MG Motor India Pvt Ltd, the maker of Hector sports utility vehicle, on Friday reported nil retail sales for April as all dealerships remained shut during the month amid the nationwide lockdown.
‘MG Motor India, which reports only retail sales figures, has recorded zero retail sales for the month of April,’ the company said in an official statement today. The carmaker has resumed operations and began manufacturing on a small scale at its plant in Halol in Gujarat in the last week of April after the government eased lockdown norms for certain industries and firms based in rural areas, the company said.
MG Motor hopes to ramp up production in May and is working with its local vendors to ensure smooth supply chain support. The company is preparing new protocols to resume work that will include sanitization and social distancing. The company, on April 30, said its engineering team at Halol plant, in partnership with Ahmedabad-based Natraj Motor Body Builders, has converted its Hector SUV into a makeshift ambulance and the vehicle was donated to healthcare authorities in Vadodara. The Hector ambulance is fitted with auto-loading stretcher, oxygen system with cylinder, fire extinguisher, medicine cabinet with 5 parameter monitor, internal lighting and top light bar with siren and amplifier, inverter with battery and sockets and other medical equipment. The company also tied up with Vadodara-based AB Industries, a leading indigenous manufacturer of ventilators, to help the latter boost production of the medical device.
The two companies plan to ramp up production capacity to 300 ventilators per month under phase one, which would be completed in next 8 weeks. They plan to further raise capacity under phase two to produce up to 1,000 ventilators per month.
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