Maruti compensates early bird S-Cross buyers

Thank you to Samrat Chaudhari for these images! Heartfelt gratitude for sharing them with other enthusiasts.

Maruti may sit atop the Indian automotive industry in terms of market share, but the company isn't taking its rank for granted. Apart from introducing new models, the company is working to maintain customer loyalty as well.

The Maruti Suzuki S-Cross was launched in August last year, but was met with a lukewarm response. Before the Baleno, the only car sold through Maruti's NEXA network was the S-Cross and while many customers did buy the car, the relatively weak response drove NEXA dealers into offering massive discounts, which ranged from Rs. 90,000 to over Rs. 2 lakh for the 1.6L S-Cross (DDiS 320) and from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 66,000 for the 1.3L S-Cross (DDiS 200).

This of course, came as a disappointment to many of the 'early bird' customers, who not only paid more money, but would also lose a lot in resale value. Now, it looks like Maruti is offering a compensation to make up for it. 

Samrat Chaudhari received a cheque for Rs. 90,000/- and a 2 year / 20,000 km premium MCP (maintenance cost protect) package / extended warranty from NEXA, for buying his 1.6L S-Cross (Alpha variant) before the price correction. BHPian pannags also received the free extended warranty for his S-Cross as it was purchased before the prices were dropped.

Such incidents are rare, but not unheard of. In 2014, Suzuki Two-Wheelers cut prices of the slow-selling Inazuma by Rs. 1 lakh and even paid the difference between the old and new price back to the first customers. Contrarily, Honda had cut prices of the previous generation Jazz by around Rs. 1.5 lakh in 2011, but offered no compensation to customers who bought it at the original price.