After Indus Motor Corporation (IMC) observed Non-Production Days (NPDs) for the latter half of September, Honda Atlas Cars Ltd (HACL) has followed suit slashing working days to 11 in September. Honda saw only 13 working days in August and 20 in July.
On the other hand, Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMCL) is in a less dire state. They haven’t seen a single NDP with the new 660CC Alto driving continued sales with 8,109 units sold in the last couple of months despite the WagonR seeing a 71.5% drop in sales during July-August 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.
Shafiq Ahmed Sheikh, spokesperson for PSMCL said,
The company has so far not observed any NPDs. We are monitoring the situation and by the end of this month we will review our production and sales outlook of July-September and future prospects of sales in coming months.
He refuted the rumors on social media about a halt in bookings of various cars saying, “Booking of new cars is going on.”
According to information available, Honda has over 3,000 units unsold at its plant and network, coupled with the stoppage of the second shift, the company has also laid off over 1,000 contractual employees in the last 3 months.
Sales have fallen by 30% in the FY2019 as compared to 2018 with Sabbir Alibhai, CEO-Partner of Honda Drive-In and Honda Quaideen saying, “The meltdown in the auto industry is far more frightening than expected.”
IMC, the automaker behind Toyota cars has observed 15 NPDs in September due to sustained decline in demand. The automaker saw 8 NPDs in July and 12 NPDs in August. It too has over 3,000 cars in unsold inventory. In September, the plant has been operational at less than 50% capacity.
