Friday, July 08, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
12% to 14% growth in Auto Industry expected this year
Compared to the 30% growth rate seen by the auto sector in the year 2010, the growth rate this year is expected to be around 12% to 14%, as revealed by some officials from the industry. Neeraj Garg, Director of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Divison of Volkswagen Motors India said that the concurrent hikes in fuel prices, increased loan rates and some major economic factors have made the picture dull for car companies in India. However, he added that his company will remain on the greener side this financial year.
Volkswagen has already sold approximately 40,000 cars in first six months of 2011 as compared to 32,500 cars that they sold in the year 2010. He replied that the numbers won't remain the same for the other half of the year and the company expects a slow down in cars, when he was asked whether the numbers would remain same for next 6 months. He said that the company has already started receiving less bookings because the potential customers are playing a wait and watch game.
He further added that the company is looking forward for the launch of new Volkswagen Jetta this year after the launch of Volkswagen Passat. Speaking about the pre owned car business he said that the company has done all the basic research and is in the final stages of the planning.
Volkswagen has also been hit by the petrol price hike and is witnessing customer shift towards the diesel cars. Out of all the Volkswagen Polo sold last year, 63% comprised of the petrol version, this year the numbers are balanced out at 50% each of the petrol and diesel variants.
