It's a discount mela! Carmakers increase year-end discounts, lure buyers with never-before offers

As the year draws to a close, car companies and their dealers are making a last-ditch effort in getting rid of their stocks offering discounts that are higher than ever seen before.

Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra, Honda, Tata Motors and Fiat Chrylser have increased discounts by Rs 10,000-Rs 1.77 lakh in December from a month earlier under different promotional schemes.

Companies were offering discounts starting at Rs 40,000 going up to Rs 5 lakh depending on the model and variant. Manufacturers are pushing out Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) stocks, before replacing them with next-gen BS-VI variants. Existing BS-IV models will carry an even lesser value in the new year as the consumer is already more keen in buying the BS-VI variant.

The discount season reflects a sluggish year for the companies. As per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, passenger vehicle sales fell by 18 percent to 1.88 million from 2.29 million in the April-November period. November sales were a tad better, recovering a bit but still down 1 percent to 2.63 lakh units largely because of the inventory clean up efforts and also due to replenishment of inventory depleted due to festive sales in October.

The offers

The year-old Tata Harrier, for instance, now carries a discount of Rs 1.75 lakh, up from Rs 50,000 offered in November. One of India’s highest selling models, Maruti Suzuki Dzire (petrol), is being sold at Rs 65,000 discount compared to Rs 55,000 in November.

Hyundai and Mahindra have raised discounts across models more significantly than others, in December. Offers on the Hyundai Santro have been increased to Rs 55000 from Rs 40,000 in November, while that on the Creta have been increased to Rs 95,000 from Rs 50,000 in November.

Consumer benefits on Mahindra’s flagship product XUV 500 have been raised to Rs 1.67 lakh from Rs 1 lakh while the year-old Marazzo has seen discounts jump to Rs 2.09 lakh, from just Rs 32,000 in November.

The Jeep Compass, manufactured by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has seen discounts rise to Rs 2.06 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh seen in November. Renault has increased discount on the Duster to Rs 1.25 lakh from Rs 1 lakh.

Almost every model launched in 2019 are currently sold at a discount. Maruti Suzuki Wagon R, Nissan Kicks, Tata Harrier, Mahindra XUV300, Ford Endeavour, Toyota Glanza, Honda Civic, Maruti S-Presso and Hyundai Grand i10 Nios carry consumer benefits in the range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 1.15 lakh.

Kia Seltos, MG Hector and Renault Triber are the only bunch of new models that are sold without any discounts due to better demand. Some variants of these models have a waiting period of more than six weeks.

To speed up inventory liquidation some carmakers have sent out feelers indicating a price hike from January 1, 2020. Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Mahindra, Kia Motors and Nissan have said they will increase prices without specifying the quantum of the hike.

Carmakers have blamed input cost pressures as the reason behind the proposed hike. Besides, BS-VI variants will come at a higher price tag compared to BS-IV. Maruti Suzuki has the largest bouquet of BS-VI-powered cars on offer in the market presently.