COVID19 lockdown effect: Super luxury cars & imported limousines gathering dust [Video]

The lockdown has affected all kinds of businesses across the globe. The Indian market has also got affected, especially the automobile sector. Even the manufacturing plants were shut down and the dealerships suffered massive losses. Due to the lockdown, even the car rental business suffered quite much. Here is a video from Ludhiana, Punjab where the owner of a luxury car rental business tells his story.

The video by OTV shows the luxury cars parked outside the office of a car rental company in Ludhiana. The cars are gathering dust as due to the lockdown, there is no demand for such vehicles in the market. The video shows various vehicles including a Chrysler limousine, a Jaguar XF, a Range Rover among other high-end cars like Audi and Mercedes-Benz.

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The owner or the caretaker of the business says that they also have cars like Hummer, 2 limousines, one Bentley, and even sports cars. In total, they have 12 cars. These cars are primarily for rentals to the marriages. Since the pandemic, there is a cap on the number of guests in marriages and most people are keeping it a small affair.

That is why there is no demand for such high-end vehicles in the market and the cars are gathering dust in the open. The charge for these vehicles can range from a few thousand per hour to lakh of rupees for a full day. But after the second wave, there is absolutely no demand for such vehicles in the market.

NRIs have affected the business

The person also says that the Non-Resident Indians or NRIs demand such vehicles the most. But now the flights are not allowed to and from many countries and that has also stopped the NRIs from coming to India. A major chunk of the high-end car rental business is driven by the NRIs visiting the country.

India is now preparing for the third wave, which is likely to happen towards the end of the year during the festive season. If the third wave brings as much destruction as the second wave, the businesses can get further affected in the future.

Automobile business affected

The pandemic has hit the automobile business quite hard. Manufacturers had to shut down the plants completely last year due to the nationwide lockdown. Even this year, many manufacturers shut down the plants in different states across India for a few weeks. The dealerships, however, remained shut for a much longer time.

Many automobile manufacturers had to delay the launches due to the pandemic. Even the unavailability of the semi-conductors has caused a lot of problems to the car manufacturers in India. Several manufacturers could not deliver cars in time due to the issue while others are making cars without a few features.

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