Car dealers in top gear

Already into their peak season, they are readying for a frenzied weekend of deliveries

Already into their peak season, they are readying for a frenzied weekend of deliveries

Car dealers are a breathless lot this festival season, and are gearing up for the busiest week of the year.

Dasara traditionally marks the beginning of the festival season, prompting frenzied buying. Just before the season kicks off, sales tank because of pitru paksha, a fortnight of no big purchases for many.u00a0 An added attraction are the heavy discounts offered by dealers to counter the trend among buyers to defer buying new vehicles till the beginning of a year so they are registered in the new year, thus saving on the 'age factor'.u00a0u00a0u00a0

Ready to go: Automobile dealers in Bangalore are a happy lot with South Indians buying cars during Vijayadashami and North Indians during Diwali pic/Ramesh H S

Prasanna, team leader at Tafe Acess, which deals in Skoda on St Mark's Road, said, "We are making the maximum number of deliveries around Vijayadashamiu00a0 day and the most deliveries on the day before the festival." His showroom is gearing up to deliver 35 cars on just one day, September 26. "We have a promotion scheme for Fabia Skoda and Laura is in great demand this year," said Prasanna. Tata, Fiat, Maruti, Hyundai and Chevrolet are also doing brisk business.

Madhusudhan, business head of Concord Motors, Hosur Road, said, "We give more deliveries around this time and Tata cars are in great demand."

South Indians prefer Vijayadashami deliveries while the others buy around Diwali.

"We are delivering 20 per cent more cars this festival season as compared to last year," he said. "We are delivering big numbers of Indica Vista and Fiat Punto," he added. Sayed Iftekhar Ahmed, sales consultant at Sagar Motors, had a similarly upbeat story to tell.

"We are delivering about 40-50 cars this Vijayadashami.u00a0 Swift and Alto are selling the most," he said. He added that sales had improved considerably over the last year.

Actor Sudeep is among the celebs to have booked cars this season, and he is going in for a Skoda Superb.

Word is that many TV stars have also lined up big-ticket auto purchases this season.

The used car market too is riding on the good times. "Sales have picked up over the last two months, and we expect it to remain upbeat right through December," said Prashanth Nair, a marketing executive at Nandi Toyota's used car division.