Auto sales in the State are showing an upward trend during the ongoing festive season started from Vishwakarma Puja in mid of September. The 10-day auspicious period of Navratri including the festivals of Durga Puja has boosted the auto sales in the State with strong demand and better sales.
The main reasons behind the increase in sales and demand for personal mobility, festive season offers, higher offtake from semi-urban, and pushing up of stocks at dealerships have also contributed to the October revival of sales.
Maruti-Suzuki Dealer of Ranchi, Premsons Motors Sales Manager, Rakesh Kumar Singh said that the auto sales have recorded 20 per cent growth compared to last year of the same months. He said that various reasons propel sales to show an upward trend like announcement of bonus by the Central Government’s company, new schemes like reimbursement of their leaves and cash deposited by people during lockdown.
Singh said that generally people buy autos in the festive season.
The buying trend is likely to overflow to November because of the Dhanteras and Diwali festivals on November, 13 and November, 14, respectively. In 2019, these festivals were in October.
However, the long-term scenario after the festivals-driven buying spree is still vague. The automotive industry and markets are not yet normal because of the COVID-19 scare and a falling economy.
Toyota car sales also registered a robust growth in October. Heritage Toyota of the State Capital, Sales Manager Brajesh Kumar Sharma said the company registered 40 per cent growth in car sales in October. “We sold more than 70 vehicles in October where as in September we sold around 50 vehicles. Now in Dhanteraous and Deepawali we expect more sales because customers are coming in more numbers,” he added.
However, Mahindra Motors Dealers complaining about short supply, Mahindra Auto Dealer in Ranchi Pratik Auto’s Sales Manager, Agnesh Dungdung said that there is a lot of demand in the market but poor supply has disturbed the sales of Mahindra Motors. Models like Bolero and Scorpio’s customers are getting some vehicles but customers of XUV are returning from the showroom due to short supply.
It is sure that whenever the supply will improve the company will register a boost in sales because now the economy is moving in an upward direction, said Dungdung.