Fear of public transport drives sales of small cars in Calcutta – Telegraph India

Many people in Calcutta are buying small cars despite reduced income because they want to avoid the public transport for their daily commute to minimise chances of infection amid the Covid pandemic.

Several car dealers have reported a spurt in sales.

A 60-year-old Garia resident bought a Renault KWID last week. He is a retired state government employee and his wife, 55, works at MR Bangur hospital.

“My son is pursuing higher studies and I have just retired. Despite that, we decided to buy a car because we don’t feel safe anymore travelling in buses and app cabs,” he said.

Monotosh Sinha has a family of six — wife, two daughters and two senior citizen sisters. His mother died last year after contracting Covid.

A sales executive with a multinational firm, Monotosh had been planning to buy a car for two years but financial difficulties made him shelve the plan repeatedly. Recently he took delivery of a brown Wagon-R.

“I had to buy a four-wheeler despite my financial difficulties. I have had salary cuts. My sisters, who were school teachers, have retired recently. For us, a car was a luxury but now it has become a necessity,” said Monotosh, who has hired a garage for his car.

There are others like Monotosh who have been forced to buy personal cars. Lack of garage space notwithstanding, people are opting for personal mobility to keep the virus at bay.

“There has been an increase in first-time buyers by five per cent (from 44 to 49) and a rise in the demand for additional cars by three per cent (from 29 to 32), according to our survey. But there has been a drop of seven per cent in exchange of cars (from 26 to 19) as people are holding on to their old purchases,” said Shashank Srivastava, director, marketing and sales, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

In Bengal, inquiries for small cars are increasing every week. Maruti is recording 220 bookings daily in Bengal, compared with 135 last week. “We had no sales in May. In June, 55 of our rural outlets were closed. So most of our bookings are from our dealerships in Calcutta,” said Srivastava.

Hyundai is reporting an increase in enquiries, too. Akhil Agarwal of Gajraj Hyundai said: “We are witnessing an increase in enquiries and bookings across our models. Demand for cars in the Rs 10-15 lakh price band is as good as the demand for hatchbacks.”

Vinod Agarwal of Lexus Motors, a Tata Motors dealership, said: “We have been witnessing an increase in enquiries across the range, from Tiago, to Altros, to Safari. We have first-time buyers, additional car buyers too. We have a 10 per cent market share in the city.”

Public health experts said the fear of Covid was preventing many from travelling by public transport. “Despite being fully vaccinated, many are scared,” said public health expert Abhijit Chowdhury.