coronavirus outbreak

Reuters

A worker checks a 2020 Ford Explorer car at Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant.

• Ford has revised its expectations for restarting production in North America as the coronavirus outbreak intensifies.
• The carmaker originally planned a restart on March 30, after suspending production last week in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
• "Ford's top priority is the health and safety of our employees, dealers, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders," Ford North Americas president Kumar Galhotra said.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

On Tuesday, Ford announced that after shutting down all North American production last week, it wouldn't restart factories at the end of March as originally planned.

The decision comes as the coronavirus pandemic spreads globally and places extraordinary stress on hospitals are outbreak regions.

"In light of various governments' orders to stay and work from home, Ford is not planning to restart our plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico on Monday, March 30 as originally hoped," Ford North Americas president Kumar Galhotra said in a statement.

"We are assessing various options and working with union leaders - including the United Auto Workers and Unifor - on the optimal timing for resuming vehicle production, keeping the well-being of our workforce top of mind," he added. (Unifor is the Canadian auto workers union.)

Earlier on Tuesday, Ford announced that it would work with 3M, GE , and its UAW workforce to accelerate production of respirators and medical supplies, as well as ventilators.

Get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.

NOW WATCH: How Ford makes car parts from used McDonald's coffee beans