Passenger vehicle makers are likely to report subdued sales for October as neither new model launches nor special offers and not even the festival season attracted footfalls into showrooms during the month.

The past few months have been challenging for the auto sector including Kerala floods, and surging fuel price and insurance cost.

After a strong double-digit growth in the first quarter, passenger vehicle sales started to move south from July and the total monthly volume stayed negative till September. The utility segment witnessed higher negative growth than the car segment during this period.

Vehicle makers were betting big on the festival season for growth, but the the demand was muted during the Navratri/Dasara season. Rising fuel prices and increased insurance premium were blamed for the slow sales.

A few dealers of leading car markers admitted that the consumer sentiment wass weak and the festival season sales were below expectations due to which companies have been forced to give higher discounts and announce special offers to maintain sales.

Limited editions, offers

Given the high level of inventory push in September by most players and the stagnation in retail sales, analysts don’t expect October sales to be buoyant. However, companies want to make most out of the Diwali season.

“To add to the enthusiasm of the country’s most anticipated festival, we are launching limited editions to meet the aspirations of millennials. The WagonR Limited Edition with accessory packages is the first to be announced,” said RS Kalsi, Senior Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India. Along with all-new models, Maruti has also come out with limited editions and special offers to pull buyers. Country’s No 2 car-maker Hyundai is betting on its new ‘family car’ Santro to spur sales during this season.

“The Navratri sales have not been to expectation. We are expecting some recovery during the upcoming Dhanteras and Diwali season. We have rolled out special edition products across both Nissan and Datsun,” said Hardeep Singh Brar, Director Sales & Commercial, Nissan Motor India.

Nissan’s special offers include a gold coin with every purchase, insurance at ₹1 and an exchange bonus of up to ₹40,000 on all Nissan models. Datsun is offering benefits of up to ₹52,000 and an exchange bonus up to ₹15,000 on Datsun GO, GO+ and redi-GO.

During Q1, 2018 , car and UV segments reported a growth of 18 per cent (5.8 lakh units) and 23 per cent (2.3 lakh units) respectively. But in Q2, sales of cars and UVs fell two per cent (5.9 lakh units) and eight per cent (2.3 lakh units) respectively.

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