Top-end car sales decline in Bengaluru, RTO footfalls down

BENGALURU: Car dealers in the city are feeling the pinch of demonetization with sales declining in the two weeks following the Centre’s November 8 announcement. Subsequently, regional transport offices also reported a fall in vehicle registrations, particularly of high-end cars.
November is anyway not a busy month for car dealers — major sales taking place from Dasara to Diwali and between December and January — demonetization has pushed down the business further.
Akshaya Motors, a Mercedes Benz dealer in Bengaluru, has witnessed sales going down by half at its two showrooms in November. “Normally, each showroom sells about 50 Mercedes Benz cars every month. After demonetization, not many people have not booked or made a purchase. Both our showrooms sold only 25 to 30 cars each last month,” said Ajay Singh, director of sales, Akshaya Motors.
Sale of cars costing over Rs 10 lakh dipped by 18% to 20% at Magnum Honda and Cauvery Ford, said executive director Avinash N. Normally, we sell 250 Honda cars from our three showrooms in the city every month, besides 150 to 175 Ford cars from the other two showrooms. He said most of their buyers belong to the salaried class and pay by cheque, but demonetization has made them apprehensive about spending large amounts of money.
BMW-Navnit Motors, which sold 55 cars from its three showrooms (two in Bengaluru and one in Mangaluru) in November, saw cancellation of a number of bookings. Gopinath S, GM (Sales), BMW-Navnit Motors, said, “About 6% of the bookings were cancelled by customers after demonetization.”
A representative of Maruti Suzuki dealer Mandovi Motors said they, too, witnessed the trend in the second and third week of November.
Vehicle registrations at the different regional transport offices, too, slowed down in the wake of demonetization. “Usually, vehicle registrations increase towards the end of the year, starting October. This November, very few luxury cars were registered. We presume it to be an effect of demonetization,” said a source in the transport department.