Maruti, ORIX Auto join hands to launch subscription model in Hyderabad

Maruti Suzuki subscribe allows a customer to use a brand new car without actually owning it by paying an all-inclusive monthly fee that covers maintenance and insurance for the complete tenure

New Delhi: The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Tuesday said it has launched vehicle subscription programme for individual customers in Hyderabad and Pune in partnership with ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services.

Under this initiative with ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services India, a subsidiary of Japan’s ORIX Corporation, Maruti Suzuki Subscribe allows a customer to use a brand new car without actually owning it by paying an all-inclusive monthly fee that covers maintenance and insurance for the complete tenure, MSI said in a statement.

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The auto major has already launched the initiative in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru. The company’s subscription programme offers the customers a wide range of new cars – Swift, Dzire, Vitara Brezza and Ertiga from Arena dealerships and Baleno, Ciaz and XL6 from Nexa outlets, MSI said.

Maruti Suzuki Subscribe comes with features including flexible tenure, zero down payment, registration and insurance, and complete maintenance, MSI Executive Director (Marketing and Sales) Shashank Srivastava said.

The company is overwhelmed with customer response in the first few weeks of pilot launch and received over 5,000 enquiries, he added. “Progressively, we aim to offer Maruti Suzuki Subscribe in 40-60 cities in the next 2-3 years,” Srivastava noted.

Maruti Suzuki Subscribe with private registration in the name of the subscriber comes with subscription tenure options of 24, 36 and 48 months, as per customer’s choice. Customers need to pay a monthly subscription charge as low as starting Rs 15,479 (including taxes) for Swift Lxi in Hyderabad and Rs 15,354 (including taxes) in Pune for a tenure of 48 months, the auto major said.

After the completion of subscription tenure, the customer can also opt to upgrade vehicle, extend, or buy the car at market price, it added. “Subscription is clearly emerging as a great new channel for customers to drive their preferred Maruti Suzuki vehicles. ORIX India and Maruti Suzuki have been working closely on this initiative over the last couple of months and we have witnessed an increased level of excitement and traction in the cities we have launched in the last 2-3 months,” ORIX India MD and CEO Sandeep Gambhir said.

How the subscription model works?

The car is owned by a leasing company, which also takes care of maintenance and insurance. Fuel expenses have to be borne by subscribers and the car can be taken on lease for up to 48 months. The subscription is available on Baleno, Ciaz and XL6 from the Nexa and on Dzire and Swift from the Arena.

For instance, if a Baleno Zeta model with manual transmission is taken on lease for a 18 month term, one has to pay Rs 26,876 per month. For an automatic version, the rent is Rs 30,982 per month. So the total paid for this 18 month tenure will be Rs 4.83 lakh and 5.57 lakh respectively.

For the same variants, the rent for 24 month, will be Rs 26,000 per month for Zeta manual transmission and Rs 29,000 per month for the automatic transmission. In these cases, the subscribers pay Rs 6.24 lakh and Rs 6.96 lakh towards rent for the manual and automatic variants respectively for a 24 month period.

Once the tenure is over, the car has to be returned to the company. There is a security deposit that is roughly equal to two EMIs. If the subscriber wants to buy, the company will sell it at prevailing market prices (after accounting for depreciation). The leasing model works out costlier than outright purchase of car. However, it works for those who are staying here for a temporary period and would dispose their car while leaving or those who want to upgrade to new models more frequently. The rent paid towards the car can be shown as expenses while filing the IT returns.

Additional kilometre

The distance to be travelled in one year of the subscription is capped at 15,000 km. The additional distance drove after this will be charged Rs 3.5 to Rs 7.5 per kilometer, varying with the car model.

Documents needed

Pan, Aaadhar/ address proof are needed.