Dehradun, November 21
Car-makers, rammed in by the global economic downturn, have suddenly found new clients to woo. And that too by their thousands, thanks to an employees-retention initiative by the country's premier oil company, Oil and Natural Gas Commission.
ONGC has revised the soft loans facility, among other perks, for its staff who number as many as 23,000 across the country. They can now can avail of car loans up to Rs 8 lakh. The Dehradun offices of the company has about 1,700 employees.
Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) has prepared a special package for about 1,300 staffers who come under Rs 6-lakh loan slab.
They have been offered the maximum discount on the SX4 models of India's largest car-maker. Officers are eligible for a loan in five slabs — from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 8 lakh.
While Maruti is offering an unprecedented discount of Rs.82,000 on SX4 models, Honda Motors has a competitive discount of Rs 74,000 and Rs 42,000 on Honda civic and new Honda City models.
The ONGC loan facility for buying vehicles is not new. But, to shore up sales in dismal economic conditions, this is for the first time that leading car manufacturers felt the need to put together special packages exclusively for ONGC employees.
“In testing times, this is a God-send opportunity for us to maximize sales,” says the email sent by the Maruti to its dealers. Unlike earlier, all cars purchased under the scheme will be invoiced in the name of the ONGC instead of the individual employee.
“There is no directive from the company to buy a particular brand of car. Employees are free to make their choice. That, perhaps, is the reason that car companies have started sale campaign
that too in an unusually aggressive manner,” said Anil Raja Vijan, head corporate communications, ONGC.
Both Maruti and Honda are going all out to woo the buyers but the former is more aggressive.
“We are selling about 220 cars a month. Considering the number of ONGC
employees, the stakes are very high for us as it would mean achieving our half-yearly target in one go,” said A R Rajan, sales manager, Rohan Motors, the authorized Maruti dealer, which, for the first time, conducted a survey to check the buyers’ preference.
Harpreet Singh, manager of Divine Honda, the only authorized dealer of Honda Motors in Uttarakhand, hopes to strike it rich given the high brand value of Honda even though their discount is less than that of Maruti.
They organized a two-day camp for the ONGC employees at Tel Bhavan here. Similarly, Rohan Motors held a test-drive campaign of all models of Maruti for the employees.
A well-oiled campaign, if
you will.
