The outbreak of the deadly coronavirus in China has forced Tata Motors to gauge the impact on its operations there but that process won't be complete before the end of the Chinese New Year break, which ends on February 8.
China is the third biggest market for Jaguar Land Rover.
"It is a developing situation at this point in time. People are in the midst of their Chinese New Year Break and some states has extended the break to February 8. Once we have a clear picture we will share," said P B Balaji, group CFO, Tata Motors.
Apart from being an important market for the company, the country is also home to one of few JLR factories in the world.
During the January-December 2019 period, Jaguar Land Rover clocked 13.5 percent fall in retail volumes to 99,372 units as against 114,826 units. In comparison the North American market grew by 1.8 percent to 139,710 units and the UK market fell by 1.7 percent to 113,968 units.
However, in recent months China retail volumes has bounced back with the December quarter growing by 24 percent to 27,423 units.
"We need to understand that in the extended supply chain, tier-1 and tier-2 have got exposure to China. So we are working on that as we speak and more importantly, we are waiting for people to come back as well because the Chinese New Year was a planned vacation. So, nobody had any concern on the inventory there. What is important is that how fast you can get the pipelines replenished. It is too early to take a call," added Balaji, responding to a query by Moneycontrol.
