Maruti’s Rs 90,000 rebate to early S-Cross buyers

Consumers who bought the 1.6-litre variant of Maruti Suzuki’s premium crossover, the S-Cross, will get a refund of up to Rs 90,000 from the company. Over and above this, they will also get an extended warranty. Buyers of the 1.3-litre variant will just get the extended warranty. Maruti slashed the price of the model by up to Rs 2.05 lakh with effect from January, so the company wants to offer the refund to buyers who had purchased the car before that as “a token of gratitude”.

The exact extent of the refund will depend on what kind of discounts were offered to consumers who bought this variant of the S-Cross before January 1, 2016.

The S-Cross, which was launched in August 2015 after the company decided to phase out its sedan SX4, was priced in the range of `8.34-13.74 lakh (ex-showroom), failed to set the market on fire. The car was seen as overpriced given the features it offered and compared to offerings from competitors in the segment. Between August and February, total sales of the car stood at 22,000, which means monthly sales of around 2,500-3,000 units. The company slashed prices by up to Rs 2.05 lakh in January to boost sales.

The car comes in two variants — with 1.3 and 1.6 litre engines — so the exact sales of the latter where the refund will apply will not be much.

This would probably be the first time a car company is offering a cash refund after slashing prices. One explanation for this could be that the S-Cross is the first product to be retailed from Maruti’s premium dealer outlet, Nexa, so it wants to treat its customers differently.

“This is a just a token of gratitude for customers who showed their faith in us at the start and embraced our new initiatives,” a company spokesperson told FE. “Without the support and confidence of these early adopters last year, we could never have achieved success in these new initiatives,” the spokesperson said.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited