Japanese carmakers halt Indian operations

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp, Honda Motor Co, Suzuki Motor Corp and Nissan Motor Corp said yesterday that they have halted operations at their plants in India due to the spread of the new coronavirus.

Toyota has suspended operations at its two plants in Karnataka state as employees could not commute to the sites after the Indian government instructed public transportation operators to suspend business.

Toyota, which produced some 116,000 units in India in 2019, including the Corolla sedan and Innova minivan, said it was undecided about operations at the two factories from today onward.

Honda also has stopped operations at two vehicle factories making the City compact sedan and other models as well as four motorcycle plants until March 31.

Suzuki, the market leader in India with 30% of group sales coming from the South Asian country, stopped output at its Gurgaon and Manesar plants in the state of Haryana, operated by its local subsidiary Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

Suzuki also suspended business at its research and development centre in Haryana.

Nissan said it has halted its auto plant in the state of Tamil Nadu for the safety of employees and does not know when it can be restarted.

Japanese carmakers’ production in Central and South America has also been effected.

Nissan said it would suspend its vehicle manufacturing in Mexico from tomorrow to April 14, while Toyota will halt its plant in Brazil from today to April 3 and has stopped production at its factory in Argentina from Friday to March 31.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp, meanwhile, stopped operations at its factory on the northern Philippine island of Luzon from March 17 and will continue the measure until April 12 in line with the Philippine government’s measure restricting residents from going outdoors.

Toyota and other Japanese automakers have resumed operations in China, but have been shutting operations at its factories in the United States and Europe in line with governments’ requests.