Car makers deliver 41,000 cars and SUVs on Dhanteras

The passenger car makers delivered over 41,000 cars on the auspicious occasion of Dhanteras in 2023, the peak period of the last leg of the festive season, registering a growth of 28 percent over 2022 Dhanteras deliveries of 32,000.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki delivered close to 21,000 cars on Friday - registering a growth of over 70 percent over the Dhanteras deliveries of 2022, whereas Hyundai Motor India delivered over 10,000 cars more than doubling from its last year's numbers.

Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Sales and Marketing at Maruti Suzuki said “ Dhanteras sales continued on a strong note. It is estimated that the Dhanteras - Bhai Dooj period will see deliveries of about 55-57,000 cars which will be a growth of almost 21% over last year's numbers of 45,000."

A significant portion of prospective Indian buyers usually book the vehicle beforehand hand take deliveries on key days of Dussehra, Dhanteras, or Diwali.

Unlike last year, where the stock was a big challenge due to a shortage of semiconductors, this year a strong stock build-up ahead of Dussehra and Diwali has ensured that more have been able to drive home their dream cars, hence Maruti and Hyundai both have been able to register over 70-100 percent growth.

Tarun Garg, COO of Hyundai Motor India said, "The company marked the auspicious day of Dhanteras by delivering an unprecedented 10,293 units, surpassing last year's figure by more than double. This huge number of deliveries stands as a testament to the overwhelming admiration our customers have for the Hyundai brand. It also reflects a clear preference for Hyundai vehicles, especially post the announcement of six airbags as standard safety features across all our models and variants.”

With this, the total festive period sales would cross the 1 million mark only for the first time ever believe Srivastava.