During the lockdown, every industry is looking for that silver lining or two that will give them hope. The automobile industry is no different. This is exactly what Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Director of Sales and Marketing at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) focussed on during a webinar session organised by the Free Press Journal and IIM Indore. He said that while dealerships are still facing challenges, Honda's service centres have seen new trends emerging.
Speaking at a webinar 'India after COVID-19' series supported by BIG FM and Moneylife, Guleria said, "At our network of service centres, we were fortunate. This is mainly because the government allowed the service sector to work first." This was to ensure that the vehicles used by essential service people – police, doctors, emergency services, could get their vehicles serviced.
But in the process, HMSI discovered that more unique customers turning up with their vehicles at such authorised service centres. "We define unique customers as customers who have not bought services from our authorised network for the last 8-10 months." Guleria added, "They have now started coming in. This is driven by the fact that they have less confidence in terms of hygiene and safety aspects in private workshops. They have started coming in with a view that the risk of catching a virus from an authorised service centre is mitigated." This is a new trend that is catching up. Guleria and his team have been keeping a close watch over this emerging trend. It is possible that will translate into higher sales of accessories a while later for HMSI.
In fact, for two months, after the lockdown was announced, there were no service centres operating. So, as soon as the authorised centres opened, after the government gave requisite directions, people walked into service centres with their vehicles. "We are touching 60, 000 two-wheelers services every day in our network. While this is much lower than our daily potential, it does give a lot of confidence to our dealers as they see there is a momentum there and that has bought positivity."
While new trends catch up, there is no denying that there is a slump in demand. To address this decline, the company along with other players have been seeking the government's intervention to revive it. He stated the industry has seen degrowth of 18 per cent over the last one year. "The top priority has been demand generation. If you see in the financial package (announced by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman), the supply side was focussed on, but the generation of demand has not happened." He feels it has to be addressed urgently. Among the desirables are more easy credit to consumers, and lower GST rates.
But with a new type of customer emerging – the one who cannot depend on public transport any more for fear of contagion – he expects demand for vehicles to go up soon.