Between BSVI and Coronavirus⁠— Indian auto majors like Tata Motors and Mahindra see massive dents in car sales

• Tata Motors, Mahindra, Honda saw a big drop in their sales numbers, Maruti Suzuki managed to survive the fall.
  
• The decline in sales adds to the over 11-month slowdown that the auto companies have been subject to.
  
• Most manufacturers have said that now it's going to take a “few weeks” before normalcy can be restored.
  

The auto industry has seen no respite even in the new year, with car manufacturers reporting massive decline in sales in February. While the likes of Tata Motors, Mahindra, Honda saw a big drop in their sales numbers, Maruti Suzuki managed to survive the fall.


And it might take even longer for companies to get back on track. The pessimism was visible in the share prices on Monday (March 2). For Tata Motors, its sales for February stood at 38,002 units, falling from 57,221 in the same month last year. Mahindra & Mahindra managed to sell 32,476 units, while the company had sold 56,005 units in February 2019.



Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki saw total sales of 1,47,110 units, whereas in February it had sold 1,48,682 units.


From the coronavirus outbreak to the impending BSVI transition, all has brought only further bad news for automakers. “We are on track for the BSVI migration, with BSIV stocks being consumed as per plan and BSVI production initiated. The supply disruptions from the COVID-19 outbreak in China could have some impact on the BSVI transition and all efforts are underway to mitigate it,” said Girish Wagh, President, Commercial Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors said in a statement.

The decline in sales adds to the over 11-month slowdown that the auto companies have been subject to. Most manufacturers have said that now it's going to take a “few weeks” before normalcy can be restored.

"Because of the unforeseeable challenges on the parts-supply from China, our BS VI ramp-up has been affected. Going into March, we anticipate the challenge on parts-supply to continue for another few weeks, before we get back to normalcy," Veejay Ram Nakra, Chief of Sales and Marketing, Automotive Division, M&M Ltd said in a statement.


The Indian government had made it mandatory for only BSVI vehicles to be sold beginning April 2020, with the same car manufacturers can hope for consumer sentiment to rise again.

See Also: Maruti, Mahindra and the likes have a new battle to fight – the growing Chinese competition amidst slowdown