Even amid festive cheer, inventory pile up, no discount on these models

Some say the festive season is the best time to buy a car as it brings with it significant discounts on popular models. However, the offers have shot up this year due to low sales, resulting in an inventory pile up at dealerships. While there are benefits to be availed on most of the best-sellers from Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra, Tata and Kia, there are some models that still do not have discounts.
According to sector experts, festive season offers are a function of demand and supply gap. Although demand at the dealership level has not been robust over the past few months, carmakers have continued to dispatch vehicles to dealerships.
Industry body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) recently said that car dealers were facing all-time high inventory levels of 80-85 days, equivalent to 7,90,000 vehicles worth Rs 79,000 crore due to aggressive dispatches from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
FADA also said that car dealers were under financial pressure, with increased cash flow challenges.
Amid the ongoing challenges, carmakers have enhanced the offers on most of the hatchbacks, sedans, MPVs and SUVs. The festive offers are usually in the form of cash discounts, exchange bonuses and corporate discounts.
However, the demand for some models, like the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Hyundai Creta and Mahindra Thar Roxx, is so high that there is no discount on them, as per our enquiries with multiple car dealers.
The Maruti Suzuki Ertiga is the largest-selling MPV in India. Having sold 95,061 units (wholesales) in the domestic market in the first half of FY25, it emerged the best-selling car in the country in September at 17,441 units.
The popularity of the Hyundai Creta can be gauged from the fact that it rarely has offers. But discounts or no discounts, the demand for this mid-size SUV is always high. In the first half of FY25, it posted wholesales of 96,416 units.
The recently-launched Mahindra Thar Roxx received 176,218 bookings in merely 60 minutes of the opening of bookings on October 3. Seeing the robust demand, there is no way this SUV will have any discounts even in the near future.