The sudden downturn in the industrial climate has led to theluxury auto industry moving in the same direction. The market is likely to takea hit by approximately 15-20 percent.
Dealers in high end automobiles in the State are facingtough times following the ban in mining which largely ensured that sales wereconsistent. However some preferred to claim that times were good and nothinghad really changed for them.
Aman Sarup, GM of the BMW dealership in Goa claimed that allwas well. He said, “We are not facing any downturn in sales. The minorvariations in sales are as per the course. Every month we experience thesevariations that any sales department faces. We are not worried”.
However the GM of another dealership of a luxury brand said“Anyone who claims that he has not taken a hit is compromising on facts. Thesale of luxury cars in the state has been hit. On an average the drop in salesis anywhere between 15-20% since the ban on mining began. ” All the dealers, hesaid sold approximately 500 cars every year, which amounted to 15-20 cars amonth. This however is not happening now.
With the overall sentiment depressed, the onset of thefestival season has not brought any good news to the dealers. He said, “Well weare going through tough times. We hope the situation improves in the nearfuture”.
The fact that the drop in sales in the state is a touchysubject can be gauged by the fact that none of the other players likeVolkswagen or Audi were willing to answer. An email to the head office of Volkswagendid not evoke a response.
Repeated calls to the GM of the local dealer of Audi werenot returned. The sale of luxury carsmay have suffered a slump but for the other brands like Skoda, business isstill good. Mr Braganza, Director at Avelar Motors Pvt Limited said that therewas a five percent drop in sales otherwise business was moving as usual. Nowwith the festival season, business was good. He said, “The ban in mining hasnot affected us. Our target audience is not associated with the miningindustry. I am sure the sale of German cars has been affected.”
With cars in the price range of Rs 10-14 lakhs, sales, hesaid were consistent. The most expensive car, the Skoda Superb would retail atRs 27 lakh and its sale was not affected by the general down turn. He said thathis dealership had sold 2 cars this month.
The seriousness of the situation can be gauged by the factthat one of the GM’s went as far as to say that they may have to rework figuresfor the next financial year starting January 2013. He said, “Well it is one ofthe options but given how the automobile industry operates it may be a toughask. We shall see because our principals will look at the situation in otherparts of the country. Time will tell.”
