Virus Drives Car Makers to Cancel News Conferences

   By William Boston 
 

BERLIN--The wave of cancellations of public events in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic has hit the way big companies are engaging the media and industry analysts in discussion of their annual earnings, as some companies cancel analyst and media conferences and take the conversation online.

Volkswagen AG and its business units Audi and the Volkswagen brand are taking their media conferences online, canceling the annual media and investor events scheduled for later this month.

Volkswagen is due to present its 2019 earnings and outlook for 2020 on March 17.

The Volkswagen passenger car brand and Audi, whose earnings are included in the parent company's reports, traditionally hold their own media events. This year, the events scheduled for March 18 will be held online rather than in person. Porsche, Volkswagen's sports car maker, will hold its media event online on March 18.

BMW AG is bucking the trend. BMW has cancelled the media reception planned for the eve of its news conference, but has not cancelled the news conference, which is scheduled to take place on March 18.

Write to William Boston at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 06, 2020 09:11 ET (14:11 GMT)

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