The steel city won’t flaunt too many new wheels this year on Dhanteras.
Both two- and four-wheeler dealers pointed to a slump in the market; some have witnessed fewer sales compared to last year while some said that advance booking figures were almost the same as last year despite attractive offers such as cashback in the range of Rs 20,000 and Rs 35,000, or gifts.
“There is a 30 per cent decrease in advance bookings this year. The target for our showrooms was 100 but we have achieved only 70,” said a salesman at Pebco Motors Arena that has three showrooms in and around Jamshedpur and is one of the largest names in the steel city area. “Last year we had surpassed our target. The situation is grim this year.”
Aar Ess Autocomm in Bistupur, a dealer of Yamaha vehicles, said they had 60 bookings this year in the run-up to Diwali, which is about 25 per cent less than last year.
Ajit Singh, owner of Aar Ess Autocomm, spoke of two main reasons for the low sales: “Firstly, BS-VI compliant vehicles will hit the market from March 31 next year, so many potential buyers are waiting. And of course, there is the economic slump.”
Dua Honda, a premier showroom for Honda bikes and scooters, said sales were good during Durga Puja but had dropped again. “The bookings for Dhanteras have not surpassed last year’s figures but we can say it is somewhere close. We have 150 bikes and scooters bookings this year, similar to last year, but hope sales will increase in the second quarter of 2020,” said Rohan Dua, owner of Dua Honda.
Fairdeal Hyundai, a showroom in Bistupur, however, said they were doing “quite well” in spite of the prevailing market conditions. A showroom official said they had already booked 125 cars of various categories.
A private firm executive in Adityapur, Kumar Abhinav, who wants to buy a car, said he did not book a car around Diwali simply because he was waiting for the launch of the BS-VI compliant ones. “Without investing in such a big sum now, I felt it was better to get the latest version of the engine,” Abhinav said.
