Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India is the latest OEM in the country, after Toyota Kirloskar Motor (April 26-May 14), Hero MotoCorp (April 22-May 1), MG Motor India and Maruti Suzuki (May 1-9) to suspend manufacturing operations.

This action on the part of the automakers is due to the second wave of Covid-19 infections across the country. All OEMs say they will use the plant shutdown period for their annual maintenance operations.

With major vehicle buying states like Maharashtra and Delhi, which together account for nearly 30 percent of sales, having imposed  lockdowns, retail showrooms are shut and it is likely that vehicle inventory levels would be on the higher side than usual. A production lockdown, be it for a week, slows down that process considerably.

No production from May 1-15 at HMSI
HMSI four plants – Manesar (Haryana), Tapukara (Rajasthan), Narsapura (Karnataka) and Vithalapur (Gujarat) have a combined manufacturing capacity of 6.4 million units per annum. In FY2021, HMSI produced a total of 39,22,154 units, down 23.53% year on year (FY2020: 51,29,532). Sales in FY2021 at 38,67,817 units were down 17.82% year on year.

Production will be suspended from May 1 to May 15, 2021. Honda says it willuse thios fortnight-long plant shutdown period to conduct annual plant maintenance activities. Subsequently, it will review production plans depending on the evolving situation with the pandemic and market recovery. It has said that its office associates will continue to work from home to maintain business continuity, while extending all possible support to customers and business partners.