On the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway in Punjab, Talwinder Singh lifts a tarpaulin in his “Wedding Cars” outlet and unveils a White Hummer H3, which he believes was last in business this February. In the nearby “Royal Limos” outlet with one of the largest fleets in the region, Gary Singh has a similar emergency to report about his Chrysler 300 sedan, which has also not been driven out since February.
The Covid pandemic has hit the economy hard and a new and lucrative business in Punjab. Every year, Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from the UK, Europe, the US and Canada come to Punjab to host their relatives’ weddings. For the wedding ceremony and to bring the bride home, they like to rent large luxury cars as a status symbol and get so close to doing the same work as doing a wedding abroad.
On the Ludhiana-Ferozepur motorway, you can find a dozen of these outlets in this shop, where the finest luxury cars are on display – from Chrsylers to Hummers, BMWs, Bentley, Audi, Mercedes, Jaguar and Volvo. In good times it would cost around 50,000 rupees to rent a Chrysler or Hummer for one day while it would cost around 20,000 rupees to 30,000 rupees for the others. The BMW convertibles, the roof of which can be opened, were also a big hit until last year.
But not anymore. The pandemic, the ban on flights from abroad and the lockdown have hit business hard and have practically closed since February. “Business has been going slowly for a year. This winter between December and February things got a little livelier, but the second wave hit us very hard. Our main customers are NRIs who are not coming to Punjab due to the problem with the flights, ”Gary Singh told News18.
Wedding Cars’ Talwinder Singh says he had to sell five of his 15 cars because he cannot pay the EMIs on the various car loans. He shows a Hummer H3, a BMW convertible and a Bentley parked in his garage and says they haven’t been rented for five months. “Lobster was in high demand, bringing in about 50,000 rupees for a day. Now nobody is ready to rent it for 5,000 rupees by themselves. In many cases, we had to pay an advance back because marriages were canceled, ”he regrets.
Singh adds that people are choosing not to flaunt fancy cars as it is not on a large scale and limited gatherings are allowed due to Covid as it is considered a luxury. “Even NRIs who came to Punjab for weddings earlier this year were tight on funds as the pandemic hit them financially abroad as well. All of this has been detrimental to our business, ”says Singh. He says they stare at the store closing if flights to Canada and Europe don’t fully open. “The cost of maintaining these luxury cars is also very high,” he says.
The business boomed until 2019
Business was booming through 2019 and many outlets had added larger and better luxury cars to their fleets. Even some locals have bought luxury cars for personal use, which they rented out to these outlets for later rental by customers. The current price at that time was around 20,000 rupees to 25,000 rupees for an Audi4 or Audi 6 and 30,000 rupees for a BMW, Bentley or Jaguar. “The enthusiasm used to be for a Mercedes or an Audi, but in recent years it has been more for the Jaguars, Bentley and above all the BMW convertible,” says Talwinder Singh.
The biggest draw, however, remained the Chrysler 300 sedan and the Hummer. Those who wanted a regal experience of a long car with a classy interior were willing to pay up to 50,000 rupees for a limousine. The lobster, which has been sung in Punjabi songs by popular international artists, has created a demand as it depicts a “muscular Punjabi image” during weddings, says Singh. At the moment, however, both the sedan and the Hummer are cooling down in the garage.
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