Suzuki Motor Corporation’s massive confidence in India was shown through its recently reported first quarter (April-June) results, where the blockage literally took off.
The Japanese manufacturer’s total 2.63 lakh sets saw Japan as its largest market with 1.06 lakh sets, while India fell 82% to 66,000 sets. This is not unexpected given that car sales in India were zero in April and almost reached a recovery appearance in May.
Europe’s contribution to this unhappy scenario amounted to 36,000 sets, while the other regions offset the balance of 55,000 sets. Even in Asia, the devastation caused by the pandemic there for all. Indonesia lost 63% to 9,000 sets and Pakistan fell 75% to 8,000 sets. The same story ran all the way to Thailand, the Philippines, China and Myanmar, where sales of Suzuki cars plummeted and totaled 14,000 sets.
Compare this limited total of 2.63 lakh sets during this era with 7.38 lakh sets in the quarter from April to June 2019 and the effect of Covid-19 is more than evident. India was not only the leading market with 3.7 lakh sets, but Japan was also relatively larger with 1.67 lakh sets with Europe in 75,000 sets. Other parts of the world, Asia and a handful of smaller regions, accounted for the balance of 1.26 lakh sets.
On some level, this decline was only expected given the severity of the pandemic and the blockade that accompanied it that virtually flattened the economy. All automakers operating in India and the rest of the world have suffered, with notable exceptions such as Korea and Japan.
Although Suzuki indicated in his presentation that operations in India have “progressively begun” either in their factories and in their dealers, there is still some degree of apprehension. “While the number of inflamed patients is expanding every day in India, the end of Covid-19 is unclear,” the company said.
Currently, daily infections in India are now closer to the 60,000 mark, although the overall count is developing rapidly. The country is now only the United States and Brazil on the rankings list, and experts reiterate that it is only a matter of time before crossing the 3 million mark.
It is this truth that can worry automakers like Suzuki only because it can lead to locks at the point of the state which, in turn, will trigger the source chain. This was noted in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra, where Covid-induced blockages caused fins to fall for a large number of component manufacturers.
Throughout the ASEAN region, where Suzuki operates in some key markets, the story was almost the same in terms of depressed sales “due to anti-Covid-19 prevention measures taken in all countries.” As a result, Indonesia collapsed due to “the effect of suspension and relief on production and sales” as a result of large-scale social constraints implemented as of April 10.
Sales in the Philippines fell 70 cents year-over-year due to restrictions on departures “such as enhanced network quarantine in Luzon.” In the case of Thailand, there was an initial statement of urgency, “restrictions on economic activity” were eased due to the minimisation of the number of patients. As for Myanmar, the decline in sales was due to the suspension of auto registration offices from 25 March to 11 May.
Finally, in the appearance of two-wheeled vehicles where India is also its largest market, Suzuki has few explanations for why to rejoice. Sales for the quarter from April to June fell to 54,000 games (compared to last year’s corresponding 1.7 lakh era), while China rose to the most sensitive level with 94,000 (87,000) games.
Experts believe, however, that non-public mobility will accumulate a quasi-obsession of buyers, sales of motorcycles and scooters in the withdrawal of this tax. Suzuki hopes this will also make entry-level cars bigger where it is obviously the leader in the Indian market.
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