It's Diwali time in India! Dhanteras, the auspicious day for buying vehicles, jewellery etc. marked sales of nearly 15000 or more vehicles across the country in a single day. This is a huge leap in sales in a country that usually clocks sales of 3000 to 3500 cars on any single day. However, this year’s figure could not match last year’s record sales of 17000 cars and SUVs being sold on the same day. The ongoing liquidity crisis and prevailing high interest rates dampened the demand and kept a lot of customers away from the market.
“Typically, customers book the vehicle but take delivery on Dhanteras. So we expect that one day to clock 80% of our entire festival sales,” commented the marketing head of a top vehicle maker. In spite of the dampened market spirits, this year’s Dhanteras did manage to clear the piled up inventories with distributors and the car companies. Most of the market companies took an hourly update on their stock updates and kept a vigilant eye on the moving inventory.
“The response on Dhanteras was up to our expectations. Most markets in the north have performed well. We are also looking at a similar response for the upcoming Bahiya Dooj and other festivities,” said Mayank Pareek, Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
