Zen Vx Premiums Slide On Maruti Interest Offer
Premiums on the Zen VX from Maruti Udyog Ltd has crashed during the last five days with the white colour model available off-the-shelf and the metallic colour variants available at a premium of a mere Rs 1,000.
A week ago, the Zen VX had been commanding a premium of Rs 3,500 to Rs 7,000 depending on the colour of the model.
According to dealers, the crash of the Zen premium could be attributed to the move by MUL to offer 20 per cent interest per annum to customers
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who book for the Zen from the very first day of booking.
Earlier, MUL had offered only 8 per cent interest per annum on the booking amount (which is 80 per cent of the price of the car and is roughly Rs 3.15 lakh), and that too only after from the seventh day of the booking.
"Customers can earn up to 4,000 per car as a result of the high interest rate being offered by MUL on their money and are ready to wait for four weeks rather than pay a premium,"says a dealer.
Another dealer points out that lukewarm response to the Hyundai Santro booking has also lead brokers to offload whatever stocks of Zen they have as they do not expect any larger premium on the Zen. Besides, the improvement in the supply situation of the Zen has also led to the drastic decline in its premium, with most models being available within a month's time, he reiterated.
The premium on Zen had jumped during the last month, just before the launch of the Santro. According the authorised dealers of MUL, the waiting period for the Zen had increased upto four to five weeks, a phenomenon which had occurred soon after the launch of the new Zen VX by the company in late July this year.
According to dealers, the premium on the milky white Zen VX during the previous month had been the lowest at Rs 3,500, while the metallic golden beige model had commanded the highest premium of Rs 7,000.
This premium was over the Delhi ex-showroom price of Rs 3.46 lakh for the milky white model and 3.50 lakh for the metallic colour models.
In fact, the high premium on the Zen had been attributed to a reduction in despatches by the company.
"I presume the premium has come into play because Maruti, in reaction to the launch of the Santro, has decided to cut down despatches to the dealers to have a demand-supply gap," a dealer had earlier revealed.