New Delhi : Automakers fear an immediate loss of ‘hundreds of crores of rupees’ due to ban on new diesel vehicles in the national capital by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), as confusion reigns supreme in the industry over delivery of already-booked inventory.
The companies want government to immediately clarify about registration and delivery of the vehicles for which the customers have already made part or full payments, even as they also stare at huge losses in form of the inventory they had lined up for year-end sales — typically a period when industry doles out big discounts to clear the inventories.
Estimates suggest this would mean possible losses to the tune of hundreds of crores of rupees.
Most automakers effect price hikes in the month of January, due to which many customers tend to buy the vehicles in the year-end period when discounts are also available.
“As far as instruction to dealers is concerned, we are confused. We don’t know what we have to do in Delhi,” Mahindra and Mahindra Executive Director Pawan Goenka said. When contacted, Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava said he would first like to look at the order in detail before commenting anything on the matter. According to an auto sector analyst, around 1,400-1,500 vehicles are registered daily on an average in Delhi, out of which around 30 per cent are diesel-run.
There are customers who have purchased vehicles, but registrations have not happened yet.
“What will happen to them, I don’t know. Those vehicles which are already in the showrooms in Delhi, what will happen to them, we don’t know either,” Goenka said. “There are so many questions that arise out of this order, we hope that the Government of India will issue some clarification on how the NGT order will be implemented as it raises many issues in the short term,” he added.
Expressing similar views, Hyundai Motor India Senior Vice-President (Marketing and Sales) Rakesh Srivastava said: “The channel partners are faced with a challenge of addressing customer concerns on registration and delivery of vehicles for which payment has already been accepted.” He further said, “Also, the challenge is on the inventory of diesel vehicles and the cost of it. It would adversely impact their viability as inventory levels are high in anticipation of high year-end sales.”
