Despite numerous offers and discounts, the sales of domestic cars have declined this November.
Bangalore, Nov. 22, 2018
By Praveena Parthiban
The sale of passenger vehicles, particularly domestic cars, has fallen drastically during the third financial quarter of October-December 2018, mainly because of the fall in sales this November during Diwali. This is surprising because the production and sale of passenger vehicles had shown a steady increase during the first financial quarter April-June, and the second financial quarter July-September of 2018.
One of the main reasons behind the fall in car sales is because of the rise in prices of fuels like petrol and diesel in India.
Contrastingly, the automobile industry produced a total 29,075,605 vehicles including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers, two-wheelers, and quadricycles in April-March 2018, against 25,330,967 in April-March 2017, registering a growth of 14.78 percent over the same period last year, according to the data provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
An economics student, Christo said, “Only when there is more demand, will the supply increase consequently. Naturally, this can apply to the sale of cars, as it does with any economic good. The production wouldn’t have increased unless there had been more demand.”
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers also states that the sale of passenger vehicles grew by 7.89 percent in April-March 2018 over the same period last year. Within the passenger vehicles, passenger cars, utility vehicle, and vans grew by 3.33 percent, 20.97 percent, and 5.78 percent, respectively, in April-March 2018 over the same period last year.
A car dealer at Mahindra Car Showroom, Bangalore said, “We don’t usually face this problem of reduction in car sales during Diwali, because we offer a lot of discounts and benefits during this time.”
Another reason behind the fall in domestic car sales is the rise in sales of foreign brands. Business Maps of India claims that brands like Maruti Suzuki, Honda, and Hyundai are brands that are seeing a huge amount of consumer participation in respect to the purchase of cars in India. Other foreign brands that are seeing rapid growth in the Indian automobile market are Volkswagen, Ford, Nissan, BMW, and Toyota.
Mr. Rajkumar, a huge fan of cars, said, “Foreign cars are given more credit because they have a lot of factors to be considered like quality and safety. When compared with foreign cars, domestic cars are underrated. People will be more inclined to buy Indian cars only when the idea about domestic cars changes.”
He added, “Another helpful factor that would enable the increase in the purchase of Indian-made cars is the middle-class status of people. People belonging to the middle-class wouldn’t be interested in expensive, foreign cars, because they wouldn’t be able to afford them. They would require cars only for the purpose of transportation.”
Image Courtesy: Blue Hyundai – Prithvi Patil.
