To clear off the 2011 stock, auto makers are offering huge discounts to its customers. This month discount rates are 10 to 15 per cent higher in comparison to the same period last year. Moreover, as against the last month, discounts are 7 to 8 percent higher this month. The petrol variants are offered with much higher discounts due to the soaring petrol rates.
Discount as high as Rs. 64,000 is being offered by car makers such as General Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Honda and Hyundai to sell-off all old and low selling models. P. Balendran, Vice-President, General Motors India, said, ''Petrol versions have higher discounts. We have been giving offers since October.” In addition, free insurance and maintenance, free gifts, accessories, along with several other benefits are on offer for the customers. Though, there is no such offer for the people interested in buying diesel cars.
This year, the automobile industry suffered an adamant slowdown due to increase in fuel prices, high interest rates and fluctuating value of Indian currency in the global market. As per Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the car sales have gone down by 3.53 per cent to 1.2 million units in the April-November period as compared to the previous year.
As a matter of fact, the sales of several auto companies go down during the last month of the year as the customers do not prefer to buy cars at this time. The buyers usually wait for the New Year to purchase a car. Therefore, to entice buyers, the car manufacturers are offering hefty discounts during the month of December.
Compared to last year, December discounts on Maruti cars are higher than last year. Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India, said, "The discounts are quite high - our tacticals and other benefits are 22% higher than in November this year. But the discounts are only on petrol models. Our diesel vehicles are still on wait-list - the Swift diesel in fact has a 9 month waiting list."
In view of rising petrol prices, the demand for diesel models is increasing. Demand for diesel variants raised 20 to 22 per cent in the April-October period whereas the demand for petrol vehicles declined 14 to 15 percent.
