Coronavirus Update: Honda Dealerships Spring Back Into Action

Honda India has announced that it has commenced dealership operations, phase-wise in green and orange zones from May 4, 2020. This move comes in compliance with the revised rules laid down by the government.

The pandemic has brought the whole world to its knees with the entire country under lockdown from March 24. This was necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus even though it resulted in the closure of all dealerships and suspension of production across all the automobile manufacturers.

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Consequently, sales in April were severely affected. In a bid to offer financial support, Honda had provided a Rs 1,700 crore coronavirus relief package to its dealers in April. Honda has assured that liquidity aid will continue and that its dealerships are complying with all the necessary safety protocols and social distancing norms. Besides, the company has also issued a ‘Dealership Operations Resumption Manual’ to minimise the spread of potential infection.

Further elaborating on its recent initiative, Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Director – Sales and Marketing, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India said, “In these challenging times, Honda 2Wheelers India proactively extended a comprehensive financial support package for its dealers. We have also decided to bear an additional 19 days’ interest making it a total of 40 days of interest cost by Honda on the BSVI inventory at our dealers. We are confident that the overall support extended will largely ease business continuity concerns of our dealers. Also, with the significant easing of economic activities restrictions by the government, we are moving forward cautiously in a stepwise manner. Safeguarding all stakeholders’ health and well-being, our dealers who are in green and orange zones are starting their operations to serve our customers. Honda family reassures its customers that your safety comes first at every Honda outlet across India.”

Expect sales to limp back to normal, albeit slowly and steadily. We have also contacted Honda for clarification on the resumption of production at its manufacturing plants in India. Honda has said it will be making an announcement in a couple of days. Stay tuned for updates.