Coronavirus impact: Some state authorities ask auto dealers to shut operations

auto dealerships in Ganjam, Orissa have recently received a notification from the state government to temporarily shut their shops until further notice.

According to the official order accessed by ETAuto, ‘garages’ and ‘vehicle showrooms’ have been declared to be shut in order to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

Some of the dealers from Nashik, Maharashtra have also reportedly received a similar notification from the state authorities.

"So far we have received the information that two of our members in Pune have been asked by the local police to shut their dealerships. One of them is B.U. Bhandari, a Honda motorcycles dealer," said Ashish Kale, President, FADA."In other cities too, there has been some notification from the government officials to shut down vehicle showrooms. As for Maharashtra, they talked about retail outlets in mall, so we are still trying to get clarity if that will be a shutdown all across," he added.

The notice requires the measures to be strictly adhered to, failing which action as deemed proper will be taken as per the establishment.

The development is raising alarms for the dealers as the notice comes at a time when less than 15 days are left to go for an emission norms overhaul in the country.

“One of the reasons for decrease in customer footfalls at the dealerships was coronavirus. The outbreak has already hurt our efforts to clear the leftover BS-IV inventory,” said one of the dealers from the North.

The dealers’ lobby body is also looking at approaching the Supreme Court again to seek an extension to the deadline beyond which they cannot sell Bharat Stage-IV vehicles.