Indian youth are driving record sales in the automobile industry not only in the new car segment but also in the used car segment. This is a phenomenon that has become more stark after the Covid pandemic.
India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki and the country’s second-largest Hyundai are seeing higher-than-expected demand for used cars.
This trend is not only for used car sales but also for new cars, where a quarter of sales come from young people under the age of 30. It has increased by about 5 percentage points in the last three years.
Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors and Tata Motors account for 70 percent of the total PV sales in the country. All these are seeing a healthy response from buyers under the age of 30.
For Maruti and Hyundai, the overall youth contribution to sales is around 23 per cent each – lower than the industry average – while nearly 30 per cent of Tata Motors’ sales come from under-30s.
Companies say personal preference has gained traction post-Covid. “Post-pandemic and with the growing preference for personal mobility, we have seen 33 per cent year-on-year growth in Maruti’s brand name for used car stores in terms of real value.
Almost 50 percent of our used car buyers are in the 18-35 age bracket, followed by nearly 45 percent of POC buyers in the 36-60 age group and the rest in the 65+ age bracket. Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, MSIL, was quoted as saying in an email reply.
About 67 per cent of our POC buyers are first-time buyers, while the remaining buyers purchased POC as an additional vehicle or as a replacement for an existing vehicle,” the response said.
Hyundai has reported a 21 percent increase in car sales at its stores in January-November this year compared to last year.
It is also tempting for new companies to enter the used car segment. Kia India, which is only three years old in India, has entered the used car market.
In keeping with the new car buying experience, they allow you to sell, buy or exchange old cars effortlessly. Kia said in a press release that franchises and customized finance options are available.
Currently, Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motors and Mahindra are the leaders in the used car sales space. Mahindra did not respond to queries from The Indian Express. Companies have also seen demand for new-age features and SUVs including automatic gearboxes.
Sales of petrol-powered cars account for a significant portion of the sales of both Maruti and Hyundai.
It is noteworthy that because of the new trend created by the youth, the sales of old cars are going down.
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