Freebies are Incentives of Choice for Car Makers in India

The company also promises customers that it will buy back the Manza Club Class — Tata’s top-end sedan — after three years at 60% of its sale price. It also cut the car’s price by up to 50,000 rupees ($916).

This for a vehicle which was meant to showcase advanced features such as a touchscreen multi-media interface, fully automatic air-conditioning and Italian leather seats as well as dedicated service managers.

Almost all of the country’s car makers are offering either discounts or incentives such as free insurance, vehicle exchange bonuses and car accessories.

The move, which comes less than five months after the Manza model’s introduction, mirrors the desperation among India’s auto makers, who have been pushed to the wall by a continuing slide in sales.

Annual car sales are set to decline for the first time in a decade in this year through March, the Society of Automobile Manufacturers lobby group said last month.

Local car sales fell 1.8% in the period from April 2012 to January 2013 to about 1.56 million autos, mainly due to higher ownership costs and a slowing economy.

To boost sales Volkswagen came up with a four-day program in February allowing customers to buy its Vento sedan by paying half the price immediately and the rest after one year.

Ford Motor Co.’s Indian unit is now conducting a three-day program until Saturday which it says will allow customers to save between 37,000 rupees and 97,000 rupees on its vehicles.

This comes after Ford Monday introduced a new version of the Figo hatchback.

That same day Hyundai Motor Co.’s local unit introduced a new version of its i10 hatchback with features such as a reverse parking camera and steering-mounted Bluetooth.