While we bring you the deals very early on in each month, this time, it has been delayed a fair bit. However, putting things into perspective, here are the deals for the month of July 2011. The particular last two months were very taxing for car manufacturers, since the petrol prices were hiked nearly twice during this period and people are skeptical of buying new cars due to this very reason. The recent spurt in petrol prices has resulted in a trend where customers are preferring diesel powered cars even if they don’t actually need diesel economy or the stuff. Customers are more in favor of putting in a one time extra price for the diesel cars rather than paying for the hike in petrol price each time they visit the fuel station. Many dealers that we visited were of the opinion that earlier on, customers coming in to the show room used to be undecided about which fuel type they want to go for. Now its mostly a unanimous decision that every buyer walking into the show room would have diesel in his mind. Dealers or rather the sales staff now have to tell people that buying a diesel engined car depends on the miles that they would log into it each month or every year. If they don’t clock more miles than 15k kms every year, then it is better to go for a petrol engined car.
Fiat :
The Italian company is struggling hard to keep its head over the water and thankfully enough, it has wonderful diesel engines as buoys. However, its petrol engines are not upto the mark and hence, in this trying times, Fiat is offering a discount on their very desirable Linea model. Upto Rs 36k is being given as a discount on the price of the petrol Linea. Moreover, customers going in for the extended warranty, roadside assistance and insurance get a deal which makes the transaction all the more sweeter.
Ford :
The American company has been witnessing a boom since the time its small car, the Ford Figo came to India. The Figo has been consistently raking in the numbers for Ford India. Figos were earlier not offered with much discounts, but now, the company is offering freebies on its petrol engined Figo. The extent of freebies depends from dealer to dealer and how one can actually haggle with them on this count.
Maruti :
Even if there is a recession going on, Maruti products usually have takers. The company is offering upto Rs 35k off on its petrol engined Ritz model. Plus thrown in the goodies coming in from the dealer’s part and you have a very desirable package.
Chevrolet :
One more American company which has finally managed to find a foothold in India, General Motors, are offering discounts on their petrol and LPG powered Beat model. This small funky car now comes with a cash discount of upto Rs 25k. This may be the prelude to the launch of the diesel Beat. Unfortunately, the General is not so kind enough to offer any exchange bonuses on this car.
Skoda :
Skoda cars are usually not offered with a discount but there is one big discount in the market right now and its for the very desirable and capable Skoda Laura car. However, as is the case here, it is being offered only on the petrol engined Laura. The 1.8 liter TSI petrol motored Laura is offered with a whopping Rs 96k off its price tag. This is for the Classic variant, which is the entry point in the Laura family. The much higher specced Ambiente version is offered with an even more prospecting allure and the figures rate it at Rs 1.25 lakhs. All these discounts eventually tally upto about 10 percent off from the car’s sticker tag. This seems to be Skoda’s take on the new Renault Fluence car, which is priced dangerously close to the Laura. Well, this deal isn’t for a lifetime and it would change very soon. So, if you were in love with the Laura petrol but couldn’t afford it earlier, now is the right time to buy one.
Tata :
The Indian car giant, Tata Motors is offering a discount on its newly launched Indica eV2 model. The company is offering discounts of upto Rs 20k on this car. Moreover, an additional discount in the name of exchange bonus is being offered for Rs 10k. If you can bargain hard enough, the dealer would be ready to throw in some freebies as well.
Toyota :
The once world’s leading car maker has just launched the facelifted Altis and already there are discounts running on it. The petrol engined Altis is available with an offer wherein the customer only has to pay 50 percent of the first year’s insurance amount and the rest would be paid up by the dealer. This works out to be a Rs 28k savings for the buyer, that is only if the buyer goes in for the top end variant of this car.
