NEW DELHI: Honda Cars India has joined the league of automakers that have announced to shut their production facility in the wake to Covid-19 crisis. On Thursday, the company said that it will be advancing its annual maintenance exercise and has decided to close production at its Tapukara-based facility for 12 days to curb the spread of coronavirus infection.
The list of manufacturers that have halted production includes Maruti Suzuki, MG and Toyota, with even some bike makers like Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Hero MotoCorp having followed suit
As for Honda, the production at the manufacturing facility will be halted from May 7 till May 18. The automaker will resume manufacturing operations from May 19. The annual maintenance block closure was originally scheduled for the middle of May.
The temporary shutdowns are likely to bring down industry output by half in May when compared with a regular month. According to industry experts, the industry output may come down from 2.5 million vehicles produced in March 2021 to about 1.2-1.4 million in May. There are also a number of new car launches that have been delayed for the same reasons.
India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki recently said it anticipates a hit on the manufacturing activities as the lockdown-like restrictions have impacted the functioning of its sales network. According to reports, production of MSIL could go down by as much as 50 per cent due to the pandemic-led disruptions. Two-wheeler output, which accounts for over 80 per cent of industry volume, may see a bigger contraction as
two leading players Hero MotorCorp and Honda 2Wheeler have shut down their factories for a longer duration.
Firms redirect available oxygen for medical use
Companies, including Toyota Kirloskar and MG Motor India have advanced annual maintenance shutdown across factories until mid-May to redirect the available liquid oxygen to the healthcare sector after the Centre recently imposed ban on the industrial use.