India¡¯s largest car maker has reported zero vehicle sales for the month of April. Maruti Suzuki India Limited has confirmed that the company did not sell a single vehicle in the country for the month that observed a nationwide lockdown throughout.
The zero sales include the sales to the OEMs in April 2020. As can be understood, the company cites the nationwide lockdown as a reason for this. ¡°This was because in compliance with the Government orders all production facilities were closed,¡± the company mentions in a recent statement.
Back on March 23, MSIL had announced a halt of production of vehicles at several of its plants, in line with the nationwide lockdown to beat the spread of the novel Coronavirus in the country.
The company, however, was able to resume export of the vehicles with the commencement of port operations, ¡°following resumption of port operations, the first export shipment of 632 units was undertaken from the Mundra port, ensuring that all guidelines for safety were followed,¡± reads the statement.
Maruti Suzuki India Limited is not the only automobile major to have reported zero sales in April. With both the factories as well as the dealerships shut, almost all auto firms are in the same boat.
Zac Hollis, Director, Skoda Auto India highlighted the gravity of the situation in a recent tweet, saying ¡°Well after 30 years in the Motor Industry this will be the first time in my career that I will have officially sold zero cars in a month.¡±
The story is the same with MG Motor India, who despite having sold more vehicles in March than February, could not register a single sale in the month of April. Mahindra and Mahindra also reported zero vehicle sales in the month, but had some units exported with the port operations being restarted.
So till the time the nationwide lockdown is upheld,? auto industry in India is bound to have a dry spell. Some have now come up with ways to beat the sales blues by taking orders online and home delivering the vehicles to the buyers. Read how Honda Cars India is doing this with its Honda from Home program.