[hajaar]

We were looking to buy a car a couple of weeks back and the Jimny was a candidate. Surprisingly, the sales person said no discounts on the Jimny despite going for the highest variant. I think Chennai had probably the worst car salesmen in the country since so few discounts are offered and most of them are unprofessional to the core.

[arjab]

Maruti, as a company, has now lost all credibility, at least, with its exsiting Jimny owners base.

First customer's paid full price, which was close to 1.6-1.7 million Indian rupees on road for top Jimny models, in most Indian cities.

Then Maruti slashes prices in December 2023 making the initial lot of customers feel comprehensively cheated.

Now a further reduction in prices resuting in the ex-showroom price of the base Jimny ducking just under a million rupees.

Maruti will call this "market correction" , "limited promotional offer" and a thousand other phrases couched in slick marketing spiel. Bottomline is Maruti is a cheater of a company as far as Jimny pricing is concerned.

They messed up the Jimny completely with respect to product positioning, branding, grade-walk and pricing. And now they are running around like headless chickens, trying in vain, to ratchet up retail sales.

Whatever it is they have no right to play around with people's hard earned money. By changing prices every day.
What is this Maruti? Is this a Jimny share on the Bombay Stock Exchange? That the rate will go up and down on a daily basis and one will play the market? That is exactly what you are doing , with the unfortunate reality that in this case, there is no asset/investment appreciation!

Imagine if someone wants to sell their Jimny now which they bought even a couple of months ago! Will Maruti compensate for their monetary loss?

And it is not that the product is exactly blemish free.
There have been multiple product related issues and all are very well documented, across different forms of media including this forum.
Rear propellor shaft strike against cross member under load, brake booster not building up enough vacuum at high altitudes are possibly two of the most talked about.
And what is Maruti doing? Nothing - at least till now, in the eyes of the Jimny customer. I personally know of the rear propshaft issue of multiple users and the fact that they have documented and escalated this to Maruti through proper channels but till now, they have not received even an acknowledgement of their genuine woes from Maruti! Forget about a solution!

As all this happens, the silence; of our "esteemed automotive journalist community" and the "significant social media influencers" , are deafening to say the least! Imminent and long term potential loss of ad revenue and potential black-listing of journo's in not being invited to future free press junkets and freebies must be playing on their mind!

Unfortunately the consumer laws in our country are not as strong as that of United States or Continental Europe. If this had happened elsewhere, by this time Maruti & Suzuki would have been facing a whole host of petitions and public interest litigations.

Way to go Maruti. You have shown your true colours as a so called "caring customer focused company".

Enclosing an interesting bit of news from our neighbouring country. Really nice to know that this kind of nonsense is dealt with firmly elsewhere.
Link:
https://www.reuters.com/business/aut...nt-2024-07-03/

[Sk8r]

Originally Posted by arjab

As all this happens, the silence; of our "esteemed automotive journalist community" and the "significant social media influencers" , are deafening to say the least! Imminent and long term potential loss of ad revenue and potential black-listing of journo's in not being invited to future free press junkets and freebies must be playing on their mind!

Totally understand your frustration and honestly I expected a few more similar responses on seeing these discounts. But calling out auto journalists is uncalled for. What do you expect them to do ? Write articles that they should not be reducing the prices when the competition is battering them ?

Am sorry, this is the beauty of a free market, demand ~ supply and all these. When the very auto journos did speak about how "over priced" these Jimnys are, in fact it's all over in our very own TeamBHP reviews and yet the initial "enthusiasts" happily ignored those to pick them up at launch prices because "you" felt the price is "justified". This is no one else's problem. Maruti honestly doesn't care about the dent in their perception, because the customer base of Jimny and any other model of theirs will NEVER overlap. Also, their exports are doing great - so problem solved for Maruti.

Originally Posted by arjab

Unfortunately the consumer laws in our country are not as strong as that of United States or Continental Europe. If this had happened elsewhere, by this time Maruti & Suzuki would have been facing a whole host of petitions and public interest litigations.

What customer protection is required here ? will there be a similar law from stopping the OEMs from jacking up the prices when demand picks up ? (Mahindra - hope you are reading )

Originally Posted by arjab

Way to go Maruti. You have shown your true colours as a so called "caring customer focused company".

They were never ever a " caring customer focused company", period. They're just a "reliable" OEM.

I know this a hard time for the folks who spent ~ 20- 25% more than what the general population "values" this car. I can only suggest you to take it to a off-road trail and have a blast with your family !

[Mu009]

Just booked ours today after months of waiting for exactly such discounts. It will be more or less a city car as it is replacing mom's 20 year old Alto 800 which was her daily and used as a beater by me (rare as my primary mode of transport is 2 wheels within the city).

To hopefully clarify questions around discounting for whomever is wondering, this is how it works:

0. Discount is not just on ready stock with dealer, it applies to factory despatches also. The offer is up to 15th as of now, but the dealership transparently said they expect an increase of up to 15 days, but that's obviously not guaranteed. That said, since booking amount is refundable and they are calling for an AT vehicle from factory (which has almost nil demand in Jabalpur), it is obvious that they are confident they can get it to me in time and/or offer will be extended. Both Nexa dealers here are hesitant to call for ATs and only one of them has just 1 bluish black 2024 in stock. This is to give you an idea of just what is possible in terms of stock availability and ordering. Also, while both dealers were chasing me(given my previous enquiries and firm interest), the hungrier dealership was the less popular Nexa dealership in the city. As per their sales GM, the main benefit is their bump in internal Maruti rating by selling a slow seller like the Jimny specifically through Maruti finance. So please also approach the slower Nexa dealership near you in case your first choice of dealership is dragging their heels.

1. Should be common knowledge by now, but discount on ex-showroom means, RTO charges will remain the same, however TCS will reduce. Most dealers will try to gyp you on the TCS difference, so be wary (~3k in this case).

2. Discount is 180k flat + 150k if maruti finance is availed. It's a no brainer then, even if you prefer to buy outright like we usually do.

3. You can close out the loan without penalty earliest in 2 months (after paying 2 EMIs), but only with a floating interest rate. Final interest rate will depend on your CIBIL score. That works out to about ~7.5k INR. This is with the minimum loan amount which is 3L.

4. If you take a loan of 5L and close in 2 months the same way, this delta comes out to 10k INR in our case. These amounts will vary slightly with your CIBIL scores as mentioned earlier. Since we haven't ever taken a loan, ours are on the higher side.

5. Anyway, this means effective final discount is ~3.2L.

6. If you take fixed interest rate, minimum pre-closure period without penalty is 1 year. That will obviously entail a higher effective final price.

7. Please check road tax in your case, my insurance with zero dep, consumables, rti, Key protect and Engine protect through Maruti is ~43k.

8. The only thing I negotiated further were the 4 accessories I wanted - mud flaps, floor mats, boot mat and car cover.

9. As per my understanding, this is a ~30k higher discount than even the best on 2023 stock in early 2024. And that too on fresh stock! You can wait for more, but even though this was relatively unplanned and is a little tight for me right now due to other circumstances, I jumped at this opportunity. I think this is about as good as it will get. At the very least, it won't ever go so much more that it pinches even the most tight-fisted person. Certainly not on fresh stock.

Hope this clarifies things for those in doubt. Please feel free to quote the message/PM in case of a lack of clarity, or if you require more details. I'll try to help out as best I can.

[NiInJa]

Oh man! 12 lakh for Jimny AT sounds sweet. I for one would have taken the plunge if it was possible.

I still remember a Nexa dealer in Pune riding on high horse when we went to check out the Jimny last year. The car was not even available then and the sales person was giving a very low price for my Ertiga with absolutely peanuts of a discount on the Jimny if I were to sell the car to them.

[vellatechie]

I believe many here were of the opinion back in December that Maruti should rejig the price permanently.

Maruti has not only lost customer loyalty of early adopters but also of the people who bought during the last few months. Not to forget Jimny as a brand is now dead in India.

[Dry Ice]

Maruti should probably just ditch the pretension of Jimny being a “premium” offering. Relaunch it at a better price through Arena, call it Gypsy+ or something, and be done with it.

Yes, they have eaten the humble pie before, haven’t they? Transformed a failed Versa to a successful Eeco?

[theAutomaniac]

Originally Posted by arjab

Maruti, as a company, has now lost all credibility, at least, with its exsiting Jimny owners base.
......
Way to go Maruti. You have shown your true colours as a so called "caring customer focused company".

What even made you think this bro?

Maruti offered a price and those who could afford it, bought it at the original price. Maruti saw that the pricing was ambitious and not many people are willing to pay that price, they reduced the pricing!
What exactly do you think is unfair in this?

The Hilux has been offered with a 10 lakh rupee discount since a long time, the Abarths were being sold at 2-3 lakh discounts in Fiat's last days, the Cruze was being offered with 4-5 lakh rupee discounts in 2017, and even some VRS245s were being offered with very high discounts. This heavy discounts story is pretty common with enthusiast focused machines.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Maruti should probably just ditch the pretension of Jimny being a “premium” offering. Relaunch it at a better price through Arena, call it Gypsy+ or something, and be done with it.

The problem is not with its name or price, problem is with the size and engine. While the small size and simple lightweight engine are core Jimny values, the same are the biggest hurdles in Jimny's sales chart journey. That said, it is high time that people give a break to carmakers! Not every car is meant to be a sales blockbuster. Sometimes, a car like the Jimny, Hilux, and Gurkha, should just exist to satiate its own niche customer. We have already seen how major brands like Thar have been ruined in the wake of getting popular among the mainstream crowd.

[Samba]

Let us do a step-by-step analysis of how Maruti goofed up with the Jimny.

They showed the car in the Jan 2023 Auto Expo, and started taking the bookings for the vehicle before revealing the price. Till June they got a decent number of bookings.
At that time the speculative price for the Jimny was that it should start from approximately Rs 9.99L on the road.

But once Maruti got a good number of bookings they got greedy and overpriced the car. The attitude of the Nexa dealers then was like take it or leave it. Even I was looking for the Jimny at that time. When I saw I needed to pay Rs 16.30L OTR to buy the Jimny in June/July last year, I paid the road tax for my Duster AWD and retained the Duster.

As we see everywhere, dealers stocked up the Jimny a lot, taking bookings on fake customer names to get the car allotted for them, so they could sell it by asking for a premium or make the customers buy compulsory accessories from them. But the money we earn at the end of the day is our hard-earned money. Seeing the pricing too close to the Thar many people simply backed off.

By September the sales came down and the dealers had unsold stock.

During December, MSIL realized that the number of 2023 manufactured unsold cars is huge and they suddenly gave a discount of 1-2 lakh rupees. Then the pricing was acceptable though not totally VFM. At that time many people including me bought the Jimny.

Then they suddenly announced from 2024 onwards the original pricing would be back, & it was heard that MSIL would send the car to the dealers only on booking.

So people who trusted Maruti again bought the car by paying full price from Jan to June.
During June the marketing team up MSIL realized they needed volume and they suddenly slashed the price by 3L.

Now people who bought this car in the first half of 2024 feel cheated! In the end, it is Maruti's product and they can even price it at Rs 25L and then give a discount of Rs 15L and bring the price down to 10L. They have every right to do it.

Now they are saying they will give this discount till the 15th of this month! Then people will again have to buy the Jimny by paying full price, and then again during the year's end Maruti will decide to throw in some discounts and the people who will buy in between will pay a few lacs more!

It's funny how in a year the same car was sold for 12L, 14L, and 16L! This can be a very good case study for the MBA students on how not to screw a product!

Jimny comes in only a petrol 4WD variant and this car is destined to sell less. It will never sell like a Fronx or Brezza. The target customers for Jimny are fewer & MSIL being a mass market player they are looking for volumes from Jimny too.

Their advertisement for this product was wrong too. They only highlighted the off-road part. They have never shown how this car can be used as a daily driver's car too!

Now the way they are giving discounts and bringing back the old price will screw up this product further. For god's sake, Maruti should admit their mistake and rework the pricing. Make the current discounted price the permanent price, and invest in proper ads showing the capabilities of this car other than the offroading part. Then slowly expect a decent increase in sales. 500-1000 units per month will be more than enough for this car. This car can never sell like a Thar. Thar has diesel, a 2WD, a convertible top, and a wow factor and in India, the Thar is a much more established brand. I have heard people commenting on the Jimny as mini Thar. This says a lot about how successful the Thar is in India.

A thorough rework of the pricing and fresh marketing is the need of the hour.
Plus few niggles such as the braking issue at higher altitudes, the scratch marks on the propeller shaft have been reported for a long time and MSIL is silent about it. This is what people do not expect from MSIL!

Why do people buy MSIL cars?

The car will be value for money.
Jimny without discount is not even close to this!

The car will provide a good resale value.
People who bought the Jimny for Rs 16L already lost 3-4L by a month!

The car will be niggle free.
Few niggles have been reported and Maruti did nothing to address that.

A few higher-ups from MSIL must have royally used their brains to think out of the box on how they can fleece the customers to make some quick profit. But in the end, they failed miserably, & they ruined the market value of a product that so many people wanted to buy for the past so many years! This needs special marketing skills!
A small tip - Learn how to set the initial pricing right and hike it with the increase in demand for the product from Mahindra!

[Highway_Nation]

We expect Japanese reliability and a "nothing can go wrong" theory from brands like Suzuki and Toyota. However, the brake issue in the automatic Jimny is stopping me from buying one. People buy a Jimny to explore the farthest corners of mountains. If the brakes do not function properly in its home ground, it jeopardizes the whole purpose of owning a Jimny.

[omar]

I had booked the Jimny on the day they had opened the bookings. When the price was announced, did not find it worth the price. Still test drove (an AT), to see if it was worth it. It was absolutely not. When the prices were slashed tried the MT. It was still not worth it.

I have a first gen Jazz which is more than a decade old now. Let me post a quick comparison, from my view:

Handling - Jazz
Speed - Jazz
Suspension - Jazz ( Jimny ride is quite bouncy)
Space - Jazz
Refinement - Jazz (the Jimny engine was loud and rough)
Off Road Capability - Jimny - No questions about it
Looks - I like the Jazz, but also like the Jimny
Road Presence - Jimny
Technology - Jimny

If the Jimny cannot beat a car, which is a decade old and worth not even 30% of the value, it simply does not make sense to get it. I am sure a lot of regular people have done this comparison and could not come to terms to justify the price.

The Thar simply appeals to a wider audience with its offerings. The Jimny simply does not. Suzuki could have hit it out of the park with great launch pricing. Their current discounted pricing is promising, but it is strange to see them revert back to the high prices regularly. They could have simply launched the 3 door at 9.99 lakhs. I am sure it would have sold units than the 5 door.

[blueberry]

Originally Posted by Mu009

As per my understanding, this is a ~30k higher discount than even the best on 2023 stock in early 2024. And that too on fresh stock!

Congrats on your booking.

You're right, the highest discounts in Mar'24 for a MY'23 vehicle was between 2.75-2.9L off ex-showroom. ( I got mine at 2.75L off)
But by this time, the availability of colours & variants were sparse.

3L plus discounts on a MY'24 new factory dispatch is incredibly sweet.

This is a quote from a Nexa dealer in Gurgaon today.
3.55L off Ex-showroom.

Basic kit is optional

[omar]

Originally Posted by blueberry

Congrats on your booking.

You're right, the highest discounts in Mar'24 for a MY'23 vehicle was between 2.75-2.9L off ex-showroom. ( I got mine at 2.75L off)
But by this time, the availability of colours & variants were sparse.

3L plus discounts on a MY'24 new factory dispatch is incredibly sweet.

This is a quote from a Nexa dealer in Gurgaon today.
3.55L off Ex-showroom.
Basic kit is optional

Does it include the Thunder kit now? The car was available last year, for around 3 lakhs off, with the kit. If it has been removed, then the difference in discount could just be the cost of the kit.

[blueberry]

Originally Posted by omar

Does it include the Thunder kit now? The car was available last year, for around 3 lakhs off, with the kit. If it has been removed, then the difference in discount could just be the cost of the kit.

In Dec'23, it was 2.5L discount + free thunder kit / 2.75L cash discount
In Mar'24, it was 2.75 to 2.9L cash discount. {No thunder kit}
Now (Jul'24), it is 3.55L cash discount. {No thunder kit}

[RijuC]

Originally Posted by Sk8r

Totally understand your frustration and honestly I expected a few more similar responses on seeing these discounts. But calling out auto journalists is uncalled for. What do you expect them to do ? Write articles that they should not be reducing the prices when the competition is battering them ?

Arjab's statement was regarding the silence of Auto Journalists, Social media automotive influencers and automotive channels on the technical issues and problems reported by the Jimny users and absolutely no response or resolution came from MSIL so far.

Originally Posted by arjab

And it is not that the product is exactly blemish free.
There have been multiple product related issues and all are very well documented, across different forms of media including this forum.

The major issues have already been reported in details and discussed in this Team-BHP forum. The brake issues were first reported in the month of August -September, 2023. Since then, Jimny users are facing a number of issues like propeller shaft rubbing against the cross member, failure of propeller shaft seal, low quality thin brake disc, inadequate braking system, rear suspension bottoming out, early failure of battery etc. I had an accident due to the inadequate braking of the Jimny.

Moreover, we are facing issues of common spare parts (not readily available in service centre) and untrained technical staff at NEXA service centres.