Post-covid, Demand For Passenger Cars Up | Bhopal News

Bhopal: Like several other sectors, the automobile sector was also affected during the Covid pandemic but the drop in sales was mainly limited to two-wheelers and not the four-wheelers. And, now when the market is stabilising, shrugging off the impact of pandemic, most of the major brands of leading automobile companies are in short supply with the customers having to book their car or SUV and wait for a while before they get the delivery.
The shortage in supply of passenger vehicles (PVs as the cars and SUVs are called) is being attributed to short supply of microprocessor chips, which has been further hit following the Russia-Ukraine war. President of Bhopal Automobile Dealers’ Association, Ashish Pandey, while talking about short supply of PVs said “The availability of microprocessor chips still acts as a deterrent to seamless production and eventual sales of PVs in MP and India.
Talking about impact of Covid pandemic on automobile sector, he said, “sales of PVs was also affected but not that much but sales of two-wheelers particularly bikes dropped by 40 percent during the Covid period but with the pandemic subsiding and bumper rabi crops on Cards, sale of two-wheelers is also expected to pick up in coming days.Bumper crops and the long wedding beginning season this month will act as a catalyst in boosting the sales of two-wheelers particularly in the semi-urban pockets, said Pandey .
Another distinct feature characterizing the sales of PVs which is getting more and more visible with time is people preferring to buy SUVs over cars.
Talking about impact of Russia-Ukraine war on production of microprocessor chips, he said, “The war between Russia and Ukraine has further exacerbated production of microprocessor chips as Palladium (40% production in Russia) and Neon (70% production in Neon), which are important elements in production of chips remain in short supply”.
Talking about people’s preference between SUVs and cars, he said “The sale of PVs is heavily skewed in favor of SUVs vis-a-vis Sedans or hatchbacks. There is a waiting list for all popular models of Maruti, Hynduai, Kia and M&M” .
Pankaj Sharma, who has recently bought an SUV, while talking about why people prefer buying an SUV over a car, said “SUVs because of its macho appearance, can be used on rough roads due to high ground clearance, it’s more spacious and of course it has some status symbol value as well. Besides, compact SUVs are now available, which are cheaper and therefore more affordable.”
According to market sources, sales of old PVs or second-hand cars and SUVs also saw an increase during Covid period.
An old car dealer without naming himself said “People were buying four-wheelers in place of two-wheelers during Covid period because they wanted to have a vehicle for the family. People were avoiding public transport but buying a new car was not possible for everyone , so sales of old cars picked up but second-hand four-wheelers have had a steady market otherwise also”. Pandey, on the other hand, attributed increase in sales of old four-wheelers, to easy finance, available on their purchase and also shortage of new PVs to some extent.