Maruti offers dealerships support to drive small car sales in fast lane

Maruti Suzuki India has launched an “inventory support” scheme for its dealers in a bid to clear the stockpile of slow-moving models such as the Alto, WagonR, Celerio and SPresso, said multiple dealers who received the communication from the company in mid-June.

The automaker will fund the interest cost on dealers’ working capital for holding these models, if the cars remain unsold beyond 30 days. Dealers will also earn incentives if they meet the sales targets set by the company.

The initiative of the car market leader reflects the pressure facing the entrylevel segment amid growing preference among buyers for swankier and featurerich SUVs. Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer, marketing and sales, at Maruti Suzuki confirmed the company is supporting dealers on slowmoving models.

The blended (all models) stock at dealerships currently will last for 30 days, which is below average, but the inventory of the slowmoving models is 40-45 days due to a mismatch in supply and demand, he told ET.