Car makers on road to pre-Covid profit as festival season sales soar

Maruti is operating at 95 per cent of its prodcution capacity

The festival season, which started on Monday with Navratri and ends with Diwali on October 24, is expected to bring cheer for passenger-vehicle (PV) makers in more ways than one. Not only is it expected to be a record in terms of volumes, it will also see a swift recovery in the profitability of PV makers and take it closer to pre-Covid levels as the overall sales mix gets a boost from higher sales of top-end trims and a softening of commodity prices.

“This festival season may see a record year for PV retails and even the margins are expected to