SHILLONG: The sale of cars has suffered a body blow in the state with waves of agitations followed by lockdown, leaving the car dealers gasping. The sales graph began to dip with the protracted anti-Citizenship Amendment Act agitations that triggered widespread dislocation of normality. The over two-month long lockdown completely crippled the automobile trade.
Rani Motors, dealing in the highest-selling Maruti Suzuki, had some old bookings which were being executed with a meagre 2-3 deliveries taking place every day from Shillong.
Sales manager at the head office, Dharmesh Chettri said that the market was good before the lockdown while it was far from normal even after the ease in curbs. He observed that people do have cash in hand but are hesitant to buy due to the pandemic.
It is just like demonetisation when people were caught off guard. Nobody anticipated that such a pandemic would take place.
However, there has been a slight increase in demand for Maruti Suzuki Eeco which is being used by some customers for selling vegetables, fishes etc.
Other than Eeco van, which starts at Rs 3.95 lakh, MLAs and social organisations are also looking for ambulances.
“Before lockdown the most popular brand was Alto 800, our bread and butter. It constituted about 60 per cent of the sales”, he informed.
With the market wobbling to get back on its feet, he said, “bookings are happening. We are hoping to bounce back. Luckily, we have ready stock. The demand in the market is for Eeco and we are prepared for it.”
The head office in Rani Motors has 82 staff and the enterprise overall has 350 employees who have staggered duty hours these days.
As for Nissan, the dealer principal, Shemphang Lyngdoh, said that business was average before the lockdown and even after the relaxations there have been no sales.
“We received some enquiries though not as expected. There are online enquiries too”, sales manager Kyrshan Khongwir said. The enquiries are mostly for Redi-go model.
) He said that production was on but they were not getting the required models adding some were expected in August.
The showroom opened on May 28. While sales are low, customers who have purchased have not been able to take delivery because of the pandemic. There are 25 bookings pending. The vehicles come all the way from Chennai.
“The future looks very bad and the trend is going to change completely”, he said.
The Nissan showroom at Fire Brigade has more than 20 staff while the total is around 40. Employees are getting their salary as the PF also has to be maintained.
“The car industry is totally hit”, he said adding that there is a loss of 60-70 per cent.
Lyngdoh said that due to the bad business, the Tura showroom was also closed down. He still pays the staff and looks forward to engage them in other things as well.
Lyngdoh, however, hoped that with the arrival of new models — Redi-Go and Kicks — would boost sales.
The story is no different at Hyundai. Before lockdown, there was the CAA imbroglio which compelled the showroom to function for just 10 days in March and then came the debilitating lockdown.
“We were expecting sales to pick up in March but the lockdown and curfew played spoilsport. We have just opened 4-5 days back”, an official said.
Among the customers who had booked vehicles earlier, only a few have taken deliveries. “We are not sure when the market would be normal. It would take some time for the people to figure out whether they would still want to buy cars. People would like to save more in such times of uncertainties. Will see how this month goes”, he said.
There are three show rooms — Keating Road, Mawblei and Mawiong. Shillong has 170 staff while in Mawiong there are around 70.
There are people who have already paid in advance and are taking deliveries, but fresh bookings are yet to begin.
“There have been a few enquiries but far less than normal. Loss is quite huge as we have to pay salaries, rent and interest. We ordered new stock on Wednesday,” he said.
As for the payment of salaries, the staff said that there has to be a balanced approach wherein the employees do not suffer and the dealership still runs. “We have to see that the basic needs of the employees are met and the dealership continues”, a staff said.
Proprietor of Banalari, Godwin M. Roy Lakiang said that sales have dropped to 2-3 cars a day from the 10-15 prior to the lockdown. The Banalari World Cars opened its stores 4-5 days back. They have 7-8 outlets.
“There are bookings. We also have more than 300 cars in stock. Enquiries have also started coming in. Today also we sold 2-3 cars. There is a huge difference between the sale of cars post and pre-lockdown”, he said.
Lakiang said that with only 2-3 cars sold, it is not profitable as they have to look after the staff’s welfare, tax etc.
He said that the 200-strong employees are being called to work with 20-30 per cent of strength due to the lockdown. He said that he was unable to pay the usual salaries but helped the employees to ensure that they at least get the essential items for survival starting from Rs 5000.
