India’s new vehicle market has made a surprising recovery from the initial disruption of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and is on track for a strong 2021. With 2019 and 2020 both poor years for new vehicle sales, a return to form comes at a good time.
In March, the state government of Maharashtra initiated local lockdowns that affected major cities such as Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune. A national lockdown eventually came into force, and saw numerous factories shuttered as authorities sought to curb the spread of the virus. Skoda suspended production at its Aurangabad plant, for example, and Kia did the same at its colossal Anantpur factory, which has annual capacity for 300,000 units. Others including Fiat Chrysler, Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors also followed suit.
April proved to be the worst month for
