Dealers panic, push vehicle sales
`7,500 - `15,000: Discounts being offered by showrooms 7,300 temporary registrations for a day in TS as against average of 3,800 Greens welcome move, warn of bottlenecks in implementation
Following the ban imposed by the Supreme Court of India on sale and registration of BS-III vehicles, automobile dealers are offering discounts of between `7,500 and `15,000 and other benefits like free registration and insurance to anyone who will buy the old vehicles.
The apex court on Wednesday banned the sale and registration of all vehicles not complying with Bharat Stage-IV emission standards from April 1, 2017 and there is only one day left for dealers to clear their stock.
President of the AP and Telangana Automobile Dealers’ Association, Y. Rama Koteswara Rao, said two-wheeler dealers in the state will be badly hit since they have inventory of nearly 27,000 vehicles. “Last year, the government banned sale and registration of BS-III cars and that led to less stockpiling of that category of four-wheelers in the state. Most of the two-wheeler dealers have large stocks. They announced special discounts to clear the stock before Friday,” he said.
Two-wheeler majors Hero MotoCorp and Honda Motorcycle announced huge discounts early on Thursday. Hero is offering `8,000 flat discount on HF Deluxe and Splendor+ vehicles and `10,000 off on Glamour and Passion models. On Hero scooters there is a discount of `14,000. Honda announced discounts of `7,500 to `15,000 on some models.
Figures from the transport department till Thursday evening 7 pm show that 7,300 temporary registration certificates were generated by two-wheeler dealers across the state against the average of 3,800. “Dealers will generate temporary registrations till 10 pm. Based on current statistics, the number will rise to 2,000 more,” an official said.
Another official said that there was no clarity about ‘registration’ in the SC order meant temporary registration or permanent. “As per the Motor Vehicle Act, after generating a temporary registration, the motorist will have 30 days time for a permanent registration. We are waiting for clarity on whether permanent registrations for the vehicles registered temporarily before March 31, 2017 should be done or not,” the official said.