Covid-19 impact: Honda Cars India stops production in Greater Noida plant

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Covid-19 impact: Honda Cars India stops production in Greater Noida plant



All Head Office functions, India R&D Centre and Spare Parts operations (including warehouse) for Automobile, Two Wheeler and Power Product business will continue to operate from Greater Noida

Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL) today announced realignment of its manufacturing operations with the goal of improving business efficiency. The company claims that it has been done to maintain sustainability of operations by leveraging production & supply chain efficiencies. HCIL has decided to consolidate the manufacturing operations for vehicles and components at its Tapukara plant in Rajasthan with immediate effect for all domestic sales and exports.

The company has stopped the production in Greater Noida plant. However, all Head Office functions, India R&D Centre and Spare Parts operations (including warehouse) for Automobile, Two Wheeler and Power Product business will continue to operate from Greater Noida.

With the closure of Greater Noida facility, HCIL has also discontinued CR-V and Civic models in the country. Both the models were being manufactured at the plant.

Mr. Gaku Nakanishi, President & CEO, Honda Cars India said, "Despite an uptick in sales in the last three months, the current market conditions remain unpredictable for the industry at large. The impact of COVID-19 has pressed us to strengthen our constitution, and to achieve the same, HCIL has decided to consolidate its manufacturing operations by making the Tapukara plant a unified manufacturing base. HCIL continues to believe in the resilience of the Indian economy and hope for a quicker recovery of the market. India is extremely important market in Honda's global strategy and HCIL is committed to bring its latest and advanced technology models including electrified vehicles in future."

Commenting on the end of road for CR-V and Civic models in India, Goel said: "It is a difficult decision for us to stop production of CR-V and Civic as both are popular global models. It has been done as Tapukara plant was conceived as a high efficiency facility for small and mid-sized cars. Cars above a certain size cannot be manufactured there unless you make certain investments there," he said.

With resumption of operations after the COVID-19 led lockdown, HCIL successfully ramped-up its daily production volume to pre-covid level from September 2020 and has been consistently witnessing monthly sales growth for the last three months. HCIL sales showed good recovery in the festive period and the company expects to sustain this sales momentum during the coming months.

Source : https://www.livemint.com/auto-news/covid-19-impact-honda-cars-india-stops-production-in-greater-noida-plant-11608717110126.html