Measures to push up EVs not really a push down for CNG vehicles: Shashank Srivastava, Maruti Suzuki

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Shashank Srivastava, ED, Maruti Suzuki, says: “I do not think there is any move to push back CNG sales. Clearly, yes, there are measures being announced for a push up for EVs, but it is not really a push down for CNG. CNG is also a very fuel-efficient powertrain fuel and as long as the running cost of CNG is lower compared with gasoline or diesel, we will find a large rate adoption of CNG. In fact, CNG adoption has gone up continuously in the last five years.”

First up, let us talk about Navratri which just got over yesterday. How have the sales been because if you go by the newspaper reports,it seems to have been flat this time?
Yes. if you look at the actual retail sale, compared with Navratri of last year, they would appear flat. Roughly in the industry, about 2.2 lakh vehicles were retailed last year and similar numbers have emerged this year. However, the exact comparison may be a little misleading because the first three days of Navratri last year were also in the month end. Navratri started last year on 26th of September,. So 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, the first five days of Navratri, also were the month end. Month end normally gives a very big jump in retails as the cases close on the financing side largely and therefore, the last year number would have had that push up.

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This year, Navratri started from October 15 and that push would not have been evident. A better period is to compare the Shradh plus the Navratra that is the immediate period preceding the Navratra.