The Hindu Business Line : Maruti, Hyundai woo rival car owners

Hyderabad, July 11 At a time when domestic automotive manufacturers are wooing car-owners with loyalty programmes and retaining them with sops and upgrades, two recent ads from Maruti and Hyundai are directly wooing rival car-owners with attractive inducements at ‘lower EMIs’.

Within a day of Hyundai’s ad saying “Let’s go for Hyundai at lower EMI”, targeting Maruti Alto owners in a bid to have them exchange their car for a Santro or the recently launched i10 (however, at a lower EMI), Maruti has shot back, offering Maruti Swift to Hyundai Santro owners.

To top this offer there is one more “one-time offer” of exchange of any old car, any make and any model, for Alto buyers. Even if the car, say, an old Fiat with all papers, is valued at Rs 10,000, with exchange bonus and other inducements, its value works out to Rs 40,000.

When contacted, Mr Saral Talwar of Talwar Hyundai, a dealer at Hyderabad, said “basically, we are offering Santro as a car as an upgrade or next-level car which is much roomier for Alto owners. In fact, this is an ad with a pan-India appeal, not so much for buyers in Hyderabad, as Santro outsells Alto here.”

“By driving home the advantage of upgrades, that too at a lower cost, we expect to convince buyers to opt for a Santro,” Mr Talwar said.

For instance, Hyundai values Alto at Rs 1,66,000 and with some discounts and exchange offers, the balance works out to Rs 1.55 lakh. The new car EMI is estimated at Rs 4,073 as against Rs 5,735 paid earlier for Alto.

LAP OF LUXURY

Maruti’s ad promises a lap of luxury and an “Upgrade to Business Class” offer in the form of offering Swift to existing Hyundai Santro owners. The old Santro is estimated at Rs 1.65 lakh and after discounts and other offers works out to Rs 2.36 lakh. The EMI is projected lower at Rs 6,210 as against the previous Rs 7,520.

Responding to Business Line, Mr Vinay Saboo of RKS Motors, a leading dealer in Maruti, said, “yes, we responded with an ad attracting Hyundai Santro buyers to upgrade to luxurious Swift.”

However, the recent hike in interest rates for auto loans has had an impact on small car buyers. Many of them have temporarily postponed their plans and likely to re-consider during the festival season, Mr Talwar said.

The General Manager Sales at RKS Motors, Mr Rajesh Reddy, said that the one-time offer of exchange for Alto buyers is for a limited period. “Be it upgrade or new sale, such options are based on market realities. Response may vary from time to time. Efforts are on to help customers buy even though there has been an impact of higher interest rates on car sales,” Mr Reddy said.

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