The car sales in Ahmedabad have remained steady despite the steep rise in petrol and diesel prices, which recently crossed the Rs100/litre mark. On Dussehra, petrol cars have been in higher demand than diesels or CNGs.
According to automobile dealers in the city, SUV cars are selling well, followed by other categories like sedans and hatchbacks.
Director of Nanda Group, Jayesh Nanda, said, “We have seen a 12-15% higher demand for SUVs in the festive season. Demand for sedans and hatchbacks too is 10% higher than this year. However, not all dealers will be able to make deliveries to customers on the auspicious day as production of cars has been affected by the shortage of semiconductor chips.”
CMD of Supernova Group, Samir Mistry, said, “We are selling super cars, SUV cars and others. The demand has been twice that of the same period last year. Petrol price rise has not impacted sales much. But we aren’t able to fulfill the demand because of the supply issues. Still, petrol car sales are doing better than diesel cars.”
Auto dealers are hopeful that the petrol and diesel cars will continue to sell well given that electric vehicles (EV) are yet to establish themselves in the market.
MD of Shital Motors, Arvind Thakkar, said, “There are a very few options in the market for EV cars. This year, we will see more auto companies launching EVs. However, petrol and diesel cars are still the preferred choice of buyers.”
He added, “Though actual sales could be lower than last year because of lack of supply, the demand is still much higher than last year.”
Electric cars see jump in bookings
According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association (FADA), electric vehicles are expected to register 100% growth and bookings of EVs, both bikes and cars, are likely to double this year.
However, EVs are yet to carve out a significant market share; electric vehicles sales are about 3% of total vehicle sales. It has to be noted that EVs market share was about 1.5% last year.
Referring to EVs, FADA Gujarat chairperson Pranav Shah said, “After the state and central government’s subsidies (on EV cars and bikes up to certain range) their cost is still about 25% higher than the traditional petrol/diesel vehicles. There is 10-15% higher demand for petrol and diesel cars in Ahmedabad. The SUV category has good growth compared to sedan and hatchback segments.
