Suzuki will temporarily stop production in India to save lives

To reduce oxygen shortage, Suzuki to use oxygen supply to save patients

If you haven’t seen the news lately, India is now one of the worst countries hit by the pandemic. Due to the rapidly increasing number of patients, hospitals have been overwhelmed. Worse yet, there is a severe shortage of medical supplies, and one of those is oxygen.

To supply the much-needed oxygen to patients, Suzuki Motor Corporation has announced they will temporarily shut down its factories in Haryana, India. The oxygen used in these facilities will then be made available for various medical needs across the country.

The shutdown of the plants will begin May 1 and will continue until May 9, 2021. According to Suzuki, its factories only use a small amount of oxygen. However, its suppliers and the manufacturers of various components use larger amounts of oxygen. With the temporary shutdown, oxygen used in the company's production flow will be used to save lives instead.

Despite the temporary stop in production, Suzuki says it will not result in an output cut. Instead, the company will bring forward a plant maintenance closure originally scheduled in June. With that, there’s no need to worry about a supply shortage of India-made Suzuki vehicles. For reference, both the Dzire and S-Presso sold by Suzuki Philippines are sourced from India.

“In the current situation, we believe that all available oxygen should be used to save lives,” the company said in a statement.

Aside from the Haryana plant, the automaker says Suzuki Motor Gujarat has taken the same decision for its factory.

Given the current situation in India, building cars can certainly wait. Besides, what’s a car compared to saving lives? Good on you Suzuki.