[The AG 6167]

So I am going off topic here and mods are free to move this post to the appropriate thread.

I was just thinking that, what if the current auto sales slowdown is deliberate by the manufacturers so as to not land up with a heavy BS4 inventory upto 1 April 2020 and may be to also pressurize the government for GST reduction so that overall sales post BS6 implementation don't get hurt due to the rise in prices.

I am not saying that this is definitely the case but I have reasons to mull over the thought -

1. Dealer attitudes - So I have been in the market with the money since quite sometime now and somehow dealers seem too laid back this time around, I don't get any follow up calls at all, when I request test drives, they say they will get back and then a call never comes, when I visit the showroom for a un-informed test drive I can feel it in them trying to save on their fuel costs, etc.
2. Not empty showrooms - So if people don't want to buy cars who are the ones at the showrooms due to which the wait times for a consultant to cater to you is almost 10-15 mins while for a test drive is 35-45 mins. I am pretty sure if they have so many inquiries all across there must be some turnaround.
3. Multi-car showroom attitudes - So I bought both my Swift & BMW from the same multi-car showroom because I have had good experiences with them but this time around, the same consultant who would call me practically every 2nd day with deals to make me book the car in my previous purchases is now, even on my follow-ups, not reverting with a deal.
4. Second hand car dealers - So the second hand car dealers are yet so aggressive that I literally had to tell a couple of them that I have dropped the idea of buying a car so that they reduce their calls to me. Also, my distant relative who deals in second hand cars has not been complaining of any kind of slowdown.
5. Sales analysis - so the sales in the country are measured on the basis of dispatches from factories and not actual deliveries by the dealers. Am I the only one or does that ring a bell to the others as well?
6. Lastly, reason to reduce overhead costs - so If the industry shows the slowdown that it is, it seems reason enough to layoff, reduce orders to component manufacturers, which if they simply chose to cut production would be a huge financial burden on them till bs6 production started in full swing.

These are just some idle time thoughts that I felt would be good to debate on, so I'll be open to opinions from fellow BHP-ians for or against this topic.
Previously I have myself listed down reasons why I believe the slow down could be real

...so this is just for a healthy debate.

[volkman10]

As the slowdown continues, the fastener ( Nuts, bolts, etc.) industry crashes.

the fastener industry of Ludhiana has already cut its production by more than 50% due to a huge drop in demand.

there are more than 5,000 units dealing in direct and on-contract manufacturing and supply of fasteners to Indian and overseas companies. A huge supply of products is made to several big automotive companies, including Maruti, Tata, Mahindra, Ashoka Leyland, among others, from Ludhiana. Besides the manufacturing units of organized sector, there are hundreds of small units as well which operate from the houses of the owners of these units.

Link

[Durango Dude]

Reeta Lanklingam JMD of Lanson Toyota commits suicide in Chennai Thursday morning: could it be the credit squeeze following the downturn in sales of the auto industry?? It's also written in the news item that the family no other business interests other than Lanson Toyota..

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/71095090.cms

[diwa]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Reeta Lanklingam JMD of Lanson Toyota commits suicide in Chennai Thursday morning: could it be the credit squeeze following the downturn in sales of the auto industry?? It's also written in the news item that the family no other business interests other than Lanson Toyota..

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/71095090.cms

Typical TOI news, let's not speculate, it's supposed to be family issues as per another report - https://www.news18.com/news/india/ch...e-2306583.html

[Ithaca]

Maruti disagrees with Sitharaman, says Ola & Uber not a big factor for current slowdown
Economic Times 12/09/2019

ET Article

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Reeta Lanklingam JMD of Lanson Toyota commits suicide in Chennai Thursday morning: could it be the credit squeeze following the downturn in sales of the auto industry?? It's also written in the news item that the family no other business interests other than Lanson Toyota..

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/71095090.cms

Lanson Group has a very successful processed food business. They manufacture and export papads.

RIP to the lady and journalism/news reporting in general.

[Durango Dude]

Originally Posted by kiku007

Lanson Group has a very successful processed food business. They manufacture and export papads.

RIP to the lady and journalism/news reporting in general.

It's my mistake; it was written as the family had other businesses, but I think I misread and misquoted. By the time the mistake was pointed out to me by Ithaca the deadline for edit was over. I request mods to edit my post.

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by Ithaca

Maruti disagrees with Sitharaman, says Ola & Uber not a big factor for current slowdown
Economic Times 12/09/2019

ET Article

I don't know if millenials are impacting car sales, but I can say they are least interested in cars. They need transport and don't like the baggage it comes with. I won't be surprised if a car bought by millenail has less life span as they are hardly bothered about getting repaired,serviced. Again this might not hold true to all.

[tbppjpr]

BS6 is importnat factor in automobile industry slowdown, maruti sales figures varify this fact:

Maruti Suzuki's BS6 Models Constitute 70 Per Cent Of Its Total Sales

[diwa]

Originally Posted by Ithaca

Maruti disagrees with Sitharaman, says Ola & Uber not a big factor for current slowdown
Economic Times 12/09/2019

ET Article

Look like Nirmala Seetharaman only repeated what Anand Mahindra said in 2015 - https://tfipost.com/2019/09/numbers-...nt-do-anymore/

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

It's my mistake; it was written as the family had other businesses, but I think I misread and misquoted. By the time the mistake was pointed out to me by Ithaca the deadline for edit was over. I request mods to edit my post.

The vernacular press mentions that the domestic tussle arouse when the deceased talked tough to her sub-ordinates (on account of the dull business cycle).

Originally Posted by Ithaca

Maruti disagrees with Sitharaman, says Ola & Uber not a big factor for current slowdown

Seems there is a passive war of words? MS blaming taxes and compulsory safety norms, Govt pointing at millennials, MS refuting it..

[volkman10]

Tata Motors, Honda and Volkswagen announce 'no-production days'.


Mahindra to observe no production days at plants for up to 17 days this quarter.

Link

[gopalnt]

The car manufacturers, especially Maruti were thinking of blackmailing the government to postpone the BS6 implementation and were just producing BS4 cars in the same numbers as usual. They were hoping that the government would give in. That has not happened and now they are left with huge stocks which they dont know how to clear. As Srinivasan of India Cements said, they are Cry Babies. With their casual approach and stupid planning, they have screwed up the life of the poor labourers.

[wheelguy]

A friend of mine who is working with an auto-parts(especially exhaust systems) designing & manufacturing company said that there is a lot of work left to be done and it is difficult for the automotive companies(except for few) to meet the April-2020 deadline. He also said that the companies are pursuing the government to extend the deadline and that they are positive about deadline extension.

He also said that there are lot of lay-offs are around the corner in auto-industry due to slowdown, the first to face the heat are the contract employees it-seems.

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by wheelguy

He also said that the companies are pursuing the government to extend the deadline and that they are positive about deadline extension.

It is the Supreme Court of India that gave the order to stop selling BS4 vehicles from April 1, 2020.

The government pleaded for 3 months extension (june 30) and the court refused to budge.