The Coronavirus Outbreak has led the country in a 21-day lockdown and therefore, the automotive plants and dealerships are also shut. There is no demand for the vehicles and the stock lie unsold. The SC allowed the dealerships to sell the BS4 vehicles for 10 days after the lockdown. The thing to notice here is that will the BS6 vehicles get cheaper? A huge unsold inventory of the BS6 vehicles also lies in the yards!
Read Maruti Suzuki v/s Coronavirus: Car Sales Report March 2020 :
Considering Toyota, they launched the BS6 lineup for a price that would be attractive to the customers. For a diesel vehicle, which was supposed to get a price hike of almost 1.5Lakh rupees, Toyota hiked it by Rs.80,000 thereby making the BS6 vehicles cheaper. The manufacturer absorbed the remaining cost themselves because of the low confidence that people had in buying these cars.
Read Coronavirus effect: Validity of vehicle permits extended till June-end!
We can expect the BS6 vehicles to get cheaper and the price could come near the BS4 vehicles which would possibly give the sales a push. Mahindra dealerships have also reported that some of the company’s most selling vehicles like the XUV300 are most likely to be priced the same as the BS4 version. This is being done keeping in mind the current situation where the auto industry has seen another blow due to the pandemic.
Read Coronavirus: BS4 deadline extended by Supreme Court
Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director, M&S, Maruti Suzuki said “OEMs are skating on thin nice and may not have headroom to reduce prices. But what can be done is offering financial incentives to dealers and consumers” Maruti Suzuki also aims to make the BS6 vehicles cheaper.
The BS6 norms are already live in the country. The new emission norms were implemented from April 1st. All of us know that we are observing a complete lockdown as of now due to which the footfalls have dipped drastically. We hope the BS6 vehicles get cheaper so that the demand shows a surge!
