Last chance to buy a BS-IV vehicle at deep discounts

Planning to buy a car or two-wheeler? Purchasing a vehicle by March 31 may fetch you a great deal.

As automobile dealers try to clear their Bharat Stage-IV stock before BS-VI emission norms come into effect from April 1, the discounts on ex-showroom prices are huge in some cases. Dealerships have largely cleared BS-IV stocks and manufacturers have stopped supplying these vehicles. So, stocks are limited and will disappear soon.

Honda Cars India is offering up to Rs 72,000 off on its BS-IV City sedan which is priced just over Rs 10 lakh. Nissan is advertising maximum benefits of up to Rs 1.6 lakh on BS-IV Kicks SUV, which is priced from Rs 9.5 lakh. Hyundai is giving up to Rs 1.15 lakh off on its SUV Creta, which costs just under Rs 10 lakh. An odd-coloured Maruti Suzuki Celerio costing upwards of Rs 4.4 lakh can be bought on up to Rs 1 lakh discount.

Kawasaki is offering free extended one-year warranty on select BS-IV motorcycles. Discounts are available on other two-wheelers also.

There are offers from almost all manufacturers, including luxury car brands. Bargaining with dealerships might get you a bigger discount than advertised. If dealers do not clear BS-IV stock, it will be a burden on them as they cannot be registered after March 31. Dealers might have to probably register them in their own or any individual’s name and then sell for a far lower price after April 1.

The Union government has clearly said that vehicles registered till March 31 can run for their entire period of registration. So, using BS-IV vehicles will be legal.

“This is the best time to buy a two-wheeler. It will only be 15% more expensive as compared to August 2018, but if you buy from April 1 this year, it is going to be up to 25% more expensive. There are a lot of offers. BS-IV stocks are depleting every day,” said Y S Guleria, senior vice-president, Sales and Marketing, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India.

A statement from Maruti Suzuki India Limited said, “We have less than a day’s stock of BS-IV vehicles left. On an average, we sell about 4,500 vehicles per day. We have less than 2,000 BS-IV vehicles in stock.”

The slowdown in the auto industry is probably prompting automakers to give discounts on BS-VI models as well. For instance, Tata Motors is offering benefits of up to Rs 48,000 on Tiago hatchback (priced from Rs 4.6 lakh). Toyota is offering benefits of up to Rs 75,000 for Yaris, priced just under Rs 9 lakh. After April 1, big offers are highly unlikely and prices will go up.