- TKM recorded a growth of 107 per-cent in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period last year

- The company registered a Y-o-Y growth of 128 per-cent in June

Toyota Kirloskar Motor announced that the company sold a total of 8,801 units in the month of June 2021. The company registered a growth of 128 per-cent compared to the same period last year. The cumulative sales of TKM in the first six months of 2021 stand at 59,332 units, compared to 28,686 units sold in the corresponding period last year, thus registering a growth of 107 per-cent.

TKM’s plant at Bidadi in Karnataka was shut owing to a scheduled annual plant maintenance starting 26 April, which was then extended as a result of the state-wide lockdown that was announced by the Government of Karnataka. The carmaker resumed production at its plant on 15 June.

Commenting on the monthly sales, Naveen Soni, Senior Vice President, TKM said, “Having resumed production with a 50 per-cent workforce last month after the gradual unlock in the state of Karnataka, our immediate goal was to cater to the pending orders of our customers. Although our dispatches only began by the third week of June, we have been able to register a 128 per-cent growth over domestic sales in June 2020. In terms of demand, we are witnessing good traction in the market arising out of ‘pent up demand’ and thereby leading to good levels of enquiries and new customer orders. We also anticipate retail sales to be better in the coming months, provided that the pandemic doesn’t pose newer challenges to us. Having said that, we must bear in mind the fact that, relaxation of restrictions across states has not been uniform and hence the process of unlocking has been gradual and intermittent. Accordingly, our dealerships have been opening up sporadically and amidst various restrictions, including limitations pertaining to the number of manpower working at a time as well as the man-hours of work they put in. Here, we must also take into consideration the fact that not just the auto industry, but as a country, we are now coming out of a very difficult phase and it will take some time for the industry and the market to bounce back. Moreover, we are also focusing on vaccinating both our employees as well as their families and extending our support to have our dealer and supplier staff vaccinated too, so as to ensure lower risk and severity of infections. In fact, companywide, 96 per-cent of our employees have received their first dose of vaccination and we are in the process to complete vaccination for all our employees, including the ones working from home.”