Maruti, Toyota, and M&M continue to be bullish on the used car market’s long-term rise

Maruti Suzuki India is a company based in India. Both Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar Motor are optimistic about their respective used car verticals’ long-term growth prospects.

Even as the second wave of COVID-19 continues to pose severe challenges to business activities across the world, leading automakers Maruti Suzuki India (MSI), Mahindra & Mahindra, and Toyota Kirloskar Motor are bullish on the long-term growth prospects of their respective used car verticals.

The companies are cautious about the near-term situation due to the pandemic, but they expect the segment to expand in the long run as personal mobility becomes more accepted amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“It is very difficult to predict how used car business will perform this fiscal year due to COVID situation. Demand for such cars is there in the market but there is pressure on their availability because of restrictions across states on account of lockdowns and curfews,” Shashank Srivastava, MSI Executive Director (Sales and Marketing), told PTI in an interview.

The automaker currently operates 570 True Value locations across the country, where it certifies pre-owned vehicles obtained from a variety of suppliers, including consumers who trade in their old vehicles for new Maruti models. According to Srivastava, the company has been impacted by the COVID situation, with about 416 outlets currently closed across the country.

He did claim, however, that demand for used cars is high due to a trend toward personal mobility, and that the only issue was vehicle availability in the current climate. MSI’s pre-owned car sales fell by 36% last fiscal year, to 2.65 lakh units from 4.18 lakh in 2019-20. In 2018-19, it sold 4.22 lakh units, followed by 3.54 lakh in 2017-18 and 3.46 lakh in 2016-17.

In light of the current situation, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) Vice President Naveen Soni said that assessing the outlook would be difficult.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), India’s largest automaker, said it was still optimistic about the future of its used car market.

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