It is raining discounts in Motown this month

What the festive season could not do, the year-end just might. Car makers are offering heavy discounts on several models, hoping sales will reverse course as this calendar draws to a close and another begins.

Among others, the benefits on Hyundai i10 add up to Rs35,000 compared with Rs4,000 last year, while the Chevrolet Beat petrol is available with a discount of Rs27,000; Tata Motors Aria has a discount of up to Rs100,000 and Maruti Suzuki Alto comes with a discount of Rs25,000.

Discounts on several models are up 50% compared with last year, said dealers.

Somewhat predictably, the spate of discounts has seen to a spurt in the number of enquiries.

“These are by far the best discounts this year and we are expecting to sell good numbers in December. Customers have started enquiring about the new schemes as there is an expectation of a price hike from January,” said Ashish Bhavsar, vice-president at Mumbai-based Pramukh Hyundai.

A Mumbai-based Maruti Suzuki dealer also exuded hope. “Discounts this December are over Rs4,000-6,000 more than last year. The past two years, we have done good sales during December. This year, too, our target is to sell 10% more than November. We see additional demand coming in due to these discounts.”

But the company claims it has been conservative. “Companies are offering extremely high level of discounts for liquidation of their stock. However, we at Maruti Suzuki are much controlled as far as discounts are concerned. Our discounts are not as high as other players,” said Shashank Srivastava, chief general manager, Maruti Suzuki.

Auto companies and dealers generally offer heavy discounts on cars around this time of the year in a bid to clear off inventory before the New Year starts.

That’s certainly true of Honda Siel, which is offering discounts of Rs70,000-100,000 on all variants of Honda City to clear the inventory before the new City rolls in, a few months down the line.  

Also, several car makers are set to hike prices 3-5% from January to offset the impact of a depreciating rupee. These include including Maruti Suzuki, General Motors and Toyota. As such, the players have not been able to take major price hikes as demand slowed due to rising fuel and interest costs.