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Why Chennai turned into ‘Detroit Of India’

Chennai is the hub of auto industry, being home to Ford, Hyundai, Nissan/Renault.

Chennai aka ‘Detroit Of India’, is the hub of automobile manufacturing facilities for leading carmakers like Ford, Hyundai, Nissan/Renault/Datsun & Royal Enfield and a few more. Apart from that, Chennai is also the biggest city in southern India, providing home for close to 1 crore people. The city is populated with car enthusiasts and has one of the best roads in the country, a massive port and manufacturing facilities fulfilling each and every need to cater an automobile centric market. Recently we explored Chennai car market and found some unique traits that differentiate the city in terms of buying habits, market dynamics and the attention it gets from the auto sector.

Compare: Hyundai Xcent vs Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire

As per a research, Tamil Nadu, home state of Chennai has witnessed around 95.5% increase in the car ownership per family over the passed decade. Around 33% folks refrain using public transport and chose to go privately. The sales of two wheeler also increased manifold, there’s an increase of 100% in sales of the two wheelers in the past decade. According to a survey, nearly half of the people buying new car sell their existing vehicle fast approximately in two to four years of use and they usually exchange to a newer model. They say that they exchange there vehicle due to increasing maintenance cost of the vehicle as time passes. There is very small percentage of people who decide to retain their vehicles for long. As people frequently change there cars so the used car market in Chennai is very good and the car selling in it are in well nick.

According to the senior marketing personnel in a Maruti Dealership, Chennai, ?Mostly people change their vehicle in the fourth year of ownership and these people are lured by the new launches, making them to switch their car in the first and second year of owing?. He adds saying that, ?People mostly go for Maruti ‘True Value’ used car subsidiary for selling their used car?.

Buying used Car?

The first time car buyers in the city fall mostly in the age group of 25 to 35 years and there is approximately more than half of these young masses which go for the used one. As far as brand new vehicle is concerned people generally go for the A or B/B+ segment hatches. These folks also go for the entry level mid size sedan or the compact sedans (which is very much the same scenario in the whole country). The used car scene among these masses comes down to the price bracket of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 4 lakh and this bracket includes vehicles ranging from sedans to diesel hatches.

Chennai also houses decent market space for the luxury offerings. According to a Mercedes Benz dealership in Chennai, they are selling 50 to 60 cars every month. The Merc personnel said that around 50 percent of the Merc owners upgrade their existing cars with the dealership only. The dealer also mentioned that there are MB brand loyal people who retain there exquisite car and buy a newer Merc! Audi dealership in the city mentioned that Audi owners exchange there ‘four ring’ generally in three years, the dealer added that the Audi owners sell there vehicle at ‘Jubilant MotorWorks’.

Currently, online buying and selling has gained momentum in the country with general classified websites to a more dedicated website for new and used car selling, CarDekho; where masses enjoy hassle free online dealing. People, nowadays go for online selling so as to remove the middle man and do direct seller – buyer dealing. As of now, there are more than 1700 used car listed in Chennai at CarDekho.com.

Used Cars in Chennai

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First published on: 13-03-2014 at 19:38 IST
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