Lohia Auto halts production at Kashipur plant

As the Government announced a lockdown across various districts of the country in a bid to tackle the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19), Lohia Auto, an electric vehicle player, announced its closure of its production at its Kashipur facility in North India.

 In a press statement, Ayush Lohia, CEO, Lohia Auto Industries said, “We understand that this pandemic requires an extraordinary response hence we are taking the right precautions as the situation continues to evolve.  As a result, we have asked all our employees to work from home through the end of March. We have shut down our operations and suspended vehicle production at our Kashipur facility with effect from March 23, 2020 to March 31, 2020, as a measure to stop the spread of coronavirus and keeping the safety of employees as the top priority. We will await further notifications from the government to resume operations at the plant. We recognise that we are in a dynamic situation and we are prepared to adjust quickly based on the daily analysis of the current environment.”

The Lohia Group, it may be recalled is also dealing with the mess created by its alliance with UM Motorcycles, a US based company, which shut its business in India. UM motorcycles were manufactured in a joint venture at the Lohia plant in Kashipur. The UM dealers have through the Federation of Automobile  Dealers Associations  (FADA) filed a case against the Lohia Group  seeking compensation after abruptly ending its motorcycle operations in India.