In the light of the rising coronavirus cases, India’s top passenger vehicle and two-wheeler manufacturer Maruti Suzuki and Hero Motocorp have further extended their plant shutdown.
Maruti Suzuki, which earlier announced that it will go under annual maintenance shutdown from May 1 to May 9, has now extended the shutdown till May 16 across all plants in Haryana and Suzuki’s Gujarat plants.
“The maintenance shutdown, which was till May 9, 2021, is being extended till May 16, 2021, keeping in view the current pandemic situation. Some activities will continue in the plants. The company has been informed that Suzuki Motor Gujarat has taken the same decision,” the company said in a statement to BSE.
In the earlier announcement, the carmaker, which has the largest supply base in North India, announced the production cut to divert oxygen for medical supplies.
Similarly, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp proactively shuts all plants across India between April 22 to May 1 for four days in a staggered manner. It also has extended shutdown till May 16 2021.
Industry experts say that the rising cases of coronavirus have disrupted the auto industry’s sequential demand, which was observed in the last six months.
Apart from Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp, many other automakers like Honda Cars India, Honda 2wheelers India, MG Motors and Toyota Kirloskar Motors have shut down their operations to break the chain of coronavirus.
On an average, India reports about four lakh cases of coronavirus per day. Every second person who is turning COVID positive is an Indian.