Change picks up speed in auto industry to survive post-Covid challenges

Components makers are reinventing their business to transform and survive in a post-Covid world

The auto component industry was moving in the slow lane even before the nationwide lo­ckdown came into effect. Now, with production having come to a grinding halt, it is moving even further downhill.

The writing for the industry is on the wall: It will have to emerge from the pandemic transformed — and for the better — to survive.

“Everyone will have to fend for themselves. It is akin to Darwin’s theory of evolution — survival of the fittest will be the new norm,” says Deepak Jain, president of industry body Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India.

But equally important