Coronavirus impact: Toyota records a sale of 1639 units in May 2020

Toyota Kirloskar Motor has announced that it has sold 1639 units in the month of May. The company sold 12,138 units in the domestic market and exported 928 units of Etios in May 2019. Toyota recently resumed production at its plant in Bidadi, and the company has been catering to pending orders ever since the lockdown was announced.

The company started resuming operations in a phased manner in May, almost 60 per cent of the company's dealerships were functional by the middle of the month. But, this did not include red zones and key metropolitan markets. As an effort to help the existing customers, the company rolled out the customer connect program along with several other features that ease customers' problems regarding vehicle care. These include the extension of vehicle warranty for new and Toyota vehicles purchased from Toyota U-trust, free maintenance service, roadside assistance, extended warranty and prepaid maintenance package for up to two months.

The company has announced free emergency support up to 15 days after lockdown for those who won't be able to renew the coverage and in case of emergencies where Toyota vehicles are involved, the dealerships are taking care of it with doorstep facilities as essential services.

Toyota also helped the health force and daily wage workers during these testing times, the company distributed 1,000 essential kits to the daily wage workers who are suffering the sudden nationwide lockdown of 21 days, each kit consisted of 20 food items and other essentials. The employees of the company provided 27 boxes of food kits that support around 30 families. Over 3000 Hazmat suits were distributed to health force workers in a phased manner to help fight the spread of COVID-19.

Naveen Soni, Sr. Vice President of Sales and Service at TKM said, "We are thankful to the Govt. as well as to our supplier and dealer partners who have enabled us resume production last month. We are conscious of the dealer business conditions in various parts of the country and we have been prioritizing production at our end as per dealer requirements, both in terms of quantity as well as the grades that they require. The market has been slow and with demand being less, we have been able to wholesale only 20% of what we would have clocked under a normal situation. However, retail sales (sale from dealer to customer) have been much higher when compared to wholesales (TKM sales to dealers), thereby helping us reduce the month closing inventory levels at dealerships. We have also seen a significant surge in customer orders and enquiries online, through digital platforms. We are very thankful to our customers as well who trust us and our products as well as have been patient with us.  We have now resumed operations in more than 300 Toyota outlets across the country, with ongoing sales operations in close to 220 outlets and service operations in more than 230 outlets. From sales and service point of view, business is ramping up and we are exceeding 50% of our normal capacity from the open outlets. We would like to ensure our customers that with the resumption of production at our plant, our first aim is to cater to the immediate needs of our customers in areas where deliveries are possible. We have been receiving online orders as well and have started to address them, while placing the highest priority to the safety and well-being of all stakeholders and by adopting the 'Safety and Health First' approach at all times."