Demonetisation impact: Mahindra offers discount of up to Rs 2.71 lakh across the range

In order to clear the inventory pile up at dealerships due to demonetisation, utility vehicle specialist Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) is reportedly offering price discounts of up to Rs 2.17 lakh across its range. The offer will continue till the end of December.

M&M informed its dealer partners about the discount through a video conference and the discount goes to as high as Rs 2.71 lakh per vehicle, reports ET Auto. The report also says that Mahindra dealers currently have an inventory of over 40 days. Retail sales of the Mumbai based manufacturer witnessed a dent with demonetisation as most of the vehicles are sold in the rural and semi urban areas.

Mahindra Scorpio is now offered with a discount of up to Rs 50,000 depending on location and variants. Bolero is the most popular Mahindra vehicle in the rural areas and it is offered with up to Rs 67,000 discount. The XUV500 and KUV100 are available with up to Rs 89,000 and Rs 73,000 discounts, respectively. The priciest SUV of Mahindra sold under SsangYong brand, the Rexton, has a discount of up to Rs 2.71 lakh depending on location and variant.

Despite new launches and refreshes to the existing models, Mahindra's sales is still going downward. In the domestic market, sales were down 24.29 percent at 29,814 units last month as compared to 39,383 in November 2015. Sales of passenger vehicles, including the Scorpio, XUV500, Xylo, Bolero and Verito were down 33 percent to 13,217 units in November 2016 as compared to 19,662 units in the same month last year.

"While we expected an improved auto industry performance on the back of the festive season and other positive parameters such as rural demand and interest rates softening, the sudden announcement of demonetisation has brought in an immediate disruption and uncertainty," said Pravin Shah, chief executive (auto division), M&M.