Post-GST reforms, automobile sales hit top gear across state

Automobile dealers across Punjab witnessed a record jump in sales as car and mobike prices crashed after the GST reforms announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi took effect on first day of the Navratras on Monday.

A Maruti dealer in Jalandhar, Amit Mittal, said, “Against the average sale of one-two vehicles till last week, we sold as many as 285 cars on Monday. New GST announcements had hinted at heavy sales. We opened our showroom at 6 am and continued the sales paper work till midnight.”

Mittal, who is also a dealer for Bajaj bikes, said he sold as many as 125 of those. The price of bikes went down by Rs 7,000-Rs 8,000. Brezza and Swift cars, which saw a reduction of nearly Rs 1 lakh in their prices were the top-sellers in the town.

In Ludhiana, Maruti had delivered 850 cars last year. In just two days of September 22 and 23, the company has delivered 800 cars and is expected to surpass 1,500 by the end of the month.

Maruti Suzuki in Ludhiana had received 906 bookings till August 23, but in September till today, 1,550 queries were received. Queries received till August 23 were 5,800 which jumped to 7,550 till today.

Ludhiana’s auto market is riding high on a wave of festive cheer and tax reform benefits as the rollout of GST 2.0 coincided with the start of Navratras. Gulzar Motors reported an 80 per cent surge in bookings and a 60 per cent rise in customer queries, driven by 10 per cent GST reduction and a 7-8 per cent festive discount.

Rohit Sharma, General Manager of Sales at Volkswagen dealership, Lally Motors, said, “We’ve seen a noticeable uptick in customer interest with enquiries rising by nearly 10 per cent and 15 cars delivered since yesterday.

Although the final figures had not been compiled for the day by different automobile outlets, a cross-section of dealers in Amritsar were unanimous in conceding a 50 per cent increase in sale of vehicles on the first day of Navratras. “These are definitely much higher sales than in any other period during recent times,” a dealer said wishing anonymity.

Sources said on normal days, about 200 two-wheelers are sold in the district and their sale might have more than doubled on the first day of Navratras. Similarly, on normal days, about 40-50 four-wheelers are sold in the district and between 100 and 150 units might have been sold on the first day of the reduction of GST.

Udit Kapoor, Director of Speedways, an automobile agency having dealership of Kia brand, said sales of four and two-wheelers surpassed previous highs recorded on Dhanteras. It showed that pent-up demand was there which was visible in walk-in customers. Bookings were higher than usual as a car costing Rs 8.5 lakh was available at Rs 7.1 lakh.