In the month of November 2012, passenger vehicle sales have gone down by 8.25 per cent as compared to last year, at 1.58 lakh units. To offset this slump in sales, car manufacturers are making last-ditch efforts to prop up numbers by offering big discounts in December. Not only discounts, but LCDs and holidays are also being offered in a bid to lure prospective buyers, as reported by ET.
Most of the vehicles that were launched in 2012 failed to generate the expected numbers, apart from a few. Cars that stood out from the rest in 2012 were the Renault Duster, Maruti Alto 800 and Maruti Swift Dzire. However, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) is looking to push the sales of Alto 800 further, by offering it at a discount of Rs.16,000 from its on-road price. This would help the company offset losses occurred from sales of the SX4.
The Nissan Evalia is being sold at a discount of Rs.20,000 from various dealers. Similarly, the Chevrolet Sail U-VA is getting freebies worth Rs. 15,000 in the month of December, despite having entered the market in November. Commenting on the current sales scenario, Mayank Pareek, Chief Operating Officer at Maruti marketing and sales said, "Retail sales and deliveries are not so enthusiastic this month after some strong demand witnessed during the Diwali season that helped to clear off the inventories. Discounts on cars in December are at the all time high and now many diesel cars that had robust demand earlier have also hit the rebate path."
Car manufacturers were hoping that the festival season around Diwali would generate double digit growth in sales, but that was not to be. New face lifts and refreshed models were also not able to gather much momentum. However, MSIL did manage to lift sales of is petrol powered small vehicles by 16 per cent from September-November 2012, where 1,30,589 units were sold.
One of the reasons for the slump in demand is spiralling petrol prices. Some other reasons are inflation in the costs of raw materials and high interest rates on car loans. Only time will tell if these discounts can help in raising sales by the end of this December.
