Maruti Suzuki Reopens 600 Dealerships, Beefs Up Online Booking For Car Sales

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. has reopened 600 dealerships across the country and started deliveries as well, the nation’s largest carmaker said Wednesday.

Operations at the firm's car plants in Manesar and Gurugram remain suspended as of now. India’s auto sector came to a grinding halt on March 24, when India’s entered the world’s strictest lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

Maruti Suzuki has put in place a comprehensive standard operating procedure across its sales outlets and bolstered its online-booking system for vehicle purchases.

"Over the last few days we have been able to make 600-odd dealerships operational across the country," Shashank Srivastava, executive director (marketing and sales) at Maruti Suzuki, told Press Trust of India. He said that dealers have applied for permissions to open up in states where such clearances are mandatory.

But reopening of all outlets will take some time. "It will depend on how soon we get approvals from respective state governments,” he said. The company has enough stock with dealers to take care of deliveries at the moment, he added.

The company, which has around 3,080 dealerships across 1,960 cities and towns in the country, has managed to open 474 Arena outlets, 80 Nexa dealerships and 45 CV sales outlets. Maruti Suzuki has also started door-step deliveries of cars, Srivastava said, adding that 55 units were dispached to customers in the last few days.

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On Wednesday, Maruti Suzuki shares rose 0.25 percent to Rs 4,841.95 apiece on the National Stock Exchange while the benchmark Nifty 50 gained 0.71 percent to end the day at 9,270.90 points.