NEW DELHI: The already stagnant luxury car market in India is dealing with a major blow, with the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown taking away all that was left. The industry dominated by German automakers feels that 2020 is going to be a year like never before. Nevertheless, despite the challenges thrown by the pandemic and a general economic slowdown, the industry continues to believe in India’s long-term growth story.
“The industry has been reeling under stress for almost two years, owing to demand depletion and liquidity crunch. Q1FY2020 came with additional challenges of BS-IV stock liquidation and later Covid-19. The year ahead looks rather challenging and we will anticipate strong headwinds in the next few quarters,” Balbir Singh Dhillon, Audi India head, told TNIE.
“We need to understand that the situation we are all currently facing is rather dynamic. We have not seen something like this in our lifetime and can’t predict how the situation will unfold in the coming weeks or months. We can’t rule out a delay in production and certain launches, considering the lockdown and a lack of clarity on when the normalcy will return,” Dhillon added.
The market leader, Mercedes Benz, said 2020 is going to remain challenging for the industry, but the company would retain all its launch plans and customer initiatives. “We will proceed with our planned launches and there will be no cancellations of plans. Due to the current situation, delays cannot be ruled out currently. We will try to minimise the impact on our customers,” said Martin Schwenk, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India.
He said Mercedes has a positive outlook for the Indian market. “There may be some short-term challenges, but we are hopeful of a mid- to long-term growth. The pandemic has paused the momentum in the market, but we should be able to come back gradually,” Schwenk said, “We expect to see a shift of consumer mindset towards online purchase, going forward. That is why we have launched our #MercFromHome initiative — from exploring to purchase and delivery of a Mercedes-Benz.”