The coronovirus-induced lockdown in China is likely to hit the production of BS-VI vehicles as a significant chunk of components are imported from that country.

“Indian auto industry had already maintained an inventory in the beginning of the year in anticipation of the Chinese New Year holiday but with the current lockdown in China, supply for BS-VI vehicles is likely to get impacted,” SIAM (Society of Automobile Manufacturers) president Ranjan Wadhera said.

This is the first time the lobby group for automakers has acknowledged the disruption in production caused by the shutdown in China.

The industry will have to transition to BS-VI emission compliant vehicles from April.

The manufacturing of diesel vehicles — passenger and commercial vehicles — and two-wheelers are likely to be hit because of the lack of supply of integral components for BS-VI compliant engines such as catalytic converters and fuel injection pumps.

Wadhera said many automakers import about 10 per cent of their raw materials from China and disruption in the availability of these parts was likely to hamper production across all segments and affect electric vehicles.

He said the industry was exploring alternatives to fulfill their supply chain demands but that would take a substantial amount of time to reach stable production scale as these components would need regulatory testing.