Automakers initiate production ramp-up to recoup lockdown losses
Maruti Suzuki is scheduled to produce 198,000 units next month, industry insiders with knowledge of its plans said. They projected the July production volume of Hyundai Motor at 60,000 vehicles and Tata Motors at 30,000 units, taking the total expected output of the top three automakers alone to close to 300,000 units.
Including the output of other passenger vehicle makers, the industry output could be around 350,000 units next month.
This will be just short of the high of 364,000 units produced in January 2019, when consumers trying to beat a price hike before the transition to BS-VI emission standards had driven up demand.
For the next quarter, industry insiders are projecting India’s passenger vehicle production to top 1 million units, which will be the highest for the July-September period at least in three years, provided there is no third wave of the pandemic.
The industry expects pent-up demand to reflect in the market in the coming months as was after the lockdown last year, and the companies are better prepared to meet that this time, said Gaurav Vangaal, associate director at vehicle market forecasting firm IHS Markit. “The ramp-up is much stronger and schedules are improving every week,” he said.
