Driving over Speed Breakers!

“Star Trek roof in that Wrath of Khan,

Girls get loose when they hear this song,

100 on the dash get me close to God,

We don't pray for love, we just pray for cars….”

Almost all of us hummed this song and sang in unison the last line, by THE WEEKND, whether we were speeding up in a car or just sitting back somewhere dreaming to own one. This shows how much human beings are fond of cars and the manufacturers know that well. Indians have a craze for cars and that has made India the seventh largest manufacturer of commercial vehicle. 

However, there was a slump in the automobile industry in the year 2018-19. In fact, the Indian economy faced a slowdown which led to a growth of only 5% in the automobile sector in the quarter ending in 2019, which was the lowest in the 5 years. Indian automobile manufacturers like Maruti, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra announced suspension of production over several months as car sales dropped by 41% - the steepest fall in the last two decades.

The Indian automobile industry employs approximately 37 million people and contributes to more than  7% of the GDP. People lost jobs, there was a drop in private investments, a banking crisis, and a stringency of credit access weakened the consumer demand. Increase in fuel prices, high interest rates, hike in the vehicle insurance cost made the total cost of vehicle ownership quite expensive.

Then, the breakout of the novel Corona virus, which brought almost everything to a halt, further caused decline in the sales in this sector.

Although, every cloud has a silver lining and so does Covid-19.

The masses fear the chances of contracting the infection while travelling by public transportation systems, which is why they now prefer  travelling by private passenger vehicles, which is a ray of hope that consumer demand in this sector will increase. We will still get to see a huge change in the buying and selling process with the integration of digitalization, as the pandemic has created a demand for a contactless environment. While making high investment decisions like buying a vehicle, one wants to experience and assess based on the touch and feel component of the product. The companies clearly understand that a physical and online aspect coexist while making these purchases and hence, have come up with the  ‘Phygital’ concept, where you get to touch and feel and also have the convenience of online processing. The companies have adopted initiatives like giving the customers an experience through – virtual tour, contactless home test drives where the customer doesn’t have to go to stores and the car comes down to them, implementing ‘The Phygital’, employee and car hygiene and a consumer safety kit, keeping in mind the safety aspect.

Motor companies have collaborated with banking and finance partners to provide online financing options, as well.

Indian vehicle manufacturers like Tata Motors, are coming up with brand new models like Hexa, Gravitas, HBX or Hornbill, and electric vehicles like Altroz and Tiago.

Mahindra & Mahindra with its XUV 300 Turbo Sports, Thar 2020, S204 , XUV 500, and electric model XUV 300 electric.

Maruti is coming up with Swift 2020, Swift hybrid, XL5, Grand Vitara, Jimny, and its e-car Wagon R electric.

BYD- Olectra, Tata Motors, and Ashok Leylands will be supplying 5500 electric buses to different state departments.

All this makes us quite hopeful about the automobile industry, which is going to take up soon and we can fulfil this dream of owning our favourite cars, preferably the electric cars so as to reduce the carbon footprint and do our share to be a better and a more responsible human being.

Be kind, spread love, stay hydrated.