Auto dealers expect sales uptick in festive season

Amidst the worst slowdown in the automotive industry, auto dealers and manufacturers expect a partial turnaround in auto sales during the upcoming festive season.

Speaking at the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) Auto Retail Conclave on Wednesday, the industry body’s president Ashish Harsharaj Kale said, “partial turnaround during the upcoming festive season is widely expected which will also lead to job regeneration. We hope it will be better in terms of sales and this will have a positive effect on job recovery."

FADA also expects the latest government measures to take effect soon and reverse the ongoing slowdown. “Despite the current challenges, the dealer business is a long term business, which has supported generations of automobile business and the employees and we will continue to do so. Component manufacturers along with dealer community & the government, we will soon be on the road to recovery,” Kale added.

Kale believes the current slowdown that the industry is facing is a temporary blip, and with joint effort from the automobile ecosystem that includes original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the sector has the potential to revive.

Automotive sector has already faced around 200,000 job losses due to the ongoing slowdown. Recently finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several steps to boost the auto sector like letting government departments buy new vehicles and making it clear that BS-IV vehicles bought till March 31, 2020 would remain operational for their entire registration period.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) expects the measures by the government to help the industry achieve positive growth.

“The road ahead for the Indian automobile industry seems difficult due to the upcoming transition from BS-IV emission norms to BS-VI. An uptick in government spending will lead to further demand generation in the economy. Even as the industry faces sales slowdown, OEMs have been investing ₹1,000 crore, on an average, to upgrade their offerings,” SIAM president Rajan Wadhera said.

The industry body said that in the near future, the auto industry will not only have to deal with slowdown and BS-VI transition, but also has to prepare for the future mobility, which is electric, connected and autonomous.