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Category: Automotive

Retail News Asia is committed to providing both local and global retailers with the latest Auto and Car news throughout the Asian market. This on a daily base.

  • Volkswagen Appoints Ralf Brandstaetter As VW Brand CEO

    Volkswagen Appoints Ralf Brandstaetter As VW Brand CEO

    Volkswagen replaced Herbert Diess as chief executive of the VW brand on Monday and installed chief operating officer Ralf Brandstaetter to lead cost-cutting efforts at the company’s largest plants in Germany.

    The management reshuffle comes after weeks of squabbling between Volkswagen’s powerful labor leaders and managers over the pace and scale of cost-cutting plans to free up resources for a radical shift toward electric cars.

    Volkswagen said Brandstaetter would take over on July 1 to give Diess, who remains group chief executive, more leeway to run the rest of the company, which includes brands such as Audi, Bentley, Skoda, Lamborghini, and Porsche.

    Herbert Diess to continue to hold his position as the Chief Executive Officer of the Volkswagen Group

    “Ralf Brandstaetter is one of the company’s most experienced managers,” Diess said in a statement. “I am therefore very pleased that Ralf Brandstaetter will be forging ahead with the development of the brand as CEO.”

    Volkswagen said Diess retained overall responsibility for Volkswagen passenger cars and that the management reshuffle would also result in the departure of procurement and components chief Stefan Sommer.

    Sommer joined VW in 2018 and oversaw ambitious procurement plans, including the construction of large factories to power Volkswagen’s ambitious electrification shift as the carmaker encountered supply bottlenecks.

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    Earlier on Monday, sources told Reuters that Volkswagen’s supervisory board was hosting an extraordinary meeting to discuss replacing Diess as CEO of the VW brand.

    Diess is trying to get the company’s powerful labor leaders, who control nine of the 19 seats on the supervisory board, to agree to painful cost cuts.

    The savings are designed to help pay for a 34 billion euro (29.89 billion pounds) investment in electric and autonomous cars and 50 billion euros for EV battery procurement.

    Diess also came under pressure after Volkswagen was forced to halt sales of its newest VW Golf model because of software glitches at a time when the company is preparing to mass-produce VW’s ID.3 electric car.

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  • China Auto Sales Growth Seen For Second Straight Month

    China Auto Sales Growth Seen For Second Straight Month

    China’s vehicle sales are estimated to rise 11.7% on year in May, its top auto industry body said on Tuesday, cementing hopes of a recovery in the world’s biggest auto market with the first back to back monthly sales increase in about two years. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), in a post on its official WeChat account, said vehicle sales were estimated to rise to 2.14 million in May. It said the numbers were based on sales data it had collected from key companies, without giving further details.

    China’s vehicle sales are estimated to rise by 11.7 percent on-year in May,

    CAAM expects January to May auto sales in China to fall 23.1% year on year to 7.9 million units.

    As the global auto industry is hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, China has become a ray of hope for automakers including Volkswagen and General Motors

    In April, China’s auto sales hit 2.07 million units, up 4.4% from a year earlier, the first monthly sales growth in almost two years, CAAM data showed.

    China is expected to see a drop of 15 percent in auto sales, even if the COVID-19 outbreak is contained effectively

    It cautioned last month that even if China contains the outbreak effectively, its auto sales are expected to drop 15% this year, from over 25 million vehicles in 2019. If the pandemic continues, the annual sales contraction will likely be by up to 25%.

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  • Aston Martin To Shed Upto 500 Jobs In Cost Cutting Drive

    Aston Martin To Shed Upto 500 Jobs In Cost Cutting Drive

    British luxury carmaker Aston Martin plans to shed up to 500 jobs as it seeks to bring its cost base into line with reduced sports car production levels, it said on Thursday. The job cuts come a week after Aston Martin confirmed that Tobias Moers, CEO of Mercedes-AMG, would become chief executive on August 1, replacing Andy Palmer. The 107-year old firm said the job losses reflected lower than originally planned production volumes and improved productivity across the business. An employee and trade union consultation process will be launched in the coming days.

    An employee and trade union consultation process will be launched in the coming days

    Aston Martin, famed for being fictional secret agent James Bond’s car of choice, has seen its share price plummet since floating in October 2018. Last month it posted a deep first-quarter loss after sales dropped by almost a third due to the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

    “The measures announced today will right-size the organizational structure and bring the cost base into line with reduced sports car production levels, consistent with restoring profitability,” it said.

    Aston Martin’s DBX SUV will be a key product for boosting volumes

    It said its first sports utility vehicle (SUV), the DBX, which is key to boost volumes and appeal to new buyers including more women, remains on track for deliveries in the summer and has a strong order book.

    Aston Martin is also reducing costs and removing non-critical expenditure in other areas, including contractor numbers, site footprint, marketing and travel. It said the restructuring is expected to deliver total annual savings of about 38 million pounds ($47.6 million). Restructuring costs are expected to be about 12 million pounds. Shares in Aston Martin, down 78% over the last year, closed Wednesday at 68.9 pence, valuing the business at 1.05 billion pounds.

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  • Volkswagen Group Considering More Cost Cuts To Cope With Downturn

    Volkswagen Group Considering More Cost Cuts To Cope With Downturn

    Volkswagen is considering more cost cuts to help cope with the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a spokesman for the German automaker said on Saturday.

    The issue was recently discussed at an internal event, the spokesman said, when asked about a report in industry magazine Automobilwoche.

    “There were general deliberations about what further cost measures could be taken to respond to the pandemic,” the spokesman said. “There are no concrete decisions yet.

    Volkswagen and Daimler both said Wednesday that they foresaw full-year profits despite taking a beating from the global virus crisis.

    Automobilwoche quoted Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess as telling top managers at a meeting on Thursday: “We must significantly cut R&D expenditure, investments and fixed costs compared with the previous planning.”

    The group’s net liquidity would “continue to decline at least until July due to weak demand”, the magazine, citing participants at the event, quoted Diess as saying, adding that not all group brands would achieve a positive result in 2020.

    This meant the main VW passenger car brand must reduce its so-called material overheads by 20%, the magazine said.

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  • Renault Finalises 5 Billion Euro State-Backed Loan

    Renault Finalises 5 Billion Euro State-Backed Loan

    Renault finalized on Wednesday a 5 billion euro ($5.60 billion) loan from with the French government, strengthening the carmaker’s finances in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic which has ravaged the auto industry.

    Renault said that the credit facility carried a guarantee from the French state – which owns a 15% stake in Renault – of up to 90% of the total amount borrowed.

    Renault has sealed a state-backed loan totaling 5 billion euros, sparking a big jump in its share price Wednesday.

    Banks BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, HSBC France, Natixis, and SocGen were involved in the credit deal.

    Renault also said in a statement that the loan would help finance the company’s liquidity requirements.

    The carmaker announced last week plans to cut about 15,000 jobs worldwide, including 4,600 in France, where the company will seek voluntary departures and use retirement schemes.

    The announcement sparked weekend protests at some factories, including at Maubeuge in northern France, although Renault’s chairman Jean-Dominique Senard has pledged the site will not be closed.

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  • Maserati’s First Hybrid Car Coming Soon

    Maserati’s First Hybrid Car Coming Soon

    It was in June 2018 that Maserati announced that it will be launching four new plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models by 2022 and last year it confirmed that the first electrified model in its line-up would be the Maserati Ghibli Hybrid which will be introduced in 2020. Well! The carmaker has now shared that its next launch will be the Ghibli Hybrid and also took to twitter today to showcase its intention to bring it out soon.

    The dramatic video shows the company’s logo – the Trident – sourcing its power from a thunderbolt, giving us a clear reference to Zeus from Greek mythology. The Maserati Ghibli Hybrid will be manufactured at the Modena plant where the company is significantly upgrading the production line and is investing 800 Million Euros in a new production line. Maserati in its five-year plan, had also announced that it will bring refreshed versions of the Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans before it gets built on a completely new platform by 2022. Moreover, the Levante SUV will also be updated, and we’ll also see a new smaller SUV joining the Maserati portfolio before 2022. Based on a completely new platform, the new Levante along with the Ghibli and Quattroporte will also be offered with an electrified powertrain for the very first time.

    At present, the Maserati Ghibli, on sale, in India is offered with a twin-turbo V6 petrol engine that is designed by Maserati Powertrain and is built at the Ferrari plant in Maranello. The engine is Euro6 compliant and promises an exciting drive while keeping the emissions in check. The petrol engine also comes with a new exhaust system controlled by pneumatic valves. Moreover, the engine features advanced valve control technology with hydraulic roller finger followers and four-cam phasers, twin-turbocharging and direct injection technology.

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  • Volkswagen To Install Porsche’s CEO As Volkswagen Brand Chief

    Volkswagen To Install Porsche’s CEO As Volkswagen Brand Chief

    Volkswagen Chief Executive (CEO) Herbert Diess will promote Porsche CEO Oliver Blume to become head of the Volkswagen brand as part of a broader management reshuffle, Auto Motor and Sport said on Tuesday citing company sources.

    Blume will be moved to the VW brand to help the company get a grip on production issues with the VW ID3 electric car and the Golf 8, the auto industry publication said on Tuesday. Launch And The Volkswagen T-Roc compact SUV has been finally launched and is the brand’s most affordable SUV in India at present. The T-Roc comes to India as a CBU and despite that gets a highly competitive price tag for its fully-loaded variant.

    Bernhard Maier, currently head of VW’s Skoda brand, will become head of Porsche, Auto Motor and Sport said.

    Herbert Diess is currently head of multi-brand Volkswagen Group as well as head of the VW brand.

    Volkswagen declined to comment.

  • JK Tyre Announces Entry Into The US Market

    JK Tyre Announces Entry Into The US Market

    JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. today announced the commencement of operations in the United States. JK Tyre has set up a new entity – Western Tires INC – based at Houston, Texas, thereby, embarking upon an aggressive plan to take the Global business to the next level. The company, headquartered in India, has been exporting to the United States for over two decades through a network of local partners and with the acquisition of JK Tornel and enhancement of capacity at JK Tyre India, there has been a steady growth in the global markets including the US. With the formation of the Western Tires INC, the company now has its own marketing arm for the United States that will focus on sales, service and network expansion. To ensure an efficient delivery model, the after-sales service will be backed by a team of technical experts from India and Mexico.

    Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman & Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. said, “The United States has been an important export market for us. The fact that we are now setting-up our operations here goes to show the significance of this country in our larger global expansion plans.”

    JK Tyre’s product performance has helped the company gain acceptance in the US market across multiple segments, such as Truck and Bus Radial tires, passenger car tires and light truck tires. The company is focused on further driving sales in these segments through the introduction of new products and enhancement of sales channels.

  • Geely’s Polestar Plans China Showroom Expansion To Compete With Tesla

    Geely’s Polestar Plans China Showroom Expansion To Compete With Tesla

    Polestar, the premium electric vehicle maker owned by China’s Geely, plans a big expansion of its showroom network in the mainland, sources said, as it prepares for delivery of cars to compete with Tesla Inc’s locally made Model 3.

    Showroom strength is becoming an important differentiator for electric vehicle (EV) makers in the world’s biggest auto and EV market, as they line up new model launches.

    Polestar, which plans to deliver Polestar 2 electric sedans in China from July, currently has one showroom, in the capital of Beijing. It plans to have 20 showrooms, with most of the opening in the third quarter of this year.

    Polestar plans to deliver Polestar 2 electric sedans in China from July 2020

    Unlike sales of cars through dealers that most traditional automakers rely on, Polestar will sell directly to customers, a strategy also pursued by other EV makers including Tesla, Nio Inc, and Xpeng Motors, backed by Alibaba.

    Direct sales to customers can help automakers to better manage a car’s retail price and its production and inventory. However, it also adds to costs if automakers need to invest in self-owned showrooms like Tesla.

    Polestar, however, will partner with investors to build and operate the showrooms while still managing sales and delivery of cars, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the plan is not public.

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    A Polestar representative declined to comment.

    The automaker, based in Gothenburg, Sweden, started producing Polestar 2 sedans earlier this year in China and will also export them to Europe and the United States.

    It will open showrooms firstly in Shanghai and then expand to coastal Ningbo, northern Tianjin and southern Guangzhou. The showrooms will be mostly in shopping malls.

    In China, Tesla has over 50 showrooms. Nio currently operates around 110 showrooms, with some of the properties belonging to partners. Xpeng plans to have over 200 outlets by the end of the year from about 150 now, many of them belonging to partners.

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  • Volkswagen Group Announces Personnel Changes In Technical Development and Product Line Organisation

    Volkswagen Group Announces Personnel Changes In Technical Development and Product Line Organisation

    The Volkswagen Group has announced personnel changes in technical development and product line organization. Dr. Matthias Rabe has been named Member of the Board for Engineering at Bentley effective August 1, 2020. He succeeds Werner Tietz, who moves to SEAT as Executive Vice-President for Research and Development as of July 1. Dr. Matthias Rabe joined the Volkswagen Group in 1988 after completing his studies in mechanical engineering at RWTH Aachen. Having held several senior management posts, he moved to Shanghai Volkswagen as Head of Chassis and Electrical Development in 1992. He took over as Head of Group Research at Volkswagen AG in 2003.

    He then assumed responsibility for Body Development at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand from 2007 to 2011. In January 2011, he moved to SEAT in Martorell as Executive Vice-President for Research and Development. Matthias Rabe is currently Chief Technology Officer of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand in Wolfsburg.

    Axel Andorff will take over from Tietz, who assumes responsibility for the midsize and MEB Product Line at Skoda. He takes over from Matthias Glodny, who becomes Head of the Modular Toolkits, Drivetrains and Modules Product Line at Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand.

    Axel Andorff holds a degree in industrial engineering and joined the Volkswagen Group a year ago. He began his professional career as a trainee at DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart in 2000. In 2001, he became assistant to the Purchasing Director at Mercedes-Benz Cars and was placed in charge of the series purchasing interior at Mercedes-Benz in 2004. Three years later, Axel Andorff was given responsibility for setting up and heading purchasing at Daimler Greater China in Beijing. He moved to Stuttgart to head project management for Mercedes-Benz New Compact Cars in 2009. In 2013, he became Head of Product Concepts and Planning Mercedes-Benz Compact Cars and Electric Vehicle Architecture. He was appointed Executive Vice-President for Research and Development at SEAT in Martorell in 2019.

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  • Renault Poised To Announce 15,000 Layoffs Worldwide

    Renault Poised To Announce 15,000 Layoffs Worldwide

    French carmaker Renault is poised to announce 15,000 layoffs worldwide on Friday as it unveils a plan to boost its profitability and cope with faltering sales, a representative for the CFDT union said after meeting with the company.

    Some 4,500 jobs would go in France, though largely through a voluntary departure plan and a retirement scheme, the CFDT’s Franck Daout told Reuters on Thursday.

    The overall cuts would affect just under 10% of Renault’s 180,000 global workforces. The firm has around 48,500 staff in France.

    “They’ve insisted on the fact everything will be negotiated,” Daout said, adding that unions and state bodies would be involved in talks over potential job losses in France.

    Renault declined to comment. The carmaker’s board signed off on the plans to launch its cost-savings program on Thursday, a source familiar with the matter said.

    Renault and Nissan have set out plans to revive their alliance as they battle a global slump in sales.

    The French group, which is 15% owned by the government, had earlier this year flagged a looming “no taboo” plan to cut 2 billion in costs after posting its first loss in a decade last year.

    That raised concern for some of its factories, including in France, although closures could be politically sensitive.

    The French government has already said it will not sign off on a planned 5 billion euro state loan for Renault – an aid measure linked to the coronavirus pandemic – until management and unions conclude talks over the carmaker’s French workforce and plants in France.

    Renault’s plans to invest in and extend operations in Morocco and Romania are likely to be frozen

    The coronavirus crisis has compounded the company’s problems, accentuating a slump in demand that was already hurting sales.

    Renault’s plans to invest in and extend operations in Morocco and Romania are likely to be frozen, Les Echos newspaper reported on Thursday, while its worldwide production capacity could be cut by 4 million vehicles to 3.3 million.

    The restructuring follows a retrenchment by Japanese partner Nissan, which is closing some plants and planning to become smaller and more efficient.

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  • Nissan To Set Out Survival Plan After Expected Annual Loss

    Nissan To Set Out Survival Plan After Expected Annual Loss

    Nissan Motor will unveil its plan to become a smaller, more cost-efficient automaker on Thursday as it looks to recover from four years of tumbling profits which are set to culminate in its first annual operating loss in 11 years.

    The Japanese carmaker’s second recovery plan in less than a year will outline how it will slash fixed costs, streamline its products and shore up cash as it reels from a plunge in sales as the coronavirus pandemic hits demand for cars.

    Nissan said in April that it expected to post an annual operating loss of up to 45 billion yen (340.3 million pounds) when it announces its results for the year to March 31 at 0800GMT on Thursday, which would be its worst performance since 2008/09.

    The automaker sold 4.8 million vehicles in its latest financial year, the second decline in a row, and a fall of 13% from last year, knocking it off its perch as Japan’s second-biggest automaker to trail Toyota and Honda.

    Renault makes u-turn on Ghosn’s volume-inspired production model

    At a remote press conference, Renault CEO and of the alliance with Nissan and Mitsubishi, Jean-Dominique Senard, announces that the automobile group’s new strategy will focus “on efficiency and competitiveness rather than volume”.

    The plan will follow a new strategy announced by Nissan and its partners Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp on Wednesday to work more closely on developing and producing cars to reduce costs and ensure the group’s survival.

    Even before the spread of the coronavirus, Nissan’s sales and profits had been slumping, forcing it to row back on an aggressive expansion plan pursued by ousted leader Carlos Ghosn.

    The pandemic has only piled on the urgency and pressure to renew its efforts to downsize.

    Nissan’s operating profit has tumbled for four consecutive years as its pursuit of market share, particularly in the United States, led to overcapacity at its car plants, steep discounting and a cheapened brand.

    The three-year strategy will lay out a path to sustainable profitability and is the vision of Chief Executive Makoto Uchida and Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta, who took over after months of internal turmoil following Ghosn’s arrest in 2018.

    Under the plan, Nissan will curb its ambitions for sales growth to target annual sales of about 5 million units, Reuters reported in April, a cut from a previous goal of 6 million cars outlined in July by then-CEO Hiroto Saikawa.

    Another top priority will be the preservation of cash. As of December, Nissan’s automotive operations had a negative free cash flow of 670.9 billion yen, a more than six-fold increase from a year ago.

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  • Royal Enfield To Launch New Motorcycle Every Quarter

    Royal Enfield To Launch New Motorcycle Every Quarter

    Royal Enfield is going on the product offensive with a string of new products planned for the next three to four years, the company’s CEO Vinod Dasari revealed in online interaction in Freewheeling with SVP. According to Dasari, Royal Enfield’s product development team has been hard at work over the last few years to significantly accelerate Royal Enfield’s product plan. With new platforms, and models and variants under each platform, Royal Enfield intends to launch a new motorcycle every quarter for the next 3-4 years, Dasari revealed.

    The Royal Enfield Meteor 350 will employ the new 350 cc platform, with a new engine and new double-cradle frame

    “One of the things that we’ve done over the last 3-4 years is to significantly accelerate new product plans. We will remain a mid-sized company, that’s somewhere between 250 and 750 cc. In this range, there are five levels that we’re looking at. The first is a platform. We have a new platform coming up. We would have launched it by now, we will launch it some time, as soon as the lockdown is over. So we have the platforms, and under the platforms, we have the models, within each model we have variants, within each variant we have several color trims and graphics, and then we have the limited editions.

    “So five levels, we’re so excited that, to a point, every quarter, for the next three to four years, every quarter, we have a new model. It’s not just changing the colors or something, it will be almost a new model, or a variant, coming for the next three to four years,” Dasari said.

    The Royal Enfield Hunter is expected to be the second new model based on the same 350 cc platform

    Royal Enfield is already getting ready to launch an all-new 350 cc platform, which will debut in June 2020 with the new Royal Enfield Meteor 350. The new platform will employ a new 350 cc engine with significant performance and refinement than the existing UCE 350 engine, Dasari said, adding that the new platform will be a modular infrastructure, with the same engine, same gearbox and same frame, but will support several new models and variants.

    The new 350 cc engine is likely to replace Royal Enfield’s traditional pushrod architecture with overhead cams, and also use counterbalancers. While the CEO of Royal Enfield did not disclose any technical details about the new engine, we have reason to believe that it will be almost like a downsized version of the 650 cc parallel-twin engine, with a slick-shifting six-speed gearbox, and will be free-revving with smooth and refined performance. More details are expected when the new Meteor 350 is launched by the end of June 2020.

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  • Fiat India Brings In Special Finance Schemes To Attract Customers

    Fiat India Brings In Special Finance Schemes To Attract Customers

    Automakers across the board are coming up with unique finance schemes to attract more consumers during these difficult times. If you’re one of those who looking at own any of the SUVs from the Jeep brand then Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) India has also announced a slew of financial packages that will make it slightly easier for you to finalize the deal. The ‘Jeep for All’ aims to reduce EMIs for corporate salaried customers, offer lowest loan interest rates on loans and give 100 percent on-road price funding albeit only for women.

    The schemes also promise coverage in the event of a job loss, critical illness or an accident. In such cases an arrangement assures customers of low EMI in the first 24 months of the loan tenure. Dr. Partha Datta, President, and Managing Director, FCA India said, “We are pleased to announce ‘Jeep for All’ which will offer customers a means to own a Jeep, comfortably within reach. ‘Jeep for All’ adds on to our booking-to-purchase digital retail module with an added sense of reassurance and peace of mind for our customers.”

    Under the scheme salaried customers can opt for a vehicle loan of up to seven years at attractive interest rates. This will offer them a three-month low EMI repayment option every year throughout the tenure of the loan. Customers can choose which months they want to pay lesser EMIs. The company is also promising 90 percent funding of the on-road price of the vehicle which goes up to 100 percent for women buyers. Lastly there’s also an option of availing a step-up loan for a tenure of up to seven years which allows the customers to pay the lowest EMIs for the first 2 years.

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  • Three Hyundai India Workers Test Positive For Coronavirus

    Three Hyundai India Workers Test Positive For Coronavirus

    Three employees at Hyundai Motor Co’s Indian plant have tested positive for the coronavirus, the company said on Sunday, days after the South Korean automaker resumed operations after a near two-month lockdown. Test results of sixteen more workers who possibly came into contact with the infected employees are expected over the next two days, a senior government official told Reuters.

    “The state’s policy is to not let the industry stall,” said P Ponniah, the top bureaucrat in the Kancheepuram district of southern India where Hyundai’s plant is located. “We will ensure the areas inside the plant visited by the COVID positive employees are sanitized,” he said, adding that until such time workers would be barred from working in those areas.

    Hyundai, which restarted operations at the plant on May 8, said the three employees started showing mild symptoms of coughs and colds in the first week of restarting and were tested positive. They are being treated, Hyundai’s India spokesman said in a statement.

    “All the necessary measures are being taken for contact tracing, self-isolation, and complete sanitation,” he said, adding the well-being of employees was a priority.

    The cases at Hyundai, India’s second-largest carmaker by market share, come as bigger rival Maruti Suzuki India said late on Saturday that one employee at its plant in the northern city of Manesar tested positive and there may be the possibility of a second case.

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    The cases expose the risks and challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government faces in restarting automobile production in an effort to kickstart the economy after a near two-month lockdown to fight the spread of the novel coronavirus.

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