December discounts are greeting car buyers across the country. It is the month when the automotive manufacturers seek to sustain volumes to liquidate their inventory manufactured during the year.
Many a car buyer waits eagerly to drive home a new one during the discount phase. Some manufacturers even hint at price hikes from January to lure buyers.
Vinay Saboo of RSK Motors, a Maruti dealer here, said, “The year has been very good for the company and the dealership. We hope to achieve good volumes in December as well. Buyers are happy to get a discount upfront and are not bothered about model change next year. Instead of paying higher price (say if he buys in January) he prefers the discount now.”
Basheeruddin Babu Khan of Vibrant Ford said, “The discounts are higher on older models. In the case of new models such as Renault Kwid, Hyundai Creta, or upgraded Ford Ecosport and newer Ford Figo and Aspire, it is less.”
Chevrolet has announced discounts up to ₹76,000 on its Beat hatchback, ₹75,000 on Sail and ₹1.38 lakh on Cruze.
A Renault dealership promises daily prize and a grand weekly prize, with special benefits going up to ₹1 lakh.
Toyota is offering discounts ranging from ₹20,000 on Liva and Cross, ₹30,000 on Etios and Innova, to ₹40,000 on Altis sedan. In the case of its bigger SUV Fortuner, it is offering the advantage of lower interest rate to make it attractive.
The Skoda dealership has announced an attractive offer for Rapid sedan: buy in December 2015 and the EMI repayment begins in January 2017. The buyer gets a one-year grace period on EMI.
Tata Motors is offering discounts of up to ₹56,000 on Nano, utility major M&M is offering discounts that range from ₹55,000 for Verito and go up to ₹1,00,000 for Quanto.
Hyundai discounts range from ₹55,000 for its small car Eon, and go up to ₹80,000 for Verna. Nissan is offering ₹60,000 for Micra, ₹95,000 for Sunny and ₹1,20,000 for Terrano.
In the case of luxury car makers, there have not been too many ads on discounts, but they tend to make it attractive with lower interest rates, a dealer in Hyderabad said.
With production of the major manufactures such as Hyundai and Ford facilities located in Chennai crippled by floods, it is to be seen if this would have any impact on discounts.