Carmakers Offer Huge Discounts To Counter Reducing Sales

Published: Tuesday, June 14, 2011, 11:17 [IST]

Indian carmakers are offering huge discounts never seen before in the Indian car market to counter the reducing car sales this June. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said car sales in Month of May grew at 7 per cent, the lowest figure in the past 24 months. With car sales not as robust as before carmakers feel discounts are the only way to recoup car sales in June.

While some carmakers are offering discounts for their petrol cars, some carmakers are advertising the cost advantage of buying their diesel cars. Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker has announced discounts for its bread and butter model - the Alto. The carmaker is offering savings of Rs.41,000 and Rs.25,000 for the Alto and the Alto K10 respectively. Chevrolet is offering discounts and other savings to its Beat hatchback totalling Rs.21,000. Hyundai Motors has announced a discount of Rs.43,900 for the i10 and a Rs.26,800 discount for the Santro.

Tata Motors is advertising that it has the most fuel efficient diesel range of cars. It is also offering discounts for the month of June along with a special interest rate of 8.99 per cent per annum. Tata Motors' discounts will mean the Indica Vista Quadrajet will be cheaper by Rs.35,000, the Indigo eCS will be cheaper by Rs30,000 and the Indigo Manza will be cheaper by a whopping Rs.45,000.

Fiat is flaunting the fuel efficiency of its diesel models. The carmaker is claiming benefits of up to Rs.40,000 for its Punto and Linea. The Punto diesel costs Rs5.26 lakh while the Linea carries a price tag of Rs.7.56 lakh.

It remains to be seen if the Indian car buyer responds to these offers ignoring the burden of increasing fuel costs and interest rates.