A Jeep Renegade rolls down an assembly line at Fiat Chrysler's Melfi assembly plant in Italy in 2015.

Automakers are shutting down manufacturing plants in Europe as the coronavirus spreads and brings many industries to a standstill.

French automaker PSA Group said Monday it is ceasing production at more than a dozen European plants this week, while Fiat Chrysler announced it is ending production at most of its European plants. Both companies, which are in the midst of a merger, said the shutdowns will be through March 27.

The shutdowns for Fiat Chrysler include plants in Italy, Serbia and Poland. It's unclear how many of the company's 23 plants will remain open. A company spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The plans come less than a week after Fiat Chrysler announced it would "intensify measures" against the spread of the coronavirus in hard-hit Italy, including temporarily closing plants there, where the government has implemented a national quarantine amid a rapid spread of COVID-19.

PSA's shutdowns include plants in France, Germany, Portugal, United Kingdom, Slovakia and Spain.

Other automakers to shutter manufacturing operations in Italy include Ferrari and Lamborghini, a part of German automaker Volkswagen AG. Ford said Monday it extended a planned shutdown of its plant in Valencia, Spain, through this week. A company spokesman said its other European plants are operating as planned.

In the U.S., Volkswagen confirmed that employees at the company's Chattanooga plant in Tennessee were granted paid leave Monday to make arrangements for childcare during a two-week school closure there. The German automaker also reportedly shut down factories in Italy and Spain, according to the Wall Street Journal. A company spokesman was not immediately available.

Fiat Chrysler, in a release, said its plans include measures to enable the company to "promptly" restart manufacturing operations once ready.

"The group is working with its supply base and business partners to be ready to enable our manufacturing operations to deliver previously planned total levels of production despite the suspension when market demand returns," the company said.