With the steep rise in gasoline fuel prices, there has been a continuously sharp decline in the demand for petrol vehicles and an increasing demand for diesel cars. So sudden has been this change that the OEMs are not able to maintain their supply of diesel powered vehicles and thus are trying to lure buyers into buying petrol vehicles by offering attractive discounts. To give an example, Volkswagen is offering a discount of close to Rs. 1.1 lakhs on its Polo and Vento petrol models.
Other manufacturers are not far behind either. Nissan is offering a cash discount of Rs. 30,000 on the Micra XV variant and a corporate discount of Rs. 6000 on all petrol variants. The Nissan Sunny petrol also gets a corporate discount of Rs. 6000. Maruti Suzuki is now offering a exchange bonus of Rs. 15,000 on the Swift. The new Dzire, however doesn’t come with any such deals. Honda has strong sales of the Brio and Jazz hatchbacks, so it isn’t offering any discounts. On the City, the company is offering a corporate discount of Rs. 5000.
Hyundai is offering a cash discount of Rs. 15,000 and an exchange bonus worth Rs. 15,000 on the i10 which has fared poorly with sales dropping by 24%. The Eon gets a free 2nd and 3rd year extended warranty worth Rs 4,000 and a Rs 10,000 exchange bonus, while the petrol Verna gets a corporate discount worth Rs 5,000 plus an exchange bonus of Rs 10,000. Ford Motors is also offering a free insurance cover worth Rs. 20,000 and a corporate discount upto Rs 5,000 on the petrol Figo. Skoda Auto is offering 50 percent off on Skoda shield (insurance and extended warranty) which is close to Rs 14,700 on the base model and Rs 19,000 on the top end model.
Source – Autocar India