Click to play videoNew Delhi: It was a dry Diwali for Deepak Kapoor who is a authorised Maruti dealer. The month of October has been very rough for him as he was expecting huge sales due to the festive season, but that failed to happen.
“We are loaded with stock and the year is ending. We need to sell fast and so there is going to be a tug of war between dealers and consumers,” Kapoor said.
Big festivals like Eid, Dushera, Diwali and even Dhanteras that usually boost car sales have not had much of an impact this year. Even big showrooms saw fewer customers as people just did not seem to have enough money to buy their dream cars.
In fact, major car makers saw a fall in sales for the month of October.
- Maruti was down 7.1 per cent.
- Tata Motors was down 20 per cent.
- Honda Siel Cars India was down over 72 per cent since the Honda City ZX's production has been phased out and the deliveries of the all-new City will begin from November 2008.
- Mahindra was down almost 18 per cent.
- But the two gainers in these tough times were Hyundai and General motors all due to the success of the Hyundai i-10 and the Chevrolet Spark.
Analysts predict that the coming months will continue to be tough for the automobile sector.
Editor of Auto Bild Yogendra Pratap Singh said, “Auto industry follows the swings of the economy. I don’t expect there to be a meltdown but yes, there will be rationalisation to cater to the demand. Car makers will have to provide solutions to the demand.”
Dealers say they will now have to come up with innovative options to sell as many cars as possible because the yearend is not far ahead. And starting a new year with old stock will only mean further pressure for the already ailing dealerships around the country.
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