Barring few auto dealers, the car market dynamics in Goa has generally forced dealers to put their feet on clutch and brake pedals. The closure of the mining industry has caused a ripple effect across industries in Goa to an extent that auto dealers are happy to see a status quo or a marginal growth of eight per cent as against 35 per cent during the pre-ban mining era. What makes a difference in the auto market is the launch of new models with ‘extra’ features.
Major players like Toyota, Hyundai, Ford and Renault have seen a glorious past and only one had the edge over the other three, as Hyundai launched its brand new SUV, Creta, very late. Customers willing to shell out Rs 10-20 lakh to own their dream car have embraced the Creta despite the waiting period for the delivery of the vehicle.
Managing director of Goa Motors, Prashant Joshi believes that Creta with its new features will be a complete sell-out in the 10-20 lakh bracket cars. “We have received a booking of 250 units despite the waiting period of 4-6 months. We hardly launched Creta about three months back. People in India are now looking to upgrade their vehicle preference from owning a sedan to a SUV, primarily because of its high ground clearance, bigger car looks and obviously the brand of Hyundai,” said Mr Joshi.
Sharayu Toyota is, is not very pleased by their growth in sales, but is relieved that the status quo has been maintained. “Our biggest seller in the segment of 10-20 lakh is undoubtedly the all time favourite car Innova and we on an average sell about 45-50 vehicles per month. Many hoteliers, government offices, taxi operators and even individual customers have shown faith in this vehicle and are repeat buyers too,” said Sanjay Parmekar, deputy general manager, sales and marketing, Sharayu Toyota.
Mr Parmekar further added that in this segment (10-20 lakh) they have remained number one for last ten years, since the launch of Innova and the vehicle is selling on its own brand and merit. “In this segment, our market share is 54 per cent,” added Mr Parmekar.
The story is very bleak for Renault. Chairman and managing director of Quadros Auto Mark, Evencio Quadros was candid to say that with the closure of mining and entry of Hyundai’s Creta the demand for Renault Duster has plummeted dramatically. “Last year we sold 35-40 Dusters per month. This year it is merely 20-25 and a dip of nearly 50 per cent in sales. The primary reason is that we did not upgrade the Duster while Hyundai came up with lots of additional features in Creta. Also, the closure of mining meant that money was less in market to buy such vehicles,” said Mr Quadros.
When Eco-Sport of Ford rolled on Goa roads in June 2013, there was an euphoria among the customers to own it. “The pressure to deliver it and meet the demand was tremendous. It was a first opportunity before customers to get into the high-clearance SUV vehicle instead of sedan. We did it and have managed to keep our customers satisfied,” said Mangesh Dalvi, vice president of Caculo Ford Motors. He added that in the hatch-back segment, the dip in growth in sales recorded in 2012 was 10 per cent and the following year in 2013 it showed a decrease by 40 per cent but in 2014 the sales growth dipped by 23 per cent.
“In the SUV market, Eco-Sport Ford has recorded about 8 per cent growth this year and going by the market trend it is fairly normal. Since June 2013, we have already sold 750 vehicles in Goa and we are selling 45-50 Eco-Sports per month on an average,” added Mr Dalvi.
