All the major automakers in India have either halted production or have reduced it to the bare minimum until 31 March or until further notice as the country looks at a complete lockdown of several districts to stem the spread of COVID-19.
The companies have said that while production comes to a complete halt in most of the plants, they will still provide emergency service support to customers as needed. Most of the service centres won't be functioning at full capacity but will have a small team to deal with emergency repairs.
Here's a look at what the major car makers are doing.
Maruti Suzuki
The country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki, says it has taken precautions in its operations against the spread of COVID-19, which includes sanitization and hygiene, temperature checks, etc.
Keeping in line with the government advisory, it has shut production at its plants in Gurugram and Manesar until further notice. Employees at its corporate office in Delhi are working from home.
The company said in a statement to The Quint that it will continue to provide roadside assistance and emergency repairs only to its customers.
Hyundai Motor India
The country's second-largest carmaker, Hyundai, has also shut production at its plant in Chennai from 23 March until further notice. However, it will have some service procedures in place for its customers.
It will provide 24x7 roadside assistance and will have 1,000 road-side assistance vehicles handy across the country. Hyundai is extending warranty and free service facilities by two months so that customers who can't get vehicles serviced during lockdown can do so at a later date.
Ford India
Ford India has also temporarily suspended production at its plants in Chennai and Sanand until further notice. It has also issued guidelines to its dealers to follow best practices in hygiene.
All vehicles that are given for test drives are being sanitised after each drive. All new vehicles are being sanitised before delivery. For service, Ford's service centres will pick up and drop off vehicles from customers homes in cities that are not locked down.
Renault India
Renault India has temporarily suspended production at its plant in Chennai until further notice.
Renault India CEO Venkatram Mamillapalle said: "All employees in our corporate and regional offices including Chennai, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune will continue to work from home.”
Additionally, Renault India will continue its 24X7 roadside assistance its customers in case of any emergency.
Mahindra
Mahindra has suspended production at all its plants in Maharashtra from 23 March until further notice. The dealerships will only provide roadside assistance as needed.
Mahindra chairman Anand Mahindra tweeted that the company is planning to help with the manufacture of ventilators and will also open up its resorts business to providing medical care facilities.
Tata Motors
Tata Motors said in a statement that it has been monitoring the situation closely. It has scaled down its activities at its Pune plant and will shut the plant on 24 March onwards. The company will be responding shortly to a query on its service activities.
Royal Enfield
Royal Enfield has decided to suspend all operations globally from 23 March till 31 March. This will include the company’s manufacturing facilities across Tiruvottiyur, Oragadam and Vallam Vadagal in Chennai, Technical Centres across Chennai and at Bruntingthorpe, Leicestershire in the UK, and all company offices and company-owned dealerships in India.
The company has further issued advisories to all dealerships in India to shut down for the same time period, or follow local administrative orders, as may apply. Service and warranty benefits will be extended once lockdown lifts.
Volkswagen has said that it will shut production for three weeks in view of the global pandemic. Mercedes Benz says it will halt production till 31 March.
Hero Moto Corp said it has stopped production at all its plants in India as well as in Bangladesh and Colombia. Bajaj Auto says it will stop production till 31 March. Yamaha Motor has also taken suspended its manufacturing operations at its plants in Chennai, Surajpur and Faridabad till 31 March.
TVS Motors has decided to halt all manufacturing operations at its plants in India and Indonesia till further notice. All relevant employees have already been provided with work from home facility.
This is a developing story, watch this space for more updates on service facilities available to users as India fights to "flatten the curve" in the COVID-19 pandemic.
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