Are the prices of cars going to increase or decrease post covid?

There are many factors which decide the price of an item. In India, whether there is a use or not, everyone has aspirations for buying a car. So the demand will always be there.

After the Covid-19 era, the industry would boom back and manufacturing would go up and depending on the demand, prices would be fixed. I do not see any immediate rise in the prices. Another factor is many people have lost their jobs during the past few months so that would also affect the buying potential in the market.

There are many models of cars available in the market in different price ranges. My take would be Maruti Alto which is definitely the value for your money.

It is indeed in minds of many to purchase a car who have till date avoided considering it to be a luxury and expensive item. Now this pandemic has really changed the entire outlook of people. A luxury item now seems like a necessary item and that is mainly because life is more precious than money.

I read a survey on a popular car portal which said that almost 41% of respondents to the survey (around 3250 in number) said they would buy a car as soon as possible. Many have decided to use two-wheeler and many would shift to private taxis or cabs. Use of public transport would be negligible by those who can afford to buy a car/private vehicle.

Continuous lockdown due to pandemic has in fact blown a big dent on the sales of automobile sector and not only sales but manufacturing has almost got stalled for 4 months. The automakers have been reeling under severe cash crunch and to increase the price after lockdown will wipe them out. They already need to clear the old stock and after shifting to BSVI norms last year they were expecting good sales but the virus outbreak put a break on their sales.

For now, the car manufacturers have not passed on all the burden to the consumer of shifting from BS-IV to BS-VI but have held back most of the expenses to themselves. They are first preparing to recover from this slump once the lockdown is completely over and then once they are able to make up for the losses they have born then, they will increase the price.

So, in short, the price of car/automobiles are not going to increase for at least 3 months as most of the people planning to buy a vehicle will do so in the 1st month only. Then in next 2 months, automakers will try to lure more people by giving offers and virtual discounts and once most of the sales come down to normal levels then they will gradually increase the price and pass on the previous increase they held back.

It will be a good time to buy a BS-VI compliant vehicle at the cost of BS-IV price at present as such price will not be offered again.

I personally witnessed this with a few of my known persons who have avoided buying a car have now purchased a brand new car and have got huge discounts, which one is unable to get during normal times.