Why Are Best Selling Volkswagen Virtus And Skoda Slavia Sedans Going At 2.5 Lakh Discounts?

The Volkswagen Virtus is India’s best selling full-sized C-Segment sedan, running rings around the competition – read Honda City, Hyundai Verna and Maruti Ciaz. The car does a little over 2,000 units on average every month and October 2024 saw it hit its best ever monthly sales of 2,351 units. Now, if the Skoda Slavia’s (a badge engineered version of the Virtus) sales are to be added, the European sedan twins are doing about 4,000 units a month, which is quite substantial indeed. More so in a market that has shown a big lurch towards SUVs. So, why is the Volkswagen Virtus selling at discounts of 2.5 lakh despite strong sales performance? And it’s not the Virtus alone that’s getting this discount. Even stablemate Skoda Slavia is getting discounts of upto Rs. 2.5 lakh. What’s going on?

Let’s break it down!

Sometime in the middle of this year, Volkswagen and Skoda begun offering 6 airbags as standard on the Virtus and Slavia. Previously, 6 airbags were standard only on the top end trims with lower trims getting only 2 airbags. Most buyers – now more conscious about safety thanks to more awareness – began demanding 6 airbags in their cars, and this meant that both Skoda and Volkswagen dealers were stuck with lower trims of the cars that offered only 2 airbags.

It’s November now, and in no time, 2024 will change over to 2025. Dealers who have leftover stock of the twin airbag equipped Volkswagen Virtus and Skoda Slavia are under pressure to clear stock. This has prompted them to offer hefty discounts of up to Rs. 2.5 lakh on older stock (2 airbag models) of the Virtus and Slavia to clear stock before they have to take a further hit.

Once 2025 arrives, 2024 model year cars will lose value as most customers prefer buying cars manufactured in the latest model year. This has to do with 2 key reasons. 1. Resale value of newer model year cars will be better if the customer wants to sell it in say 3-4 years. 2. Many customers feel that a car lying around in the stockyard for many months may not be mechanically/aesthetically perfect, prompting them to insist for cars that are manufactured more recently.

So, should you buy the twin airbags equipped Volkswagen Virtus or Skoda Slavia selling at the attractive 2.5 lakh rupee discount?

Well, why not, especially when you can save a substantial 2.5 lakh rupees? A lot of car buyers have budget constraints and these discounts may actually make the Virtus and Slavia – two very solidly built cars fall within their budgets. For such buyers, the discounted old stock of the Virtus and Slavia makes eminent sense.

Then there’s the matter of driving itself. While more airbags are always better so far as safety is concerned, a car equipped with two airbags isn’t something to be scoffed at. Especially cars as well built as the Virtus and Slavia. While passive safety offered by the additional 4 airbags is definitely higher than that offered by 2 airbags, there’s no such thing as 100 % safety.

By following safe driving practices and practicing defensive driving techniques, one can greatly minimize the chances of getting into a crash. On the other hand, driving stupidly can still cause loss of life and limb, even in cars equipped with 6 airbags or more. Get the drift? If you’re someone confident about driving safely and defensively, you can actually get by with just 2 airbags in most crash situations. At the end of the day, it’s a call that you have to take.

I want 6 airbags but discounts too! Any hope for me?

Well there is. Volkswagen dealers are selling the 6 airbag equipped Virtus models at 1.6 lakh rupees off. If you’re a Skoda fan, the Slavia is also available at a substantial 1.4 lakh rupees off. Again, these discounts on these popular cars have to do with multiple reasons.

1. The great Indian festive season has come to an end, which means that car buying will slow down substantially in November and December – two of the leanest months of the year. So, dealers are under pressure to push sales.

2. Dealers are also wary of getting stuck with leftover stock of 2024 model year cars, which in 2025 will find much fewer takers. So, they’ll have to offer much higher discounts to push 2024 model year cars once 2025 arrives. To make sure that they clear as much stock as possible, dealers are lining up attractive discount offers.

Buying a 2024 car in 2025: Wise or unwise?

Again, it depends. If you’re someone who changes cars frequently (say once every 3-4 years), buying a fresh 2025 model year car at the beginning of the year will ensure that you won’t take a big depreciation hit when you sell. On the other hand, if you’re someone who keeps your car for 7-10 years (which is the ideal way to approach car buying and ownership), one or two years’ difference in model year will hardly make a difference say 10 years from now when you decide to sell your car.

Buying a car during the year-end has its advantages though. Dealers will dangle attractive discounts on most cars except really high demand models. You also have the option of waiting for just one or two more months before these year-end discounts on previous-model year cars will increase substantially. So, the car market will suddenly look like a buyers market, at least for 2-3 months. Bargain hunters can have a good time, and save a lot of money, sometimes running into lakhs.

Should I buy a car that’s been lying around in a dealer stockyard for months?

You can, provided you do your due diligence. Due diligence, here means making sure that the pre-delivery inspection (PDI) of the car is done thoroughly. While dealers have a manufactured prescribed process of doing (PDI) before delivering cars to customers, it’s always a good practice to do your own PDI. It’s quite simple, and here’s how you can do this.

Then, there’s the issue of flood damaged cars. In the past years, we’ve seen dealer stockyards getting flooded, submerging hundreds if not thousands of cars. So, you’ll have to do your research and figure out where your dealer’s stockyard is, and if it has been under water in recent times.

Assuming that you do your own PDI pre-purchase, and also ensure that the dealer stockyard wasn’t flooded when your car was being stored, it’s quite safe to buy a car that’s been lying around in a dealer stockyard. Remember, you have a full manufacturer warranty when you buy our car, and this warranty kicks in from the day of purchase, not from the day when the car was received by the dealer.