Monday, November 26, 2012

The second hand car market is on a roll

With rising disposable incomes & soaring aspirations, the second hand car market is on a roll

One thing that surely brings both the organised and unorganised players onto a common platform are the kind of bottlenecks and hurdles that the Indian used car industry is facing. Soaring oil prices, hardening interest rates, imminent entry of Nano et al, are making the ride bumpy and uncomfortable. Discounting the competition on this front, Ravi Bhatia, Chief GM, Sales & Support, Maruti Suzuki True Value asserts, “Nano will only make the market more lucrative. Also, the price of it is yet to be finalised, so the end picture can be totally different.” What’s more? The consumers in this segment have smartly shifted to CNG vehicles to balance the oil price rise crisis. “The recent hike in CRR by 25bp and Repo Rates by 50bp is expected to push the interest rates higher might impact demand of this auto segment,” explains Vaishali Jajoo, Automobile and Transportation Analyst, Angel Broking. However, on the flip side, since the second hand car has a higher interest rate than a first hand car, this might deter consumers.

Nonetheless, the industry is eying an unprecedented growth to support the shift from two-wheelers to four-wheelers or to a higher model. “Second hand car market is growing at 19% and the new car market is growing at 12%. With this outlook, used car market would overtake the new car market by 2012,” explains Bhatia of Maruti True Value. Be that as it may, the fast growing used car market has grabbed the eyeballs of at least three global players who are planning to park their moolah and set shop here. Japan’s Gulliver International, Britain-based Manheim & a Dubai-based operator are expected to set up local operations on the Indian shores. Rising interest rate and oil prices, notwithstanding, increasing income levels & soaring aspirations is sure to fuel the used car market to hitherto never before seen heights.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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