New Delhi:
Vehicle production across all categories is likely to be critically hampered due to the coronavirus outbreak in China as many automakers in India import about 10 percent of their raw materials from the neighbouring nation, auto industry body SIAM said on March 11.
Indian auto industry had already maintained an inventory in the beginning of the year in anticipation of the Chinese New Year holiday but with the current lockdown in China, supply for BS-VI vehicles is likely to get impacted, SIAM President Ranjan Wadhera said in a statement.
The auto industry body said disruption in availability of these parts is likely to critically hamper production across all segments, namely passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers, two-wheelers and gravely affecting electric vehicles.
"Manufacturers are exploring alternatives to fulfil their supply chain demands but that would also take a substantial amount of time to reach stable production scale as these components would need regulatory testing," he added.
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has been in touch with the government with specific recommendations on behalf of the auto industry, he added.
BMW
Meanwhile,German automaker BMW said the company does not see any impact of supply chain disruption on its India operations till June due to the coronavirus outbreak, a top company official said. The company said it will have to assess the impact of the outbreak on the products coming in after June.
"As of now we are fine and comfortable for the next quarter (April-June). We have a very clear picture..On certain products which are coming out beyond the quarter, we will have to see how the coronavirus impact pans out," BMW Group India President and CEO Rudratej Singh told PTI.
He, however, added it was a bit early to ascertain the complete impact of the outbreak on the supply chain.
"It is early days right now as the supply chain impact has a lag and I think the lag has not been fully felt by the industry yet. If it persists, things will get worse before they get better in terms of availability of supply chain and we are not seeing it right now," Singh said.
The company would watch the situation arising out of the outbreak very carefully going ahead, he added.
"It is a very fluid situation right now," Singh said. When asked to comment on the sales outlook for the current year, he said: "We have been competitive relative to others as we have actually comparatively gained segment share last year and in that situation we are confident that we will continue to be competitive this year as well."