After registering sales of 83,792 units in March 2020, Maruti Suzuki suffered a decline of nearly 47%. With just over 32,279 units, Hyundai’s story is somewhat similar too
It's no secret that the automotive industry has been in slumber over the past year or so. During this time, automakers have had a hard time dealing with the slowdown and the switch to BS-VI compliant vehicles. To make matters worse, we now have a global pandemic to deal with.
Maruti Suzuki has just released the sales numbers for the month of March 2020, and it sure isn’t a pretty sight. India’s largest automaker could only register sales of 83,792 units in the said month – a drop from 1,58,076 units in the same month last year. Domestic sales dropped down to 76,976 units in comparison to 1,47,613 in the same month last year. Overall, the FY19-20 hasn’t been something to write home about either. The Manesar-based carmaker managed to sell 15,63,297 units – a drop of over 16% from the 18,62,449 in FY2018-19. And it isn’t just Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai has also experienced a similar decline. In March 2020, the Korean carmaker has cumulatively sold 32,279 units in comparison to 61,150 in the same month last year.
Of course, one must also take into consideration the nation-wide lockdown that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced starting 22nd March. This essentially meant that all sales touchpoints were closed with no sales recorded in the last 10 days of the month. In fact, considering that the lockdown will continue till 14th April (or possibly even longer), it is safe to assume that the number will plummet even further this month.
On the brighter side of things, this slowdown in sales is not holding back automobile manufacturers from making much-needed contributions in ameliorating the COVID-19 crisis. While some manufacturers are making huge cash contributions to health institutions, others are aiding by manufacturing ventilators.
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