How Many Cars Were Sold During The Lockdown Month?

Sorry, but you’re in for a surprise if you thought the previous year's auto industry sales slump was the worst. April 2020 will go down in the books as the most unpleasant month for the Indian automotive industry as the overall sales number stood at zero. To put it even more bluntly, no carmaker in India managed to sell even a single car in India, for the first time ever. As bleak as it reads, this situation that we have here is also not expected to get better too rapidly.

What was just a handful of positive COVID-19 cases in the whole nation ballooned out of proportion, reaching almost all the states in India. The automotive industry in India was slowly recovering from one of the worst slumps in recent times when the government decided to go into complete lockdown from March 25. Soon after that, all the plants and dealerships were also shut, disrupting the production and retail of cars in India.

Major players like Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai Motor, MG Motor, Toyota Kirloskar, Volkswagen, FCA, Ford, Tata, Skoda, and Kia reported zero sales. To give you a perspective, the total sales from April 2019 stood at 2,45,547 units, registering a 100 per cent drop. The nationwide lockdown which was supposed to be lifted on May 3 has now been extended till May 17. Things are not looking good for the Indian automotive industry in the month of May as well. Without any doubt, it is clear that the automotive industry is one of the worst affected in India due to the pandemic. 

The days ahead also don't look very bright from where we stand today. But, as with everything, this will also pass. We are eagerly waiting for that day when the automotive industry will soar back. But it disheartens us to report that we don’t see it happening very soon.

Source: Autopunditz