This Dhanteras car buyers had to grapple with long waiting periods caused by a component shortage that has been crippling efforts at recovery from the Covid-induced slump.
While there is a pent-up demand spurred by an increase in need for personal mobility, the industry is crippled by a global shortage of semiconductors and cannot produce enough vehicles to meet the demand, said dealers.
In the two-wheeler segment, customers are still wary of making purchases and entry-level bikes of 125cc and below are not finding many takers.
Mass car brands like Maruti and Hyundai are experiencing a fall in footfall and enquiries, but premium brands like Toyota, Honda, Kia and Jeep have witnessed good deliveries this Dhanteras.
“Dealers are reporting 20 per cent lower walk-ins this Dhanteras,” said Siddharth Bhandari, state chairperson of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) and proprietor of Bhandari Automobiles, a Maruti dealership in the city with multiple showrooms.
“There are issues of vehicle availability and fuel price rise. Bookings are lower by 20 per cent.”
Mukesh Hyundai, one of the oldest dealerships in the city, witnessed muted sales this Dhanteras. Sukanta Mukherjee, of the dealership, said: “Last year this time, I was so busy. This year, it has been a rather relaxed Dhanteras.”
However, brisk sales were noted at the Topsel Toyota dealership at the Ruby crossing. As many as 28 Dhanteras deliveries were lined up throughout the day.
“With Dhanteras right at the beginning of the month, some of our festive deliveries have happened through the month of October when we sold 100 cars,” said Deepak Gupta of Topsel Toyota.
About 60 per cent of the deliveries were for Innova and Fortuner and 40 per cent for Urban Cruiser and Glanza. Similar business was reported from the Honda dealership. “We have done good numbers for Dhanteras though it could have been higher if the component (semiconductor) shortage was not there. We have orders for Amaze which we could not deliver for supply crunch,” said Sanjay Lamba of the dealership.
South Korean brand Kia had 30 deliveries for Dhanteras as had American SUV maker Jeep. “On a normal day we sell four to five models of Kia and two models of Jeep on average. The numbers could have been better as we have pending orders for Kia. Jeep, too, has been hit by the component crisis and we have been told supply will be restricted in the coming months,” said Adarsh Tulsyan, who runs both the Kia and Jeep dealerships in the city.
Sales have been muted for Mercedes Benz with just seven deliveries happening for Dhanteras. “Earlier, we had 14 or even 18 vehicles for Dhanteras,” said Merc salesperson.