Automobile dealers in the country are stuck with the inventory of BS-IV vehicles in their showrooms with no takers. The worst situation for them is many state governments have been issuing circulars to the regional transport officers (RTOs) not to register BS-IV vehicles beyond a certain date. Many banks have also made an internal policy decision not to fund BS-IV vehicles. As if these were not enough, the coronavirus scare has added to the misery of the automobile dealers.
The government has mandated that only BS-VI vehicles can be sold /registered from April 1, 2020. This does not mean the vehicles with previous versions cannot run on the roads. As long as the vehicles are able to obtain the ‘pollution under control’ (PUC) certifications, there should be no difficulty.
The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) is now planning to draw the attention of the authorities concerned to come to their aid. It is not certain how much the state governments and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways can be of any help in this matter. The decision on this was taken long time ago and the automobile manufacturers had already shifted making the new emission norms vehicles in their plants. The dealers had also been cautious in lifting stocks, the past several months. They say things were normal till about half way through the month of February, 2020. It is only after that, their problems have grown bigger.
Most automobile companies and their dealers are offering hefty discounts on different models to clear off the BS-IV stocks. Hyundai, for example is offering discounts of ₹50,000 and ₹75,000 on the Xcent and Creta models respectively. To sweeten the deal, an exchange bonus of Rs 50,000 is offered with both models. Toyota too is offering up to ₹35,000 on both exchange as well as cash discounts.
You could possibly pick up a Tata Nexon BS-IV, at a discount of ₹75,000 and an additional Rs 25,000 on exchange. If it is the Zest, then the discount is ₹1.5 lakh while the Hexa gets you ₹2.50 lakh off.
Similar huge discounts are being offered by Mahindra as well; on the BS-IV Alturas, you pay ₹2.4 lakh less; on the XUV500, ₹1.62 lakh less and on the Marazzo, you get a ₹1.40 lakh cash discount. Kuv100 customers too, get ₹70,000 discount.
Even the motorcycles and scooter dealers have joined the race. You could save up to ₹50,000 on some of the Kawasaki range Ninja 400, Ninja 650, ZX-6R, Vulcan S, and the Ninja 1000 motorcycles. Honda Activa can be driven out paying up to ₹11,000 less.
As a last resort, the dealers may be forced to register the vehicles left with them in their own names and sell them later as second-hand vehicles.