Carmakers shower offers to drive up sales

It's raining discounts as car companies get ready to offload excess stock and cash in on the festive season amid the sluggish economy slowing down sales and forcing to stop production for days.

On Wednesday, Honda Cars India Ltd announced the biggest of all discounts of up to Rs 4 lakh on its CR-V model across the country. It also announced price concessions across segments, including on its largest selling Amaze. The concessions will vary from Rs 42,000 to Rs 4 lakh and the offer will last till September 30.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai, Toyota and Tata have already offered attractive discounts in the past couple of days. Maruti is offering a benefit scheme of Rs 1.01 lakh, including a five-year warranty, on its largest selling SUV, Vitara Brezza.

Buyers can get up to Rs 1.75 lakh discounts on Toyota's Corolla Altis, Yaris and Innova this month.

Tata Motors has gone a step ahead to give Rs 1.5 lakh off on some of its models, including Nexon, Hexa and Harrier, which the company launched in January this year. Harrier, a popular SUV, though is facing tough competition from Kia Seltos and MG Hector. Hexa, the most expensive model by Tata, comes with Rs 1.5 lakh discount.

India's second-largest car manufacturer Hyundai is not behind. It is offering benefits of up to Rs 95,000 on its hatchback Grand i10, both on petrol and diesel models.

And, it doesn't stop at discounts. Car companies are also tying up with banks and financial institutions to offer up to 100% on-road financing, low EMI packages and long-tenure loans to consumers.

"Customers can avail these offers while purchasing new cars which are in form of cash discounts, extended warranty, Honda care maintenance programme and special exchange bonus on their old cars," said Rajesh Goel, Honda vice president and director, sales. Honda manufactures premium cars in India.

Car companies come up with festive offers every year, but this time, the magnitude of slowdown has forced them to offer deeper discounts. Auto sales have slumped for more than nine months. The contraction of 19% in July was the worst since 2001. Among the reasons cited for the slowdown in sales are high taxes, transition to BS-VI norms and the changing habits of youth who prefer to rent a car than buy one.

"The start of the festive season is an exciting time for us as we get to be part of our customers' celebrations by providing them with various offers and benefits. Our offerings this year are bigger and better than the previous year and by far the best in the industry. We have received a tremendous response from customers during Onam and Ganesh Chaturthi," said S N Barman, vice president, sales, marketing and customer support, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors.