Curtains fell on The Telegraph Weekend Auto Carnival after a weekend of test drives, deals, bargains and bookings. Cretas, Magnites, Sonets, Kigers, Venues were the top picks. Followed by the i20s, Polos, Glanzas, said organisers.
Potential buyers, who had already done their market surveys online, visited the carnival at City Centre in Salt Lake to check and compare their selected models. Dealers, who had thus far avoided on-ground activity found the carnival useful to get back in touch, literally, with their customers.
“It is actually nice to have faces for the enquiries. So long everything was online,” said a Hyundai representative, who had a booking for Creta at the carnival right at the onset. There were quite a few enquiries for the seven-seater Carnival that was parked right in front of the Kund.
People check out bikes at the Weekend Auto Carnival on Sunday. Telegraph picture
“People are checking out the Carnival. A lot of them are collecting the specs sheet. But hot enquiries are for Sonet,” said a Kia salesperson, who confirmed a couple of bookings for Sonet.
A similar tale for Nissan. Magnite is stealing the show with its Rs 5.49 lakh price tag. People sat on the back seat and checked out the dashboard of Kicks, the bigger SUV.
It is the B-segment SUV that is the rage. Giving Magnite competition is Renault Kiger. The newly launched compact SUV has a price tag starting from Rs 5.45 lakh.
“The compact SUV styling has caught on. It is affordable, has a road presence and is good for city rides,” said a Renault salesperson. MG, which showcased the electric ZS, got enquiries and booking for Hector.
Towards the evening all action seemed to be at the centre of the Kund. Checking out the Polo GTI was Aniruddh Deshpande. “I am all for German engineering and Volkswagen has been my favourite brand,” said the architect from Salt Lake. He had also checked out Carnival. “I need to buy a car but I am yet to decide which one,” he said.
The Tiguan Allspace was an eye-catcher. A premium vehicle, visitors checked out its interiors with interest, some even opted for photos.
The time-tested Glanza brought on a good number of queries as did i20. These premium hatches are on the top of the list of buyers wanting personal mobility. “We had people booking test drives, we also gave a few test drives during the weekend,” said a Toyota representative.
However, through the three days, the BMW Motorrad bikes and the Vespa, Aprilia had youngsters milling around them, asking the price, wanting the specs sheet, taking selfies.
“I came to see the Motorrad bikes,” said Vishal Jain, who was taking a selfie with the 310R. It was this see-touch-feel that the BMW Motorrad salesmen wanted.
“We want Calcuttans to see the bikes and this was a lovely platform,” said a sales representative.
