Car sales feel the heat in April, OEMs brace for a tough May

With the second wave of the Covid pandemic underway in India, business and industry are once again taking a hit, with lockdown-like restrictions imposed in several states. Among them, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Jharkhand are the key states with major curbs imposed on people movement and operation of marketplaces, malls as well as vehicle showrooms and service centres.

As a result, the auto industry, which had started seeing the wheels of economy finally turning through the second half of CY2020 through to March 2021, began staring at an April 2020-like situation.

Major carmakers including Maruti Suzuki, ...