We have all grown weary from this long-drawn-out emergency. Mass-testing is statistically impossible and no vaccine has broken the horizon. Yet carmakers in India are still fighting the good fight. It has been more than a month since the last car was sold in India. But automotive companies are donating millions of rupees to their respective state government organisations, and some are doing hands-on work in the community. In India's fight against the coronavirus, here are the top news stories since our last update:
Carmakers Are Planning To Resume Operations:
State governments are complying with the Union's allowance to resume industrial and construction operations. The police in Haryana has given the green light to Maruti Suzuki to bring some of its employees back to work in Gurugram and Manesar. Toyota Kirloskar Motors has issued a set of guidelines to dealerships to maintain social distancing and sanitation. Your next Toyota purchase will likely be delivered at home. The delivery person will sanitise the seat and steering wheel before dropping the keys onto your sanitised palms.
Monetary And Medical Equipment Donations To Fight Coronavirus:
Hyundai has donated Rs 7 crore to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund for COVID-19. It has sent masks, protective equipment, and hand sanitisers worth Rs 9 crore to state governments of Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Maruti Suzuki has donated 2 lakh of the 1 million promised three-ply face masks to the Gurugram administration. The carmaker is helping its joint venture partner Krishna Maruti to produce 50,000 masks each day. MG has given 100 Hector SUVs with drivers and fuel to police, medical and government personnel for free. The carmaker has donated ventilators and protective equipment in India to medical authorities and ration kits for the poor during the lockdown.
Customer Support Post Lockdown:
Nissan India will give all its customers emergency roadside assistance during the lockdown. Once the lockdown is lifted, the carmaker will provide a month of support to customers whose free service and warranty periods ended after March 23. Tata Motors will provide similar support for two months post-lockdown. Customers of Tata Motors Suraksha annual maintenance contract will have a month of extended support.
Force Motors Mobile Dispensaries:
The automotive manufacturer is working with the Bharatiya Jan Sangathan to help economically weaker localities in Pune. The 30 mobile dispensary vans can collectively monitor 500 patients a day and check up to 2,500 people a day for coronavirus symptoms. Since April 1, these dispensaries have checked over 95,600 patients. 945 people who had the virus were transferred to government hospitals for treatment. The carmaker has extended this support to other cities in Maharashtra using a total of 73 vans, and has consigned Rs 25 crore to help the state in its battle against the pandemic.
Maruti Suzuki Is Feeding People in Haryana:
Maruti's in-house canteens in Manesar and Gurguram are making and distributing 5,400 food packets to student trainees and temporary workers in villages around these facilities each day. They have donated 120,000 such food packets. The carmaker is working with local authorities and the Indian Red Cross Society to donate 500 dry ration kits daily. By Monday, this had amounted to 10,000 kits in three weeks. Maruti has also set up 17 'Water ATMs' in 16 villages. You can purchase drinking water for 35 paise per litre. Each of these ATMs displays the water purity by total dissolved solids (TDS), water temperature, and pH.
Motorsport Update:
Bahrain International Circuit Mechanical Engineers have developed respiratory assistance equipment for non-ICU patients. Their blueprints are freely available for any organization or production unit across the world. The machines were approved by Bahrain's health ministry and will be produced at the venue. Silverstone has made its medical centre available to the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. It houses four ambulances, four cars for medical intervention, and bays for observation and resuscitation.
International Updates:
Tata Motors has extended its support by two months to customers in Latin America, all of Africa, the middle east, and south-east Asia. Morris Garages has donated 100 MG ZS EVs to the NHS in the UK. Jaguar and Land Rover will resume manufacturing at its facilities in Solihull, UK, Slovakia and Austria on May 18.
The long-term fight against the coronavirus is likely to have us working through it while social distancing. We expect government-imposed lockdowns to become progressively relaxed in the next few months. For the barrage of new car launches post-quarantine, watch this space.
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