As the monsoon draws to an end and the great Indian festival season kicks off, carmakers have lined up a slew of new launches to tempt buyers back into showrooms.

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki will launch the Wagon R Stingray. No 2 car-maker Hyundai, has a new version of its high volume hatch i10 ‘Grand’, codenamed BA. And Honda will launch a refresh of its erstwhile bestseller, the aging City sedan.

Even two-wheeler manufacturers hope to cash in with new launches lined up by Hero and TVS, among others.

It may be an old tactic, but analysts say it may help auto companies beat the worst sales slump in a decade. “New launches during the festival season create excitement for both companies and the consumers. As the South is one of the biggest markets for the companies, we expect sales will see a boost starting this month,” Puneet Gupta, Principal Analyst at India Automotive, IHS said.

The new launches will improve sales by at least 35 per cent for the companies during the quarter (September-November), analysts say. The reasoning is simple. The festive season means more footfalls in the showrooms — and hopefully a higher rate of conversion of ‘interested’ to ‘buys’. Poor footfalls have been the challenge in the first half of this year, carmakers admit.

While Hyundai has set the launch of the ‘Grand i10’ for September 3, Maruti is expected to roll out Stingray in the “next few days”.

Maruti may use the same petrol (1litre, K10B) engine with new features and design in the Stingray, which is expected to be priced between Rs 3.75 lakh and Rs 4.75 lakh. The current version is priced at Rs 3.61-Rs 4.44 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

In the two-wheeler category, TVS is to launch a new scooter, while Hero is expected to come up with both scooters and motorcycles.

> ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in

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