End of festive season in car market

Those who missed are big time losers as their favourite cars during the festive season may end up shelling out 8-10% more now. Looking at the soaring demand for popular models, companies have ended discount offers. Popular cars such as Maruti Alto, Maruti Wagon R, Hyundai Santro, Hyundai i10, and Chevrolet Spark are set to get costlier soon and will beget their makers more profits. With demand already high and a huge waiting period on many popular models, the coming weeks will see a drop in rebates, said Mayank Pareek, Maruti’s executive officer, marketing & sales. Most of the popular models are in huge demand and currently have a waiting period of up to six weeks.

Maruti scored highest sales in the July-September period selling 2.09 lakh cars. Several of its top models such as Maruti Ritz, Maruti Swift and Maruti Swift Dzire have long waiting periods. Discounts on its popular models like Maruti WagonR could be cut from Rs 45,000 at present to Rs 15,000-20,000 soon. Hyundai’s best selling Hyundai i10 hatchback that was fetching a rebate of Rs 36,500 till a few weeks ago will now see a drastic decline in discounts. According to Hyundai dealers’ benefits on the Hyundai i10 could be around Rs 15,000 now.

General Motors’ Chevrolet Spark hatchback, which fetched cash benefits of up to Rs 47,000 along with a maintenance package of Rs 13,000 and music system during Diwali, will now come with less freebies. With big players such as Maruti and Hyundai ending these discounts, smaller players like Honda Siel, Ford, Skoda and Fiat are also likely to slash offers. Popular entrants in the car market are Volkswagen Polo, Chevrolet Beat and Premier Rio.

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