The German car group Volkswagen announced today, Wednesday, the suspension of production at its factory in the city of Emden in northwest Germany on Thursday and Friday.

The group explained that this decision applies to the production of cars with combustion engines and electric cars.

A Volkswagen spokeswoman in Emden said, "The reason for this is the slump in demand for the Passat model, which is produced in Emden and will be discontinued at the beginning of March."

The workers' council and the company jointly decided to halt production.

The company announced that in order to ensure a "synchronized operation" at the Volkswagen factory in Emden, the production of electric cars must also be stopped during the mentioned two days, noting that work shifts on these two days are expected to be compensated on Saturdays in the second half of the year.

Volkswagen started in August last year the series production of the new electric limousine ID.7 at the coastal city factory of Emden, in addition to the smaller compact electric sports car ID.4, as well as car models powered by internal combustion engines such as Passat, Arteon, and Arteon Shooting Brake.

The production of the Passat car is scheduled to be transferred to Volkswagen’s factory in the Slovak capital Bratislava within a few weeks, and the production of the Arteon car is also planned to be gradually stopped.