Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) on Wednesday announced a realignment of its manufacturing operations to improve business efficiency.

It was earlier reported that the Japanese company has shut down production at its Greater Noida plant. The company confirmed this on Wednesday, stating that HCIL has decided to consolidate the manufacturing operations for vehicles and components at its Tapukara plant in Rajasthan with immediate effect for all domestic sales and exports.

While it has stopped production, all head office functions, the India R&D centre and spare parts operations will continue to operate from the Greater Noida unit.

Gaku Nakanishi, president and CEO, Honda Cars India, said, “Despite an uptick in sales in the last three months, the current market conditions remain unpredictable for the industry at large. The impact of Covid-19 has pressed us to strengthen our constitution, and to achieve the same, HCIL has decided to consolidate its manufacturing operations by making the Tapukara plant a unified manufacturing base.”

HCIL continues to believe in the resilience of the Indian economy and hope for a quicker recovery of the market. India is extremely important market in Honda’s global strategy and HCIL is committed to bring its latest and advanced technology models including electrified vehicles in future.”

HCIL’s Tapukara plant spreads over 450 acres with an installed production capacity of 1,80,000 units/annum and is an integrated manufacturing unit.

With resumption of operations after the Covid-19- led lockdown, HCIL ramped-up its daily production volume to pre-Covid level from September 2020, and has been consistently witnessing monthly sales growth for the last three months. HCIL sales showed good recovery in the festive period and the company expects to sustain this sales momentum during the coming months.