Hit by a month-long lockout at its Manesar plant, Maruti Suzuki cars have been in short supply in the market. Not just new cars, the trend has been witnessed in the Ahmedabad used car market as well, where the short supply of popular Maruti cars has resulted in a sales drop of around 50 per cent in August. The coming month is also likely to see a supply crunch, say city based dealers.
"Maruti Swift and the Wagon R are popular cars in the used car market. While the demand has not slowed down for the tried and tested Maruti vehicles, supply side crunch has sent sales down by around 45-50 per cent last month. Drop in supply in the new car market always has a ripple effect on used car sales, and the month-long strike at the company's Manesar plant has slowed down supply", explained Rajiv Mathur of Auto Terrace, who have an used car outfit in the city.
So far, the overall used car market in the city has seen a drop of 20-25 per cent during the June to August period on a year-on-year basis, informs Mathur. In comparison, Maurti car sales have dropped by 50 per cent during August in the city's used car market, he added.
"Maruti's Swift and Dzire have a close to three month waiting in the new car market. However, in the used car market, there is no concept of a wait period, and there is a direct impact on sales", says Jainee P Gordhandas, owner of used-car portal BigGaddi.com. She added that many buyers are shifting towards readily available models like the Tata Indica or the Hyundai i-10 and i-20.