Leading vehicle manufacturers in India, including Hyundai, Skoda and Mahindra & Mahindra have begun offering vehicles on rent with minimal or no down payment, as per an Economic Times report.
South Korean giant Hyundai has put its entire portfolio on lease for individuals or companies. For example, the basic SUV Creta on a monthly rent of Rs 17,642 (GST included), with no down payment, for a period of five years. The personal lease also includes maintenance services and upgrades of choice.
For comparison, buying the car would mean easy monthly instalments (EMI) of Rs 18,901 for five years, plus a down payment of Rs 2.73 lakh. Vikas Jain, National Sales Head at Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) told the paper, “The leasing schemes have in mind the cost efficacy of the product and are very lucrative for customers who change cars every three-four years.”
Mahindra & Mahindra too has put its SUV portfolio on lease with lower or no down payment. The cost is inclusive of maintenance, Veejay Ram Nakra, Chief of Sales and Marketing at Mahindra & Mahindra’s automotive division told the paper, adding, “Leasing is gaining increasing acceptance in the market and offers greater convenience compared to actually owning a car.”
Skoda Auto has put its sedan Superb’s petrol and manual transmission variant on offer with savings of nearly Rs 17 lakh on the lease.
In the two-wheeler space, electric vehicle start-up Ather Energy offered electric scooter Ather 450 on a three-year lease with a monthly rental of Rs 2,500 and a fully refundable down payment of Rs 75,000.
The move comes as auto sector sales plummeted 19 percent till February this year alone and may be seen as targeted toward millennial customers. There is potential for growth as the segment is only 1 percent of the market as of now.
Indian automaker Maruti Suzuki is also eyeing how the rental space develops and could be interested in it in the future, Shashank Srivastava, executive director for sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki India said.
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