As per the data provided by the Department of Transport Management (DoTM), only 2,972 units of four wheelers were sold in the first four months of this fiscal year. If only private vehicles are considered, the figure stands further low at 2,198 units.[break]
"The sales so far (till mid- November) have been 28 percent short of target," said Saurabh Jyoti, president of Nepal Automobiles Dealers Association (NADA).
Dealers managed to sell 5,971 units of vehicles to private individuals in the Bagmati zone alone last fiscal year. If the dealers are to maintain the sales even at last year´s level, they will need to sell 3,053 units of new vehicles. Sadly, the period when the maximum units of vehicles are sold, that is during the festivals, is already over.
Under these circumstances, dealers admit they are having a tough time matching last year´s sales figure and then trying to achieve the enhanced target.
Dealers attributed the slump in sales to low customer confidence. Auto loan rates continue to remain high at around 14 percent and slump in realty and other business sectors, which are the major demand builders, has also hurt the sales a great deal.
Slump in demand has been witnessed not just in four-wheelers. DoTM records show registration of two-wheelers in the Bagmati zone stood at 17,896 units during the first four months of 2011/12. And, this is less than the target that the dealers have set for the period by 20 percent, said NADA officials. Last fiscal year, the Bagmati zone alone sold 53,960 bikes.
Dealers attributed this to higher lending rates and shrinking purchasing power of the middle-class due to high inflation.
"Well, the market has really slumped," said Jyoti, adding that if the dealers had not offered attractive schemes and managed to win sales during the festive season, the sales would have been all the more disappointing.
Prior to the festival season, sales of four wheelers were behind the target by 40 percent while two-wheelers were short of sales target by 32 percent.
"Thanks to the push sales won during the festival season, now we at least have a better picture to relate to," commented Jyoti. Automobile market in the country has been on a downslide for a year now even though only 0.5 percent of the total population owns four-wheelers in Nepal.
Some of the dealers, meanwhile, said the growth trend that they managed to achieve during the festival season has sustained through this month as well.
As a result, some of them even claimed they could not meet the demand as they failed to speedily replenish the stock following a good festival season business.
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