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04-Dec-2008 New Delhi
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If you are waiting to buy a car, get ready to be pampered. To beat slowdown blues and 'compensate' customers for buying a car in December
a month period people avoid to buy the next year's model car companies have announced heavy discounts, running up to as much as Rs 91,000.
All the major companies like Maruti, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Ford and General Motors have announced, or are in the process of finalising, schemes that offer you cars at big discounts, virtually making it a lucrative proposition for those still waiting to buy.
The biggest cut has been announced by Ford that has slashed the price of the petrol variant of its 'Fiesta' model by as much as Rs 91,000, bringing down its ex-showroom price to Rs 5.29 lakh from Rs 6.2 lakh. The price cut on the popular diesel variant has been cut by Rs 51,000.
Maruti officials also said that they were further sweetening the offers for customers to pull them back to showroooms. "We have decided to increase the total discount offer on the WagonR model from Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000 and on the Alto from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000," company officials said, adding that models like Swift Diesel and Dzire would be out of the scheme considering they enjoyed a waiting period. However, company dealers said even these models could have discounts, but in January when Maruti could clear some of the unsold 2008-make units.
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Hyundai, that already has schemes running on its popular models like Santro and the i10, is also set to announce a fresh scheme in the next 2 days. "It will be an attractive offer," a company official said. The company's current discount offering includes a free insurance on the Santro (roughly worth Rs 12,000), Rs 5,000 off on the i10, Rs 12,000 off on the Verna sedan and Rs 4,000 on the Accent.
Tata Motors also sweetened the offer on its Indica and Indigo models. The company increased the discount value on the Indica by Rs 5,000 to Rs 30,000 and on the Indigo (excluding the CS range) by Rs 15,000 to Rs 40,000. On the Sumo Grande utility vehicle, it is now offering a whopping Rs 65,000 discount (against Rs 14,000 worth rebate on insurance previously).
General Motors has also decided to continue with its offer, that includes a big Rs 58,000 discount on the Spark mini car and Rs 53,000 on the Aveo sedan. Even Mahindra is expected to announce discounts for December soon.
But would these discounts work and translate into sales? Rakesh Batra, national director for Ernst & Young's auto practice, doubts this. "There are too many negative factors in the market due to which people are withholding purchases. These include news of recession, fear of job loss and salary cuts," he said.
But a bigger stumbling block is the lack of finance, Batra added. "The incentives and discounts may bring in reluctant customers to showrooms. But a sale is subject to finance availability," he said. "Overall, the customers might still be reluctant to buy," he said.
Source: Times of India
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