Pune: Mahindra & Mahindra, India's biggest utility vehicle maker, on Thursday rolled out a subscription-based service for retail buyers of its personal range of cars to boost sales ahead of festive season and amid worst slowing demand.
Under this scheme, Mahindra's vehicles in Delhi (NCR), Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad will be available at a subscription price starting from Rs 19,720 per month.
The Mumbai-based auto major is offering a range of models such as KUV100, XUV500, XUV300, Scorpio, TUV300, Marazzo and Alturas G4 for a period of one to four years in case of a new car.
"The exciting part in this scheme is that it is flexible. One can come out of it after four months or one or two years and there is no penalty or liability to end it any time," a spokesperson at the Mahindra said, adding that it is not meant for long term.
On the other hand, if one pays Rs 20,000 per month, the subscriber to this scheme will end up paying Rs 9.6 lakh in four years but own nothing.
Earlier, Mahindra had also launched leasing scheme, in which one had to make a down payment for leasing a car.
The new subscription scheme comes with offers such as zero down payments, no road tax, zero risks on the resale value of the vehicle, and a fixed amount that includes routine maintenance costs, the company said in a statement.
Most importantly one has the flexibility to change the vehicle model after a certain minimum subscription period, it said.
"We are introducing an all-new subscription model for retail customers of our personal vehicles," Veejay Ram Nakra, Chief of Sales and Marketing for the Automotive Division at M&M said.
"With this flexible, affordable offering, we hope to help our customers fulfill their aspiration of driving their desired vehicles without necessarily owning them," he said.
With sales hitting rock bottom month after month, automobile brands and their retailers in Asia's third biggest car market have been struggling hard to clear bloating inventory both at the factories and in showrooms.
To reduce costly inventory, they have been enticing buyers with lucrative discounts and benefits going up to Rs 4-5 lakh.
