The global meltdown has affected the car industry in a big way. The domestic sales registered a fluctuation in its sales and now in 2008, the car imports too recorded a slope in sales. Imported cars
attract a bulky import duty, therefore people prefer to opt for the locally assembled cars.
According to JD Power and Associates, the car import sales slowed down by 4 per cent to 4,951 units in 2008 and in turn the domestic sales of luxury car reported a good sales growth. The luxury car manufacturers like BMW and Audi assemble some of their models locally in India and this is also stated as one of the reason for decline in car imports.
In the words of Peter Kronchnabl, President, BMW India, 'The company will decide on the annual sales targets based on the sales response in the coming months. The company is also hoping to do better sales than compared to last year. Another luxury car manufacturer Mercedes Benz aims to maintain its sales graph in such crisis. The company is expecting 2009 to be the challenging year and are confident of retaining a strong position in the market'
Source : www.associatedcontent.com