Automakers joining hands for the fight against Corona virus

The outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), is fast spreading across the world and is having a major impact on all aspects of society, including the automotive industry. Automobile and component manufacturing plants are being shuttered around the world, consumer footfalls in showrooms have fallen sharply, vehicle sales are dropping dramatically and almost every major industry event is either being cancelled or going the digital way. Despite such outbreaks numerous automakers have announced initiatives for the fight against coronavirus.

Here is the complete lowdown on how the automotive industry plans to support the relief efforts.

Bajaj 

• The Bajaj Group has announced a Rs 100 crore COVID-19 pandemic relief package that aims to upgrade healthcare facilities as well as support initiatives to provide food and shelter to those in need. In addition, the company will also help those affected in rural areas by means of a special economic aid programme.

Hero

• The Hero Group has announced that it will contribute Rs 100 Crore as aid for the ongoing COVID-19 relief efforts in India. Half of this sum, Rs 50 Crore, will be contributed to the PM CARES Fund and the remaining Rs 50 crore will be spent in other relief efforts.

Honda 

• Honda India Foundation has earmarked Rs 11 crore to support relief efforts during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The organisation will extend financial aid towards Central and State governments’ relief funds in the five states where Honda manufacturing facilities are located, including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Hyundai 

• Contributing towards the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, Hyundai Motor India Foundation has brought in advanced diagnostic testing kits for COVID-19 from South Korea. The procured kits, worth Rs 4 crore and said to be capable of testing 25,000 people, have been handed over to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). 
• Hyundai Motor India Foundation has announced that it has donated a sum of Rs 7 crore to the PM CARES Fund, in addition to pledging another Rs 5 crore to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.  

Kia

• As a goodwill measure, Kia Motors India, which has a manufacturing unit in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, has donated Rs 2 crore to the state’s Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.

Mahindra & Mahindra

• Mahindra's agri chemicals plant has begun manufacturing hand sanitizers. 
• Mahindra Group chairman, Anand Mahindra, revealed over Twitter that that the company is contemplating the manufacture of ventilators at its production facilities and converting its Mahindra Holidays resorts into temporary care facilities for COVID-19 patients. 

Maruti Suzuki

• Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) has entered into an agreement with AgVa Healthcare, a medical equipment manufacturer, for producing up to 10,000 ventilators per month. 
• Krishna Maruti, a joint venture of Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), has begun supplying triple-ply face masks to local authorities. The company has pledged to provide one million face masks, produced in-house, to the Haryana and Gujarat governments each.  
•  Maruti Suzuki has announced that it is making potable water available at very nominal rates across 16 villages through 17 of its ‘water ATMs’, which can dispense over 1,000 litres of drinking water per hour. Moreover, the auto major has provided 16 waste collection vans for village sanitisation in Manesar and Rohtak and supplied face masks and other protective equipment through the Gurugram administration. 

Mercedes-Benz 

• Mercedes-Benz India will set up a temporary hospital in Pune, with a 1,500-bed isolation ward for COVID-19 patients. The German brand will also support 1,600 daily-wage workers and below-poverty-line (BPL) families from Khed and Viman Nagar areas of the city by providing them with dry ration and cleaning kits.

MG

• MG Motor India has announced a challenge for developing an affordable ventilator.
• The automaker has pledged to donate Rs 2 crore to government hospitals and health institutions in Gurugram, Haryana, and Halol in Gujarat. While the firm’s is headquartered in the former city, it has 80,000-unit capacity manufacturing plant in the latter. 
•  MG has announced that it will be providing 100 units of the Hector SUV to personnel involved in delivering essential services across the country “till the end of May 2020.”

Piaggio 

• The company has extended support to approximately 1,000 migrants by providing food and shelter to stay near the Piaggio factory in Baramati. In addition, Piaggio is working with the local government hospital to build an isolation ward for those affected by COVID-19. The company has also installed a sanitisation unit at the Sassoon Government Hospital in Pune to help healthcare workers. The automaker has distributed Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for these frontline workers as well.

Skoda-Volkswagen  

• Volkswagen India has announced that it will be contributing to the PM CARES fund for every car it delivers to healthcare professionals.
• Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited will be donating Rs 1 crore to the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune towards establishing a dedicated COVID-19 facility with 1,100 beds. The automaker will also provide 35,000 sanitizers to hospitals in Pune, Aurangabad, and Mumbai, and distribute food packets among the underprivileged in the Aurangabad region. 

Tata

• Tata Trusts has earmarked Rs 500 crore to empower and protect affected communities from the COVID-19 outbreak. Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Trusts has announced that the organisation is committing the sum for providing personal protective equipment, respiratory systems and testing kits and setting up modular treatment facilities for patients.
• Following this announcement, Tata Sons pledged another Rs 1,000 crore in the fight against the disease. In an official statement, the company said, "In addition to the initiatives articulated by Tata Trusts, we are also bringing in the ventilators necessary and are gearing up to also manufacture the same soon in India." 

TVS

• The TVS Motor Company has announced a Rs 30 crore economic aid package which is being funded by the Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), the social division of the TVS Motor Company and Sundaram-Clayton Limited.

BMW

• BMW Group India has pledged a sum of Rs 3 crore in the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic, with its employees also chipping in with voluntary contributions. The Group will aid in the creation of an isolation ward for patients at the Government General Hospital in Chengalpattu, near its Chennai plant. The company will provide critical care equipment to medical facilities and personal protective equipment (PPE) to medical personnel and law enforcement agencies in Delhi-NCR and Chennai. 

Being Tough time for everyone, major initiatives from all industries leads a better way!!