Lockdown: For the first time in history, not a single car of Maruti Suzuki sold in the domestic market
Maruti Suzuki India made a statement recently that the company had zero sales in the domestic market in April 2020. This was because all the production plants were closed in compliance with government orders. Under lockdown, all showrooms remained closed throughout April and people were confined to their homes. And as it was feared the country’s largest carmaker had nothing to show as a whole month of sales.
According to government guidelines issued for the shutdown, production at the company’s plants is closed. However, after the ports opened, the company has exported 632 cars from Mundra port. All safety guidelines were followed for export. Maruti Suzuki had shut down all production plants in compliance with government orders for nationwide lockdown and reported a decline of 47.4 percent with sales of 79,080 units in the month of March this year as compared to March 2019 figures. It was clear that sales are going to be zero in the month of April.
Maruti also exports its cars outside the country. Last week, RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (Maruti Suzuki India Limited), also expressed fears that the sales figures in April could be zero. According to the Hindustan Times report, he said, “Some unusual things will happen. For example, there has never been a month in a year when automobile sales would have been zero. April is going to be a month.” He mentioned that unless all components of the car are available, the cars cannot be manufactured. So, if someone tells us to start a factory here, it will not help us. They can’t start the factory for production.
Maruti Suzuki was allowed to resume production at its plant in Manesar, Haryana in late April, but it has only been opened for original maintenance. Recently a report quoted sources said that both Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai companies will resume production in May but will initially limit the number of cars. MG Motor sales were also zero.MG Motor India (MG Motor India) also had zero domestic sales in the month of April. The main reason for this is the shutdown of the dealership in the nationwide lockdown. The company gave this information in a statement. The company only releases sales figures from dealers’ shops. MG Motor India has resumed small scale production at its plant in Halol, Gujarat in the last week of April. The company said that it is running the plant by taking all protective measures as per the guidelines of the government and local departments. The company expects the factory to gain momentum in May.
