Coronavirus update: Car launches delayed
Lots of new cars across wide price ranges were scheduled to be launched in the upcoming few months. With the novel coronavirus forcing a complete lockdown, they have now been postponed. Here’s a list of new car launches that have been rescheduled
By autoX Editorial
Lots of new cars across wide price ranges were scheduled to be launched in the upcoming few months. With the novel coronavirus forcing a complete lockdown, they have now been postponed. Here’s a list of new car launches that have been rescheduled
The ongoing lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus has not only put a hard stop on car sales, but has also disturbed brands’ business plans for the year. With shutters down on the dealerships as of now, and uncertainty about the end of the lockdown (there is a high probability of it continuing after 14th April), manufacturers are opting to delay their plans of launching new cars. And it is a smart move too. Launching a vehicle at this time will fetch them very limited press and more importantly, the excitement of a new launch will fizzle out quicker under these circumstances. Above all, considering the hit the economy has taken due to the coronavirus, buying a car may not be at the top of the priority list for a lot of people.
With all these aspects in mind, manufacturers are considering postponing their new car launches for now. Here’s a list of car launches that have been postponed as of now.
1.) New Honda City, BS-VI Jazz and WR-V: Honda Cars India was scheduled to bring in the new City this month, but it seems unlikely that the launch is still on schedule considering that there is a high probability that the lockdown will get extended. The company’s official website still doesn’t have the fifth-gen City listed and the bookings haven’t opened either. Meanwhile, bookings for the BS-VI Jazz and the updated WR-V have commenced for a while now, but there is still no clarity about when the cars will be launched.
2.) Skoda Karoq, Rapid 1.0 TSI and Superb Facelift: We have reported in the past that Skoda will launch 5 new models in India in 2020. One of them, the Octavia RS245 was launched at the Auto Expo 2020 in February but bookings only commenced on 1st March. Deliveries were scheduled to commence in April, but that too has been delayed. That being said, images of the car arriving at dealerships have surfaced on the internet. Skoda was also scheduled to bring in the Karoq and Rapid 1.0 TSI to India this month, and the Superb face-lift in May. All three launches have now been delayed.
3.) Isuzu BS-VI: While all the major carmakers have already graduated to BS-VI compliant cars, Isuzu hadn’t made the shift until the start of the lockdown. In fact, in an official statement, the Japanese brand revealed with regular operations severely affected, they have pushed BS-VI launches to the latter half of Q2 2020.
4.) Citroen C5 Aircross: Just yesterday we reported that the C5 Aircross that Citroen was expected to be launched in mid-2020, has now been pushed to the first quarter of 2021. Read full story here.
Aside from the aforementioned offerings, a few cars like the Maruti Suzuki S-Cross petrol, Mercedes-Benz A-Class sedan and GLA have been listed on the company website but the launch date has still not been announced.
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