This week in auto: Car discounts on BS-IV stocks; Rajiv Bajaj hits back at Tata Motors design head

After falling for several months, car sales turned positive for the first time as per details shared by the apex dealer lobby association FADA. Discounts may have played a key role in the uptick as consumers were led to believe about a ‘fire sale’ by car makers who were keen to deplete their older stocks.

In today’s wrap, we check out some of those juicy deals, some of which even include a few best-sellers. But here is a complete look at what else made headlines during the week.

Drawing inspiration from the 1980s model, the styling of the battery-powered Bajaj Chetak may not have pleased everyone. That included Pratap Bose, the head of design at Tata Motors, who called the zero emission scooter a ‘missed opportunity’ for its design.

This, however, has not gone down well with Rajiv Bajaj, the managing director of Bajaj Auto. “Pratap Bose should know that he is talking to the World’s Favourite Indian that sells 40 percent of its production across the world," Bajaj said.

Ford has unveiled its first all-electric SUV -  Mustang Mach E.  It has been tipped as the first challenger to Tesla's upcoming Model Y.

The Mach E is the first electric car to come out of Ford's stable with the formation of Team Edison, Ford's group in Detroit working on the company's electric cars.

Retail car sales picked up 11 percent in October as the festive season brought an uptick in consumer demand, says apex dealer lobby, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA).

Passenger vehicles (cars, SUV and vans) clocked sales of 248,036 units, a growth of 11 percent year-on-year. Two-wheeler sales during the same month closed at 1.33 million as against 1.27 million units.

In one of the most aggressive campaigns seen in the Indian two-wheeler segment, Chinese motorcycle manufacturer CFMoto will be carpet bombing the segment by launching one new model every three months. The launches will begin after the introduction of BS- VI norms in April 2020.

The product line-up includes premium motorcycles, budget motorcycles, electric motorcycles, electric scooters and even electric bicycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs).

Mahindra & Mahindra rolled out a stock clearance scheme on its small commercial vehicles offering discounts of up to Rs 80,000. The discounts though are for Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) stocks of Bolero Pik-up, Bolero Camper, Alfa and Jeeto Load, lasting only till December 31. These stocks will become useless after April 1, 2020, which is when India upgrades to BS-VI emission norms.

But that’s not the only brand or vehicle-type that is offering discounts. Nearly a dozen odd premium sports utility vehicles, priced in the range of Rs 10-25 lakh, are carrying discounts ranging between Rs 2-5 lakh all of which are powered by BS-IV engines.

Honda CR-V for instance has a discount of Rs 5 lakh while the Ford Endeavour has a discount of Rs 2.3 lakh. Fiat is offering a discount of upto Rs 1.5 lakh on the Jeep Compass while the Volkswagen Tiguan and Renault Captur carry discounts of Rs 3 lakh each.

Maruti Suzuki’s discounted range include Alto, Wagon R, Swift, Dzire, Baleno, Ciaz on which Rs 25,000-65,000 worht of discounts are given. Discounts on Maruti, however, have come down compared to those given out during September. The Delhi-based car maker has worked towards reducing its stock at the dealer level to bring about the reduction in discounts.

Offers are given on Hyundai cars too, but on select models. The Venue and Grand i10 Nios do not carry any discounts but the Santro, Grand i10, Xcent and Elantra carry upto Rs 2 lakh discount.

Similarly, Tata Motors, like market leader Maruti Suzuki, has been reducing its stock with its dealers since start of the financial year ans offering discounts on the Tiago, Tigor, Nexon, Hexa, Harrier in the range of Rs 20,000-1.5 lakh.

While there are more than four months for BS-VI to set in, manufacturers have been watchful of production so as to avoid getting stuck with invalid stock after April 1, 2020. But they are also being watchful of avoiding the piling up of expenses and keeping their balance sheets healthy.

For instance, if a factory remains idle or underutilized for long, there is a high chance of fixed costs shooting up. That is why manufacturers often resort to dumping stock on dealers, only to negate their fixed manufacturing costs.

The final quarter of the current financial year will bring with itself the toughest challenge for the plant heads as well as for the sales and marketing teams of these car companies. This is because not only do companies have to exhaust BS-IV stock but have to push BS-VI stocks as well.