Leading car manufacturers Maruti Suzuki India, Honda and Tata Motors expect sales to pick up during the festive season, but their success is uncertain due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year. The festive season usually brings higher sales as customers prefer to invest during this time and Most automakers are hoping for the same.
Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest carmaker, has seen month-to-month sales increase from May to July, and expects offtake to continue to be strong throughout August, too. Nevertheless, the auto major believes the market for the festive season will be dependent on the COVID-19 scenario.
In an interview, Maruti Suzuki Executive Director, Sales, and Marketing, Shashank Srivastava said that “We are glad that the market bounce back has occurred but we will have to wait and watch as a lot of this demand would be pent-up demand and we will have to see how stable the demand turns out to be”. He also added that it will depend on the economy and Covid’s scenario, as buying a car is a voluntary purchase and requires positive feelings.
The Senior Vice President and Marketing & Sales Manager of Honda Cars India Ltd, Rajesh Goel said the company is optimistic about the festive season and hopes to boost demand and sales.
“We’ve been working on freshly released models and refreshments of current ones. All the latest trends have helped in generating fresh anticipation in the industry and evoke curiosity from consumers. The reaction to our releases was very positive and we expect this pattern will improve in the months to come, “he added. Between health, safety, and social distancing issues, there is an inclination to personal mobility, adding that customers are being happier with online booking vehicles. They assume to meet the increased demand during the festive season.
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicle Business Unit Head of Marketing Vivek Srivatsa said, “Given the decline in sales induced by the pandemic, this year’s festive season has also begun on a good note for the group. Our market share has already risen to 9.5 percent after the first quarter of this financial year, compared to last year’s disruption,” The pandemic challenge will be to push upwards. With its refreshed range of cars and SUVs, the business is seeing market growth considerably higher than the industry.
Recently other automakers like Kia, Mahindra, Renault, etc. have come up with new car models aiming more sales during the festive season.
