MG Motor India has decided to shut its manufacturing unit in Gujarat for a week starting April 29 until May 5 in an effort to limit increasing COVID-19 cases. Two wheeler major, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) has also announced shutting down of all its four plants from May 1 owing to the second COVID-19 wave. MG Motors’s Halol plant has an annual capacity of 80,000 units.
Honda Two wheelers has plants at Tapukara in Rajasthan, Vithalapur in Gujarat, Manesar in Haryana and Narsapura in Karnataka. The company will put its manufacturing units under maintenance until the COVID-19 wave is controlled. The production plan will be reviewed once the situation improves. Honda has a production capacity of 7mn units as of 2020.
Maruti Suzuki too has decided to halt production at all its plants in India as announced on April 28 to supply oxygen for medical purposes while their manufacturing units will be under maintenance.
In the prior week, Hero MotoCorp also shut down all its six plants in India owing to a hike in COVID-19 cases.
In India, COVID-19 cases continued to surge. With many auto units now going under maintenance, be it due to semiconductor shortages, COVID-19 mounting cases, or giving away oxygen for medical purposes, demand for auto raw material, including metals will be impacted in the coming days.