Some festive boost for automobile sector, but the cheer is missing

Car sales decline due to increase in retail sales in festive season, Maruti sales rebound to growth

Festive sentiment gave a boost to four- and two-wheeler sales in October, with the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) showing growth in sales after eight months.  

However, industry executives cautioned that the slight revival in demand witnessed primarily during the 15 days of Navratri and Dhanteras — driven by aggressive discounting — is not a barometer to check demand, and things could be back to worse as most of the issues affecting demand for cars and two-wheelers still persist.

That the economic gloom persists was highlighted by sales figures of commercial vehicle makers, which dropped more than 50 per