Car and sport utility vehicle (SUV) sales during the Navratri period this year remained flat compared to last year at around 220,000 units. However, last year’s Navratri was spread between two months making the comparison inappropriate, said a senior executive from the automotive industry.
Shashank Srivastava, Maruti Suzuki India’s Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales, explained, “Last year, the first three days of Navratri coincided with the end of the month, and traditionally, month-end periods tend to have higher retail activity, whether considered auspicious or not.”
Maruti Suzuki, India’s leading car manufacturer, recorded almost 100,000 units in sales during the nine-day festival, a figure consistent with the previous year’s performance, as shared by Srivastava.
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Passenger Car Industry Gears Up for a Record-Breaking Festive Season
Between the Shraadh period and the conclusion of Navratri, the overall industry sales are estimated to have reached 330,000 units, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 16%, up from the 283,000 units sold in the previous year.
“Between August 17 and the last day of Navratri, the total sale is estimated to be at 700,000 as against 583,000 units of last year. This means that so far, the festive season has seen a growth of 20%,” Srivastava added.
The passenger car industry is projected to witness sales of 1 million during this year’s festive season, which will be for the first time ever. Going by the sales clocked so far this year, the balance part of the season, that is between Dussera and Bhai Dooj (Diwali), the industry needs to do volumes of around 300,000 units to hit the 1 million milestone.
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Balancing Inventory Levels for the Festive Rush
Tarun Garg, the Chief Operating Officer of Hyundai Motor India (HMIL), mentioned that HMIL dealers experienced strong deliveries of approximately 30,000 units during the ten-day Navratri-Dussehra period. This performance reflects an 8% year-on-year growth, which is in line with the year-to-date growth figures.
Carmakers had hiked unit supplies to their dealers in the run up to the festive season so as to avoid missing out on demand coming in from the last-minute buyers. Last year, due to the long waiting periods, dealers had to turn away buyers looking for spot purchases. Therefore, this year the inventory levels had hit a five-year high.
“The inventory just before Shraadh was at its peak, crossing 400,000 units. I would expect it to be below 300,000, at around 290,000, by the end of Diwali,” Srivastava added. Maruti Suzuki has outstanding bookings of 265,000 units.
While Hyundai currently maintains dealer inventory levels of 20 to 25 days, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), the leading representative body for auto dealers, asserted that inventory levels had surged to 65 days by the close of September.
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