General Motors India believes in launching new vehicles to create an excitement in the sluggish automobile market, says P. Balendran, Vice-President.
“Unless and until we create this excitement, there will be no demand,” he said.
He was answering a specific question on the sales expected by the company in this adverse market condition.
Balendran, who was here in connection with the launch of the multi-purpose vehicle Chevrolet Enjoy in Kerala, pointed out that the automobile market continued to be slow throughout the country.
Against the expected growth of 17-18 per cent in 2012, it came down to 12-14 per cent. Now it ended up in a negative territory, affecting the sales of almost all car manufacturing companies.
The passenger car industry registered sales of only 19 lakh units this year against 20 lakh units in the previous year. The interest rate regime and several other factors have impacted the automobile market, he said, adding that 85 per cent of the vehicles sold in the country are through finance.
Even if the interest rate comes down, he said there are some structural bottlenecks like economic slow down, negative market sentiments and so on, will impact the market. Though the company had sold 1,11,510 units in 2011, there has been a slight drop in 2012 touching 92,435 units. This is because of the phasing out of three vehicles such as Optra, Aveo and U-VA last year, he said.
The newly introduced Chevrolet Sail is getting encouraging response from the market. Besides, the company is upbeat about Enjoy and plans to sell 3,500 units in a month. In Kerala, General Motors is aiming a monthly sale of 400 vehicles.
In April this year, the company registered a sale of 8,196 with all the vehicles put together against 8,005 units in the corresponding period, he said.