[lamborghini]

Honestly, in the cities the infra is improving + availability of Ola and Uber are making it that much more efficient.
I for one am waiting for the Metro work to be completed so I can take it work and save the hassle of traffic & jams - may even be able to reduce one car thanks to this, especially with zoomcar and the like available whenever I am planning an out of town trip.

Another big issue is availability of parking space - with most new buildings being very strict about parking and residents facing a shortage of parking. I've given up a parking spot a few times already to friends and family who wanted a space to park their old car before they sold it.

I personally feel this is going to be a trend, but one that will stabilise over a few years.

[anand.shankar]

Not surprised by the fact fewer 18Y Olds are rushing to get their licenses. When I was 18, it was still fun to drive in the city. But today it's just a horror story for even folks like me who have been driving around for a good 15years. I can imagine if I had to be initiated on such freaky roads.

On the other hand the rural areas are developing financially as well as changing their perceptions of wants and needs. That probably explains the spike.

[locusjag]

We should hold a poll here among Team-BHP members to see how many people can tolerate (forget about enjoy) driving within our major cities. If hardcore team-bhp members who live to drive can't tolerate driving in cities, we'll get the pulse of the general public and perhaps corroborate these media reports.

[silverado]

The most common car in a traffic Jam is a Yellow plate Wagon R.

I dont enjoy driving in our cities these days.i have learnt driving when traffic was medium, discipline in Mumbai was still present amongst drivers and 2 wheelers were not common, i dont even stay in suburbs which are worse since they also have rickshaws to deal with.

So many roads are Dug up for several projects.

The biggest worry about using car in Mumbai is finding safe parking spot.
On other hand, i am also worried if i will get a good spot to park when i come back home.

BEST service has deteriorated since early 2000's which is a big factor in people buying personal vehicles.
I sincerely hope this trend continues , Metro comes up quickly and BEST improves its service.
Traditionally mumbaikars use Local/BEST on regular basis and are used to them, so if these services improve mumbai will see lesser cars.

[shrk_18]

Not surprised by this at all. Some observations from my interactions,
- Many old timers in Bangalore no longer drive, they get a Ola/Uber
- Many folks WFH to avoid the traffic
- There is a lesser need to buy a second car, the first one is sparingly used and folks would like to keep that for longer as the usage is minimal
- When I learnt driving, driving in Bangalore was easy, compared to massive chaos it is today, can see why lesser youth want to drive now
- Priorities of the younger generation are something else now, they want to backpack in the Alps, take the trans siberian journey, etc ; want to put money there unlike our generation when we went after vehicles

[ashishy]

Yes, I sold my last car in December 2016 and haven't missed owning a car since. Why would I?
-Uber/Ola for daily commuting
-Local trains in Mumbai, Metro in NCR
-Myles for self drive
-Savaari for outstation trips
-Growing money in mutual funds instead of losing money in depreciating asset
-Better health: no tension of traffic, parking or maintenance. + more walking

[Waspune]

This trend goes in line with the growing traffic specially in the big metro cities. I would take the 1% increase in Delhi also as a drop, it being Delhi where the majority of the families have multiple 4 wheelers in their garage and that the number of cars in Delhi is more than the sum of the cars in the other Metros (read Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkatta).
As others have said, with the rising traffic and parking problems people are now not so willing to go for multiple cars in their garage which is great in today's scenario.

This has also to do with the rise in the Olas, Ubers and other Taxis. They have also contributed immensely to the growing traffic which can only be countered by utilizing them for city travels.

[Turbohead]

This is totally relatable!

1) Two wheelers are faster and cheaper!

Who needs cars when you can't save any time with respect to public transport? Two wheelers are the fastest thing in traffic! Easy maintenance and relatively high fuel economy only helps matters. Even depreciation is low! My scooter sometimes sees a running of 100kms a day!

2) Cars are so expensive today!

To be honest, most needs are met with spacious B-segment hatches like i20 and Jazz! Upgrading makes very little sense as very little is gained unless the budget is double of the original purchase!

3) Lateral upgrades make sense-

Far more realistic prices and more car per rupee for a relatively new car!

4) As others have said, Ola and Uber have turned the tables for good though at times it's unreliable!

All this invariably reduces logical reasons to go and get that brand new ride!

[coolvenk]

That Ola/Uber are cheaper than having your own car is a temporary aberration.

Once consolidation in the cab aggregator market is complete, and these companies start making a (sizable) profit, the tide will turn in private car ownership.

[sunilch]

I am, for once, happy to read the 20% drop new car sales in Mumbai. Is this a one time blip or the start of a trend will only be known in coming years, but there are some strong factors that would have contributed to this decline specifically for this year.

1) Rise in pollution levels across the city. Mumbai trains and the (single) Metros line are better in this regard. People are getting health conscious as well.
2) Recent decrease in incentives by OLA/Uber might have caused fewer additions to their fleet.
3) New Metro line work along the western side of the City. Western Mumbai represents more than 50% of the city population and this part has been under sever suffering for the last 1-2 years on account of the Metro line work. To cover a distance of about 20Km, it takes about 3-3.5 hours one way for some of my friends during peak hours.
4) Increase in Car pooling via Ola/Uber and other means.
5) Parking issues and the recent Real-Estate boom. Real estate, as we all know, has seen it's best run in recent decades. Mumbai has the worst car density per square KM across the country due to lack of space, unlike Delhi or Bangalore. Now a days parking on the Road isn't an option as the space is already taken and there are limited spots in each building. Societies are strict on the number of cars you can keep inside the premises.

I do not believe rise in used car owner ship has cause this drop as Mumbai has been a great place to purchase a used car since many years. That factor has had its contribution already factored in.

I am happy to see this as a trend as a resident of Mumbai. The more people realize that they can live with fewer cars as a family, the better will be the city to live in.

-Sunil
I believe Mumbai doesn't need so many cars to begin with.

[ALTIMAed]

Permit me to add my 2 pence to this scene

Along with my parents, I moved to Dwarka, New Delhi in October 2000. For those who know Dwarka, we reside at Dakshinayan Apartments. In year 2000, apart from schools and petrol pumps there was nothing one could talk about, not even proper roads. For each and every thing, one needed a personal transport, be it a 2 or 4 wheeler. Those days I used to work at Delhi, hence we had a car. In 2005, I moved abroad, the car was retained till 2009 after which it was sold.

Today, just from our campus gate, one gets cycle rickshaw / e rickshaw / a/c bus / non a/c bus / Rs 5/- per ticket small bus / metro (just Rs 30 to get to Sector 12 or 13 metro station) / Ola and Uber have a car park just close to our campus resulting in a car coming to us in less than 5 mins - in a scene like this, the thought of buying a car has never crossed our mind. I am pretty sure the same situation arises with many people like us.

Even if there are 2000 people like me at Dwarka, that is 2000 cars less sale in just Dwarka, am sure there are many other localities which the scenerio might be the same. Hence the fall in sales. Had the public transport not been that good, all of us would be forced to buy some mode of personal transport.

[Chugh_H]

Not surprised with the stats at all. This was long in the making. I am nearing 30th year of my life now and I find it hard to objectively justify my intentions to buy a car even when I expect to get married in the next year or so.

Immediately, I can think of a few reasons why people of my age in Metros won't be planning for a car anytime soon:

• Our generation is past the stage where we want to showoff our new car or where we start planning for a house as soon as we enter 20s. We'd rather showoff our trips to Europe, US or how fun the last full moon party was. We are not saving for cars anymore.
• When we need one, cars are easily accessible. My friends staying with parents have one or two in the house already and they can always borrow those for the occasional outstation trip. I spent 25 years of my life in Delhi and I noticed a lot of households having more cars than people who could drive those. There are a lot of options for car rentals, and the prices have significantly dropped down in the last 5 years.
• The new age of employers + cheap connectivity makes it easy for us to work the way we like, when we like. No more strict log-in timings in office, there are allowances for travel / cab services and the flexibility to work from home when the need arises. We are okay if the cab is 10 mins late or takes a longer route when in pool, many of us get it for free / at subsidized rates (or can afford the time lost when taking a pool), and we'd be better off working from home when its a storm outside - rather than stuck in traffic behind a steering (even when in traffic, we'd prefer to be on the passenger side working on the next presentation / spend time on social media).
• We are not even interesting in buying a house! We are open to change jobs more frequently than the last generation, and our rental place with it. Most people I know of my age stay so close to their offices that a car would not even make sense.
• Also, one thing a lot of my friends hate is the responsibility that comes with own vehicle. With a cab, they can get down where they'd want - but when on their own car, its a struggle to find a parking spot first. Finding a place to park is difficult, and the parking cost brings the overall trip cost to what they'd pay in a cab anyway. When shifting house, they'd have to look at the space for parking first.

Understandably, other reasons might overshadow the ones listed above in a couple of years for me. Yet, the fact that I could postpone the purchase of my first car - and have never had any reasons to complain speaks how the trend is changing.

OT: Hello people, my first post!

[RGK]

"What extra benefit am I going to get when I drive a new car on the same road with increasing traffic jams? ". This thought really made to drop my new car purchase last year. I upgraded my 100cc bike to a Bullet.

This may be a temporary sales dip, but the factors mentioned in this thread cannot be taken lightly by manufacturers.

[Viraj_Guru]

Not really surprising cause some of my observations and reading's:

-Parking fares in Delhi-NCR region has been hiked four times to control air pollution since 2017 record hit air pollution.-When you register a vehicle in Delhi, there is an MCD parking fee attached to it and in the last few years, that parking component has gradually gone up.

-Similar situation seen in London, where vehicle excise duty rose sharply for cars purchased after April 1, 2017, UK car sales dropped by a fifth, according to a report in The Guardian. Change in taxes drastically hit the market for new vehicles in London with new car registrations falling by almost 20% every month. The increased excise charges came in addition to a £10 ‘pollution charge’, some vehicles had to pay for entering the city limits. It’s expected that the parking fee in London could cost £21.50, more than the average living wage.

Link

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Chugh_H

Not surprised with the stats at all. This was long in the making. I am nearing 30th year of my life now and I find it hard to objectively justify my intentions to buy a car even when I expect to get married in the next year or so.

All good points. The changes in buying behavior amongst the young well paid urban educated are changing. I see it in my two elder ones who both earn well live by themselves but are unlikely to buy a car - Bangalore city may be a contributory factor.

These social changes and electric vehicles will both bring new and unpredictable dynamics to how cars sell over the coming 10 years. The buyers in the towns outside the 6 largest could behave very differently. After all India has 45 urban agglomerations of over 1 million population beyond the first 8. Historically the lure of your own carriage and how many wheels and horses it had contributed to your status. Will that change? Thoughts? Japan's urban roads are as crowded as ours and because they have small houses a big car remains a symbol of who you are in that country - this was told to me in 2005 by a senior Japanese from Nissan.