Tata Motors, Bridgestone, Hyundai, Okinawa, Nissan, JK Tyre reopen plants

In this latest round of resumption of plant operations and other activities, Indian auto companies in the news include Tata Motors, Honda Cars India, Bridgestone India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Hero MotoCorp, Hyundai Motor India, Mahindra & Mahindra, Audi India, Nissan India, Okinawa, Bajaj Auto, JK Tyre and Renault India. 

On May 7, 2020 Motown India had reported the news that a clutch of Indian auto companies have resumed their operations after more than a month of plant shutdown. Now several more Indian companies have either started their operations partially or have fine tuned their sales network to begin selling their vehicles. Jisha P, News Coordinator, Motown India reports.

Click here to read report: BMW, MERCEDES-BENZ, TVS, ROYAL ENFIELD, VECV, OTHERS RESUME PRODUCTION

TATA MOTORS: Tata Motors  has initiated a calibrated restart of manufacturing operations for both commercial and passenger vehicles from its plants located at Pantnagar (Uttarakhand and from Sanand (Gujarat). Tata Motors plants in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Dharwad (Karnataka), Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) and Pune (only for Ambulance Vehicle manufacturing) are in final stage of readiness and expect to begin production soon. This commencement of operations follows receipt of all necessary approvals from relevant Government authorities, the company announced.

Dedicated ‘Restart’ teams at each location have curated detailed guidelines and conducted intensive trainings for maintaining social distancing at all workplaces, shop floors and canteen facilities. Enhanced sanitisation measures are being implemented and only limited, operationally required staff is being asked to come to work in personal vehicles or company transport.

Every employee re-joining the workplace is required to download and use the mandatory ‘Aarogya Setu’ app. Employees are also required to periodically check-in and declare the status of their own, as well as their family’s health on the Tata Motors in-house health track portal. In addition, all employees and visitors entering and exiting the plant premises are also being screened for temperature checks.

Nearly 200 dealerships and 300 workshops for passenger vehicles and over 400 sales outlets and 885 workshops for commercial vehicles have begun operations with a new set of standard operating procedure (SOPs) defining minimal interactions and maintaining prudent social distance while engaging with customers. Over the last few days, customers have initiated new bookings, deliveries of passenger vehicles have commenced and workshops are seeing increasing inflow of vehicles for servicing.

For its commercial vehicle customers, Tata Motors extended all possible technical support to keep vehicles running during the lockdown. Additionally, timelines of vehicle warranty, free services and Tata Suraksha AMC have also been extended.

HONDA CARS INDIA: Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL) announced that 155 dealership facilities have re-opened so far across the country after getting necessary approvals from local authorities to restart operations. This includes 118 showrooms and 155 service outlets cumulatively. With safety and well-being of customers and dealer staff as top most priority, HCIL is closely working with all dealership to ensure strict adherence to the comprehensive guidelines of sanitisation, safety & distancing in line with government norms as well as specified by the company.

The Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the dealerships include preparation before restart of operations in terms of facility readiness, equipment fitness check, availability of personal protective and sanitization equipment, manpower readiness and sanitisation. Once the operation starts, there is heightened focus on contactless customer experience with extensive use of digitalised mediums for product explanation and online means of communication for all sales and service needs.

BRIDGESTONE INDIA: With the government announcing various relaxations and guidelines, Bridgestone India has resumed its operations across its manufacturing facilities in Indore and Pune. The company has also resumed operations across most of its warehouses. Bridgestone India’s ramp-up has been planned in a phased manner, keeping the primary focus on the safety of their employees and second, to ensure continuity of business operations.

TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR MOTOR:  Toyota Kirloskar Motor announced the partial resumption of dealer and after sales operations. Closely adhering to the advisory issued by the Central and State Governments, the company announced the partial reopening of 171 dealership outlets, which are now functional. Close to 146 service outlets of Toyota are also operational nationally, providing its services by prioritising domains like spare parts supply in response to the market needs where service activities have already started.

Similarly, TKM understands that close to 75% of its suppliers have received a nod from the Government to recommence operations, while the remainder are expected to receive the necessary permission soon, the company press note stated.

 Also, following the directive issued by the Government, TKM started preparatory operations at the plant beginning May 5, 2020.

HERO MOTOCORP: Hero MotoCorp has commenced its retail operations with the re-opening of more than 1500 customer touch-points including authorised dealerships and service centers. These outlets contribute to around 30% of the Company’s total domestic retail sales. Around 10,000 units of motorcycles and scooters have already been sold since the reopening of these customer touch points.

Keeping the safety and wellbeing of everyone as top-most priority, the company has issued a Restart Manual to all its dealerships, service centers and parts distributors.

Hero MotoCorp also commenced vehicle dispatches from its manufacturing facilities for the current fiscal year (FY’21) on May 7. All of Hero MotoCorp’s manufacturing facilities across the globe had halted operations since March 22 as a precautionary preventive measure against COVID-19.

On May 4, Hero MotoCorp became the first two-wheeler manufacturer in the country to resume operations after it reopened three of its manufacturing plants at Dharuhera and Gurgaon in Haryana and Haridwar in Uttarakhand.

HYUNDAI MOTOR INDIA: Hyundai Motor India Ltd. rolled-out 200 cars on first day of production restart at its plant at Sriperumbudur, Chennai. The company commenced production operations on May 08, 2020, ensuring   100 % social distancing compliance in accordance with standard operating procedure.

Hyundai is adhering to all the guidelines set by the State and Central Government and also practicing 360-degree safety – care at workplace & care at all times within the factory premises.

MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA: Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) announced the launch of ‘Own-Online’, a complete, end to end, online vehicle ownership solution. A new way to own a Mahindra vehicle, Own-Online is a one-stop, 24X7 destination where the customer can finance, insure, exchange, accessorise and own a Mahindra vehicle in 4 simple steps, from the comfort of their homes. (www.mahindrasyouv.com/Own-Online).

 Own-Online is a seamless solution where the customer can personalize their vehicles, instantly generate an exchange, finance & insurance quotations in a few clicks and make booking payment, making the car ownership journey end-to-end and online in the true sense.

Mahindra’s pan-India network of 270+ dealers & 900+ touchpoints is integrated with the Own-Online platform through robust back-end technology & process cohesion. This will enable a seamless & personalised end-to-end customer experience, offering convenience of online purchasing and comfort of local assistance. Dealerships have upgraded their procedures & processes and are trained to minimize physical contact. In fact, additional precautions are being taken across the customer interaction processes such as test drives, document collection and vehicle delivery to ensure high hygiene standards are maintained.

AUDI INDIA:  Audi India announced a vital step in its digitalization journey with the roll-out of digital sales and after-sales offerings. The incorporation of Augmented Reality, a 360° Product Visualizer, and online bookings on the Audi India website bring the buying experience straight to a prospective customer’s fingertips.

Buyers can now familiarise themselves with features, configure their Audi, explore finance options, and place an order, all from the comfort of their home.  Audi was the first luxury car manufacturer in India to leverage Virtual Reality (VR), enabling Audi Q8 and Audi A8 L buyers to engage with, and personalise their cars.  Further, existing Audi customers can now book a service on the Audi India website and can schedule a car pick-up and drop as per their convenience. Real-time service status updates and online payment options will be added over the course of time.

NISSAN INDIA: Nissan India has started dispatch of its BS VI vehicles from its alliance manufacturing facility in Chennai to its dealerships in green and orange zone across the country. Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd (NMIPL), the marketing and sales organisation also opened its office in Gurgaon as per local government guidelines.

Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt. Ltd. (RNAIPL), the alliance manufacturing facility in Oragadam, Chennai resumed production as per local guidelines on May 4 and dispatch of vehicles started on May 7.

All staff at dealerships and service centres have been trained with the new standard operating procedure to ensure health and hygiene of all stakeholders.

OKINAWA: Okinawa, a leading electric 2-wheeler manufacturing company with a focus on Make in India announced resuming operations with 25 percent workforce at its corporate office and manufacturing unit.  Further to the Government’s relaxation of rules, Okinawa has shared that it will maintain safety measures at workplace, manufacturing unit, and dealership networks, as it begins business activities. The brand has issued advisory to its dealership network, which too will be operating with 25 % staff. At the same time, all the products will be sanitised before getting dispatched from the assembly at the manufacturing unit and dealer partner will sanitize post receiving the products.  To ensure the safety of the customers and dealers, the proper thermal screening will be conducted at all the dealerships of Okinawa, as per the advisory. Also, all the dealerships re-opening in orange and green zones will be disinfected on daily basis.

At the corporate office, Okinawa is taking precautionary measures by working on seating arrangements of the employees to maintain social distancing. Following Government advisory, the brand has also made AarogyaSetu mobile application compulsory for employees along with masks and other protective equipment.  .

Meanwhile, before resuming manufacturing activities, the brand has also installed sanitization tunnel for individuals at the plant.

Amidst the COVID-19 scenario, Okinawa also announced a hike in dealer margin from 8 percent to 11 percent to enable its dealer network to make more profits.

BAJAJ AUTO:  Bajaj Auto has commenced reopening of dealerships and service centres in various parts of the country from May 4, 2020. This recommencement of facilities is as per the various guidelines by the Central and State government with the dealerships taking permission from the respective local authorities. All the touch points are following mandated protocols to ensure the safety of customers and dealer staff.

All the facilities have been have been sanitized prior to restart of business. There are social distancing protocols in place at all customer facing touch points at dealerships. Mandatory thermal screening at the entrance and regular monitoring of employees’ health is being done to ensure a completely safe environment at dealership and service locations.

JK TYRE: Indian tyre industry major JK Tyre & Industries Ltd announced partial resumption of operations after adhering to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India and permissions granted by the respective state governments and local authorities.

JK Tyre has commenced production in a graded manner at its manufacturing facilities in Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Kankroli (Rajasthan) and Laksar (through Cavendish industries Ltd.- subsidiary company,  in Uttarakhand). The Company has also resumed operations at its global Research & Development hub, Raghupati Singhania Centre of Excellence, Mysore, Karnataka.

The remaining manufacturing plants of JK Tyre in India and Mexico are in preparatory mode and will resume operations subsequently.

All the facilities will function with restricted manpower and stringent precautionary measures to ensure safety, sanitisation and social distancing.

Only the essential staff will be allowed to the listed facilities and the remaining employees across corporate office, sales offices and other plants will continue to work from home until further notice.

RENAULT INDIA: Renault India opened its office and select dealerships and service centres, and has introduced several safety and hygiene measures as it prepares to welcome back customers across all its touchpoints. Renault has opened more than 194showrooms and workshops in line with the new safety protocols and the remaining touchpoints will be opened in a phased-wise manner based on permissions from the local authorities.

Renault dealerships have ensured special care to sanitise their facilities and test drive cars. There are multiple training programmes, protocols and processes in place to monitor the execution of Renault’s customer-first initiatives and efforts, as a part of their ‘Welcome Back’ initiative.

Phase-wise operations have commenced at Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd. (RNAIPL), Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India Private Ltd. (RNTBCI), Renault Finance and the Renault corporate office in Chennai. Renault has also started dispatches of cars from the plant to North India and Tamil Nadu. Export of critical ‘Make in India’ parts has begun from the facilities in Chennai and Pune to select global markets.