Hyundai Festive Season Outlook Optimistic, To Build Stock At Dealerships

2020 Hyundai Creta Video Review — The Korean carmaker states it is optimistic about the festive season

India’s second largest carmaker Hyundai is positive about the festive season this year, but says it is guarded optimism, since it is afraid that a second wave of COVID-19 might arrive, further hurting the economy.

The South Korean carmaker is right to be optimistic since sales in the May to July period skyrocketed after a disastrous April.

In May, Hyundai sold 6,883 units, while 21,320 units were retailed in June and 38,200 units in July. This jump comes at a time when many automakers like Mahindra and Toyota faced huge losses.

However, it is not to say Hyundai was completely out of COVID-19’s effects either, since it too saw its July sales fall by 2 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) when it comes to domestic sales.

Since more and more people are preferring personal transport in this virus-hit era, Hyundai is upbeat about the upcoming festive season. It even wants to build up stock at the dealership to cater to increased demand when it arrives.

This is in addition with the new launches the carmaker has made, so as to appeal to a wider customer base. Hyundai Motor India Limited Director (Sales, Marketing and Service) Tarun Garg, put it a bit modestly.

“Right now things look positive and we are approaching the festival season with lot of positivity. We are looking to build up stock at the dealerships. At the same time we really don’t know how (the) coronavirus situation is going to pan out,” he stated.

Hyundai festive season outlook that is optimistic, although guarded, is good for the industry and the brand has shown the same attitude towards offering diesel engine options as well, something Maruti has been speaking against.

Models with diesel engine are not being preferred by customers since the total cost of ownership up until even five years of usage makes buying petrol models the better option. Plus there is a general apprehension among people about how long they can use diesel cars.

But, Hyundai, on the other hand is still witnessing good demand for SUVs as 56 percent of bookings for the new Creta are for diesel models, while 31 percent Venue bookings are for the oil burner variants as well.

With Maruti out of the picture, Hyundai aims to may hay while the sun shines. Hopefully sales return to where it was last year for automakers, even though the industry had been affected by the economic slowdown back then.