Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. may halve its production capacity as an overwhelming surge of coronavirus infections shutters some of its sales outlets in the South Asian nation.
The problem is on the “sales side because in several states there is a partial lockdown and there is a curfew in some states and the dealers who sell the cars are having to close down,” Maruti Chairman R.C. Bhargava said in an interview on Tuesday. “Half the sales outlets are closed at the moment.”
India’s largest carmaker was producing at full capacity before it also decided to shut some plants in order to divert oxygen to hospitals last week. “We should still be able to produce at 50% to 60% capacity,” Bhargava said.
India is suffering the world’s most serious outbreak of COVID-19, with deaths hitting a record on Sunday and new cases above 350,000 daily.
The resurgence in infections has sent some cities back into lockdown and shuttered businesses, dealing a blow to the world’s fourth-biggest car market, which had just begun to recover from its worst-ever sales slowdown.
Surjitt Sahani
