Suzuki stops delivery of cars and motorcycles to Russia amid war against Ukraine

As the Russia-Ukraine war continues to escalate, automotive manufacturer Suzuki has now informed its decision to halt deliveries of cars and motorcycles to Moscow. According to reports, Suzuki, which works in collaboration with Maruti in India, has stopped automobile deliveries to Russia only a day after its Japanese competitor Honda announced a similar decision to halt exports to Moscow.

Latest to the list of automobile manufacturers to halt shipments to Russia, Suzuki has now announced that it won't deliver any more cars or motorcycles to the country until further notice. Meanwhile, rival Honda on Wednesday informed its decision to halt exports of automobiles to Russia with immediate effect. The Japanese firm, which doesn't hold any factories in the country, said that challenges with shipping vehicles as well as making payments forced them to reach the decision.

Apart from Suzuki and Honda, Tata Motors-owned British luxury automotive brands Jaguar and Land Rover have also halted all deliveries to Russia. The carmaker also released a statement wherein it blamed the ‘trading challenges’ that has emerged from the ongoing war for the decision. “The current global context presents us with trading challenges so we are pausing the delivery of vehicles into the Russian market and continually monitoring the situation on behalf of our global customer base,” JLR had said in a statement.

Fuel price in India to surge

According to experts, petrol and diesel price hikes are likely to resume after state elections gets over next week. As per a PTI report, the fuel prices would be hiked to bridge the Rs 9 per litre gap created after international oil prices soared past USD 100 a barrel. Domestic fuel prices in India are directly linked to international oil prices as India imports 85% of its oil needs. However, fuel prices in the country have not been revised for a record 118 days in a row. Petrol prices today stood at Rs 95.41 per litre in Delhi whereas the Diesel prices for the day stood at Rs 86.67 per litre.

Russia-Ukraine war

As far as the ongoing war is concerned, Russia invaded Ukraine through the land, air, and sea last Thursday. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the attack in a pre-dawn address to the nation back in February. On Day 1 of the attack, Russia mainly focused on destroying major Ukrainian military assets across the country. In response, the Ukrainian government imposed martial law and urged civilians to pick up arms to fight the invading army. 

As per the Ukrainian government statistics, more than 2,000 civilians, including Ukrainian soldiers have been killed so far as the ongoing war transcended to the eighth consecutive day. Russia confirmed on Tuesday that 498 Russian soldiers had been killed with over 1,500 injured. 

Image: AP/ PTI