Pre-owned small vehicles priority as budgets shrink in festive season: Survey

Small cars and pre-owned vehicles may be the flavour of the festive season as more and more buyers are keeping a closer watch on budgets as they head out for personal mobility options. A survey conducted by OLX Autos India and covering 5,800 buyers and sellers suggested that 61% potential buyers are looking at pre-owned vehicles while 56% buyers are looking at small cars like Alto, Kwid, Santro, Swift and Polo, among others.

The festive period of October and November usually comes with the promise of increased sales int the automotive sector. And in comparison to the challenging first several months of 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, sales numbers have picked up for most OEMs in recent weeks. Whether these figures are comparable to figures from years gone by - or not - may only be established post Diwali but the OLX survey suggests that the a majority of those surveyed either expressed a desire to opt for pre-owned vehicles and small cars.

The survey found that 61% respondents plan to buy a car in the next three to six months and that 62% of these were millennials. This, according to OLX Autos, is indicative of the possibility that those between 20 and 35 years of age may drive up sales in the pre-owned segment.

In terms of the segment, most respondents preferred opting for compact or hatchback vehicles with 56% giving a thumbs up to smaller vehicles rather than MPVs, SUVs or sedans. In fact, while 11% said that they would prefer a sedan, just 11% said they would go for an SUV like Creta, Duster, EcoSport, Innova etc.

The most interesting part of the survey, perhaps, is the budget defined for a pre-owned vehicle. 63% respondents said they had a budget of around ₹3 lakh while 30% said they could extend the budget to beyond this figure.

The last several months have indeed shown signs that pre-owned vehicle segment could stand to benefit because while budgets have become more relevant than ever, the need for personal mobility has increased too in the face of the pandemic. "This festive season, celebrations and consumer sentiments will heed on the side of caution as consumer sentiments will remain muted," said Amit Kumar, Head, OLX Autos India, in a press statement. "As India started unlocking, consumers realised that they need to own a personal car to meet their day to day personal transportation needs. This bodes well for the pre-owned car market as pre-owned cars offer the best value realization to these consumers at a time when their incomes have been impacted."

OLX Autos says the survey mentioned above was conducted between August and October with the objective of determining sentiments of the automobile buyers and sellers in the country.