Coronavirus update: Car and bike makers halt production

With safety and wellbeing of employees in mind, car and bike manufacturers also locked down their factories and for certain job profiles have given the option to work from home. Meanwhile Hero MotoCorp has moved the Supreme Court and requested in a three-month extension of the BS-IV deadline

With the number of people affected by coronavirus rising rapidly, 75 districts across the country are now under a complete lockdown. While this is likely to contain the spread of the virus, aside from local shops, malls and cinema halls, car and bike makers have also been forced to shut down their manufacturing facilities.

With Gurugram as one of the cities that has been entirely locked down, Maruti Suzuki will not be producing cars at either of their factories – Gurugram and Manesar – for the next week. In fact, the company has also temporarily shut its R&D facility in Rohtak. Other manufacturers like Hyundai, Kia, Ford, FCA, Renault and Nissan have also followed suit. Meanwhile, Tata Motors had temporarily scaled down operations last week and is scheduled to halt operations at its factory from end of day today.

Mahindra has also halted their production lines but they seem to have gone a step ahead in the battle against the coronavirus. Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, recently tweeted, “To help in the response to this unprecedented threat, we at the Mahindra Group will immediately begin work on how our manufacturing facilities can make ventilators. —At Mahindra Holidays, we stand ready to offer our resorts as temporary care facilities. Our Projects team stands ready to assist the Govt/Army in erecting temporary care facilities.”

Given the complete lockdown, aside from factories, dealerships and service outlets are shut as well. Hyundai has, however, reiterated various customer centric initiatives like 24x7 roadside assistance and 1000 doorstep advantage motorcycles for emergency road service. Most importantly, the Korean carmaker has extended support by two months to all customers who aren’t being able to redeem warranty or get their free services availed.

Meanwhile, two-wheeler manufacturers like TVS, Yamaha, Jawa and a few others have also put a halt to their production lines. Hero MotoCorp has moved the Supreme Court to relax the upcoming BS-IV sale deadline. Car and bikemaker will not be permitted to sell BS-IV compliant vehicles after 31st March. But given the current circumstances, and the complete lockdown of a lot of the major cities in the country, Hero has requested a three-month extension in the deadline. The final decision is still awaited.

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