Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Tuesday reported total sales of 707 units in May amidst the prevailing lockdowns and restrictions in several parts of the country due to coronavirus pandemic.
The company had reported wholesales of 9,622 units in April and 1,639 units in May last year.
Even before the state-wide lockdown was declared in Karnataka, the company had announced its annual maintenance shutdown at its plant in Bidadi from April 26 until May 14, so as to enhance its operational efficiencies, the automaker said in a statement.
"Last month witnessed no production at our plants in Bidadi as well as minimal sales owing to the much needed restrictions and sporadic lockdowns in different parts of the country. Hence comparing last month's performance to that of May 2020, would be highly skewed, as May 2020, had witnessed a gradual restart of both operations and sales," TKM Senior Vice President Naveen Soni said.
More so for TKM, as even before the restrictions were announced in Karnataka, the company was well within its planned annual maintenance shutdown, thereby adding onto the number of non-production days, he added.
"Having said that, the overall market situation as well as consumer sentiments are better than May 2020. In fact, we have even registered a 104 per cent growth in cumulative wholesales clocked from January to May in 2021, when compared to the same period last year," Soni noted.
The company also anticipates that factors like 'pent up demand' and the demand for personal mobility will continue to be quite significant once the markets open as consumers will want to own their vehicles instead of using shared or public mobility options, he added.
"A testimony to this is the fact that we have a very healthy number of pending orders and there has been no significant order cancellation against the orders. However, we will be able to take a better stock of the situation once the restrictions are relaxed," Soni said.
On the manufacturing side, the automaker is trying to ensure that all possible measures and preparations are made to resume production as soon as the lockdown is withdrawn, so as to be able to cater to the immediate mobility needs of our customers at the earliest, he added.
"Moreover, we are also focusing on vaccinating our employees as well as our dealer staff so as to ensure lower risk and severity of infections, once the markets open.
"More than anything else, we want our workforces to be safe and hence we are channelizing our synergies to drive vaccination camps for our employees at the plant as well as for our dealer staff at various dealership locations across the country," Soni said.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU