Recession or no recession, Goa’s substantial car sales are cruising ahead. The road to the overall market expansion may be a bit rough, but that is just a temporary hurdle before it leads to a final destination of prosperity in amchem upwardly mobile Goa.
Of the varied models on the roads, it is the B-Segment or medium priced cars that have really done well, is the opinion of a cross-section of dealers spoken to. They point out that vehicles priced in the range of Rs. 2.6 lakhs to Rs. 5.5 lakh have surged ahead of the competition, while the demand for luxury-end cars is stable. As for sales of the base models or economically priced cars, surprisingly that is on the downswing is the unanimous view of the players in the fray.
Meantime, the news from the showrooms across Goa is mixed. Exults, Ms Tajeshree Pai, general manager, Chowgule Industry, dealer for Maruti Suzuki Ltd, said it is an excellent year for us with overall volumes up by 13 per cent. Likewise, the view from another stockist Mr Vivin Noronha, senior sales manger, Sai Service, Porvorim, is, Overall cars coming out of the Maruti factory are faring well in Goa with a total market share of 70 per cent. Mr Noronha elaborates, Our company share, here, is higher than the all-India share of 50 per cent.
While, Mr Harish Borkar, general manager (sales), Caculo Ford, Panjim, states, We are accomplishing our targets set by our manufacturer. The impact of the recession is not as bad as it is thought to be. On the other hand, Mr Santosh Godge, Auto Industries, Nuvem, said is a bit subdued when he points out, A middling year for us, aggregate volumes in certain segments remained the same, but that is to be expected considering the fact that finance companies were not offering much of loans with several going extremely slow in sanctioning funds.
As for the future, the sector outlook is bright from the experts in the field. They explain that healthy interest from locals in increasing as well as upgrading their fleet is the main reason why sales are expected to flourish in the coming months. Says Mr Noronha, nearly each family in the state has a vehicle and goes in for second or third one as their position improves.
Further, NRI demand, which is high and generally occurs in the month of December is also dependable, something to fall back on.Similarly Mr Godge states, things are picking up. Customer interest in visiting showrooms and checking out new models is back. More important, despite the economic slow-down the demand for our luxury model Fiat Linea has taken a spurt. That is good news, especially against the backdrop of the recession.
Source: Navhind Times