NEW DELHI: The sudden slowdown in the car industry has meant that the discounts are not just in mere thousands, but hitting multiple lakhs of rupees on models ranging from companies like Maruti Suzuki, Honda, JSW MG, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors to luxury makers like Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.
So, while the mighty luxury Audi Q8 e-tron will fetch you a discount of Rs 10 lakh (over the ex-showroom price) and Kia EV6 Rs 12 lakh, the diminutive but powerful Suzuki Jimny will get you a discount of roughly Rs 2.3 lakh. Suzuki’s much-touted ‘mini powerhouse’ has failed to fire up for the country’s biggest carmaker, making the company resort to heavy discounting.
It’s not just the regular models that are on heavy sale. Some of the so-perceived blockbusters like Toyota Innova Hycross and Mahindra 3-door Thar have also come into discounts. The Hycross, which had long enjoyed a star status since its launch with a ‘strong hybrid’ version, is now facing the heat due to the slowdown as it now comes with a discount beginning Rs 1.5 lakh, according to data compiled by research firm Jato Dynamics.
The Thar 3-door is suffering after the launch of its 5-door sibling, with discounts at Rs 1.5 lakh as buyers are opting for the new variant.
Mahindra’s XUV4OO electric is also on heavy discount, giving a lucrative Rs 3 lakh discount to buyers. Mahindra had in July given a Rs 2 lakh discount on certain versions of the XUV7OO.
Industry analysts say that the discounts will only get deeper post Diwali when dealers and companies will engage in ‘desperate measures’ to clear up idle inventories.
Other models to see heavy discounts include Maruti Baleno (Rs 1.1 lakh), Maruti Grand Vitara (Rs 1.1-1.4 lakh), previous-gen Scorpio (Rs 1.2 lakh), Toyota Fortuner (Rs 2 lakh), Jeep Compass (Rs 2.5 lakh), MG Gloster (Rs 4.9 lakh), BMW X5 (Rs 7-10 lakh), Audi A4 (Rs 8 lakh) and Merc S-Class (Rs 9 lakh).
After passing through a bumper demand period when the economy started to open up after the Covid lockdowns in 2021, the car industry has fallen on tough times this year as buyers do not appear to be excited about new purchases as they were earlier.
Most of the carmakers have been moderating production and cutting on dealer dispatches as inventory levels continue to rise. These include top makers Maruti, Hyundai, Tata Motors, Honda Cars, Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi.
“The highest discounts are only part of the story. There is clearly a demand issue that the industry faces. The lower-end of the market was already depressed for some time and now even the top-end appears to be saturated with the demand pool drying out,” Ravi Bhatia, president of Jato Dynamics told TOI. “The issue is not make- and model-specific, but overall general slowdown.”
The inventory level of the industry is currently estimated at a high of nearly 80 days, which is more than double to what a normal scenario would be like. “Clearly, we will see production being curtailed/rationalised as we are approaching the year end when model year will change.”
