Fear associated with the coronavirus and social distancing makes the people prefer personal vehicles rather than public transport.
The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) expects demand to shift towards lower priced cars in the post-lockdown scenario.
“People will prefer personal vehicles over public transport and it comes out from different consumer surveys which we have conducted,” MSI Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, Shashank Srivastava told PTI.
With economic activity slowing down, impacting buying power of consumers, demand will shift towards lower priced or smaller vehicles in personal mobility space, he added.
“So the shift is expected towards smaller cars and first-time buyers. We are already witnessing this trend in around 1,800 dealerships which we have been able to re-open in the past few days,” Srivastava said.
Previous trends have also shown that consumers gravitate towards established brands during stress periods, he noted.
Before lockdown, people working in private or government sectors used to transport through metro, buses, cabs etc. In the state’s capital, Hyderabad there is no movement of metro rails and buses as it stands as a hotspot for the virus.
People use to prefer public transport though they own a vehicle. After lockdown, where there is a fear of the virus, people ignore public transport.
Previously, the state earns an income of 10 crore through RTC service which is now came to 2 crore.
Echoing similar views, Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) Senior Vice President and Director, Marketing and Sales, Rajesh Goel said that considering people will be extra careful against COVID-19, personal mobility will gain much more significance than shared mobility or public transport, and hence can contribute to sales.
A Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) spokesperson said fear of disease, social distancing and need to maintain hygiene made consumer towards personal mobility and move them away from public transport.
However, it must be kept in mind that on overall basis the consumer sentiment currently is quite subdued and may remain so unless some demand creation measures are introduced by the government as well as the industry, the spokesperson added.
Similarly, a Tata Motors spokesperson said that the coronavirus pandemic has brought about a significant change in the perspective regarding transportation usage.
“Due to the impact of COVID-19 and the implication of strict physical distancing norms, we anticipate that there will be a considerable decrease in the use of public transport and shared mobility,” the spokesperson said.
The demand for personal mobility will increase due to customers’ need to ensure personal safety, the spokesperson added.