Discount of up to Rs 50,000 offered on diesel cars to lure buyers

It is an annual ritual for carmakers to offer attractive discounts and goodies during the festive season to drive the sales of their respective cars. This year however, due to muted sales and sluggish market conditions it is not just the petrol cars that are being given away with massive discounts but the diesel models, which enjoyed a long waiting period and premium pricing till now are also being bundled with huge price cuts, in some cases as high as Rs 50,000 a car on select models.

The diving sales in the auto industry have forced distributors to offer discounts on Tata Indica, Volkswagen Polo, Ford Figo, Maruti Suzuki SX4, Ritz, Fiat Punto, Nissan Micra and Mahindra Verito.

"We are offering discounts on diesel models in-line with the market competition. The slowing demand curve has affected sales of diesel cars too and these rebates are expected to keep the sales ticking," said Ford Motor India president & managing director Michael Boneham.

Diesel models gained massive sales momentum in the past few months on dual benefit of higher mileage and lower running costs of cheaper priced fuel. But with demand tapering off in recent times not all models are enjoying the same customer demand. 

Popular models such as Maruti's Swift and DZire models, Hyundai's i20 and Verna, and Tata Indigo CS still enjoy waiting of up to 6-8 months for their diesel variants across markets.