• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy
• Books

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Mr P. Balendran

Manu P. Toms

Mumbai, Jan. 5 Car buyers made the most of a discount-filled December but it was possibly still not enough to clear dealer stocks of all models.

At least, in the case of General Motors India (GMI), the sops will continue on the Chevrolet Spark and Aveo U-VA till January 8.

This is because the company has fallen short of its annual goal for 2008. “Our target was 85,000 units for the calendar and we ended up selling 20,000 short. We are now keen on clearing the stocks,” said Mr P. Balendran, Vice- President, Corporate Affairs, GMI.

As a result, the base model of the Spark, priced at Rs 3.25 lakh will be retailed at 2.59 lakh, while the U-VA at 3.88 lakh carries a discount of Rs 35,000.

GMI has announced that there will be a two per cent price hike across the board once the discount season is complete. The Spark could be dearer by Rs 6,500 and the U-VA by closer to Rs 10,000.

Mr Balendran said that enquiries had been flowing in over the last 10 days, especially with customers aware that a price hike was imminent.

“The response has not been as overwhelming as we thought but it has certainly picked up of late. We hope to liquidate our stocks by the time the offer period ends.”

A dealer in Mumbai confirmed that orders had increased following the discount offer extension to January. “We get 450 enquiries for the Spark each month of which about 50 translate into actual sales. For the moment, we are not facing a problem of unsold stock,” he added.

For the record, GMI had gone in for a 15-day plant shutdown in December going in line with most other carmakers who opted for this route rather than pound dealerships with more stocks at a time when liquidating the existing lot was proving to be a nightmare.

The big challenge now is to plan for 2009. Hyundai has already gone on record to say that output will be cut by 25 per cent and this could become a norm for other companies.

GMI has an additional concern about the health of its parent company back home in the US but has reiterated that the Indian operations will remain unaffected. It now remains to be seen if it will go slow on its Talegaon plant which has been planned with an installed capacity of 1.4 lakh units.

More Stories on : Outlook | Promotions & Offers | Cars

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line