The novel coronavirus and the prevailing lockdown all across the world have affected the automobile industry to a great extent. Automakers all across the world had started temporarily suspending their production back from March itself and haven’t resumed the same yet.
This extended close down of manufacturing and sales is set to have a huge impact on the industry on the Q2 of 2020, as it already did in the latter half of Q1. The condition is the same all across the world.
Here are some alarming statistics that reveal the condition of the auto industry during the pandemic.
- The United Kingdom experience a sharp plunge of 44% in the registration of new cars in March. However, this is a small number compared to other European countries, where Italy witnesses a decline of 85% and Spain and France by 69% and 72% respectively.
- The automobile sector in the United States of America too registered a fall as the sale of new cars plummeted by 55% in March 2020 compared to the same span in 2019.
- It would be very wrong to not mention the cancellation of the 2020 Geneva Motor Show, which will have an indirect impact on new vehicles and the production of concept models in the pipeline of every automaker.
- The sales and deliveries of new cars have reached zero in all the countries, including India. And though there are many automakers, like Tata Motors, that have launched digital platforms for buyers to buy cars online, the deliveries will not happen before the situation comes under control. Thus, both the manufacturers and dealerships are facing extra expenses with the unsold stock.
- The automakers operating in India had a mandated deadline of 31st March for the sales of BS-IV cars. However, with the complete halt in sales, almost all automakers have a large inventory of unsold BS-IV models and would depend on the Government to grant an extension to clear the unsold stock.
The automotive industry in India is already staring at huge losses due to the pandemic coronavirus. The industry had already forecasted a loss of around $2 billion in terms of revenue and around 7.5 lakh units in March alone. April is down to bring greater losses as manufacturers stare at zero production and complete shutdown of retails.
This situation has brought losses in the export of cars too as international borders of most countries have been closed for foreign interaction.
