Maruti sees healthy consumer demand

New Delhi: After witnessing healthy off-take conditions during the festive season, auto major Maruti Suzuki foresees sales momentum to continue till December-end. Accordingly, the passenger vehicle giant has achieved both sequential as well as yearly growth in sales during this year's festive season.

In a conversation with IANS, cited that pent-up demand has not yet diminished which is expected to drive the sales momentum along with faster acceleration in overall economic recovery. "Looking at the booking and the enquiry levels, we expect conducive demand conditions to sustain till December-end," Srivastava said.

"Factors such as shift from shared to personal mobility, higher discretionary spending due to increased savings, pent up demand and low interest rates have all played a role in giving a push to the sales momentum." However, he cautioned that future sales' trend will depend on the dynamic nature of the pandemic.

"The upside in sentiment has been witnessed during the festive season, however, now the downside such as reimposition of night curfews in few states as well as ambiguity over the vaccines' availability are coming into play. These factors will determine the future sales' trajectory."

Nevertheless, the auto major has been able to sell more vehicles in the main festive season spanning from October 17 to November 16 than during the corresponding period of the previous year. Even the marriage season during November-January period and chances of a greater transmission of previous repo cuts into lower lending rates has brightened the company's prospects.

"The overall pent up demand has not yet diminished, as retail was practically shut during Q1FY21 and gradual recovery only took place from Q2 onwards," he said.

Last month, the company's total sales rose by 18.9 per cent to 1,82,448 units as against 1,53,435 units sold in October 2019.