Major carmakers lure customers with price cuts

As rising prices and tightening monetary policy slowly claim another victim, automobile companies, consumers are being lured with new offers every week. To ensure that high interest rates for loans don't drive away customers, Hyundai has been providing its own loans up to Rs 3 lakh for the Santro and i10 at only 5.99% for a tenure of three years.

Volkswagen is willing to provide finance at 6.99% if you buy the Vento petrol sedan. "The response to the scheme has been excellent. We are expecting a 30-40% increase in the sale of petrol units of the Vento," says Neeraj Garg, member of board and director, Volkswagen passenger cars.
As auto companies try to boost the sales momentum, they are coming up with innovative ways to appeal to the consumer who is conscious about mileage and savings. Fiat is offering to upgrade chosen buyers to the diesel variant of the Linea and Punto models if they book the petrol one.

In case the buyer still wants the petrol vehicle, the company is ready to pay the equivalent cash amount, which is almost Rs 1 lakh. Some winners will qualify for fuel vouchers for a year's supply of petrol or diesel. All buyers of Fiat cars in July will be provided free fuel for three months and free 50-month roadside assistance.

Fiat is certainly covering all bases, especially the one that is closest to the Indian car buyers' hearts: free maintenance. The most aggressive player in this area is Chevrolet, which offers free maintenance for three years (or 45,000 km, whichever comes earlier) if you pay a fixed upfront amount when you buy the car. The fee ranges from Rs 14,499-39,999, depending on the model.

However, the best offer yet comes from Honda: a whopping Rs 1. 75 lakh price cut for its Jazz. After the car's sales dipped by 39% in the April-June quarter this year to 643 cars, down from 1,050 a year earlier, the price was slashed from more than Rs 7 lakh to boost the sales of the premium hatchback.Honda had previously reduced the price of its City model by Rs 66,000.

"As a result of the continued efforts by our R&D function, and in anticipation of bigger volumes resulting in economies of scale, we achieved considerable cost reduction and decided to pass on the benefit to the customers of Honda City," says Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president, sales & marketing, Honda Siel Cars India.

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