In August 2019, NDTV carandbike’s “Making Sense Of Auto Crisis” looked at the slowdown in India’s automobile industry. Amit Garg, Director of Shiva Motocorp, joined the discussion in the studio. The other guests were Rajan Wadhera of Mahindra & Mahindra, then President of SIAM, and Venkatram Mamillapalle, CEO and Managing Director of Renault India.
The programme reported that overall vehicle sales in July 2019 were down by nearly 31% from a year earlier, and that close to 300 dealerships had closed.
What he said.
Hoping for the festive season: dealers were counting on the festive season, December sales and the financial year-end in March to make the second half of the year better than the first.
Slow showroom traffic: walk-ins and enquiries were very slow, and he expected footfall to improve once the festive season began.
New models help a little: a new launch brings more people into the showroom, but it mostly takes sales from other models rather than growing the market, and it is not enough on its own.
BS6 confusion: buyers were asking whether a BS4 car could still be driven for 10 or 15 years, and many were waiting for the large discounts they had seen when BS3 gave way to BS4. He said the time from first enquiry to purchase had grown from about seven days to about a month.
Watch the programme.
NDTV carandbike on YouTube, 14 August 2019: Making Sense Of Auto Crisis
About Shiva Group
Shiva Group is a family-owned automotive retail group with a legacy since 1928 and in automotive retail since 1972. Headquartered in Delhi NCR, the Group is an authorised sales and service partner for nine brands across two-wheelers, cars and SUVs, and commercial vehicles — Bajaj, Chetak, KTM, Triumph, Mahindra, Land Rover, MG Select, Bajaj Three-Wheelers and Mahindra Commercial — with a network across Delhi NCR and North India.
