Are special edition cars really exclusive or just marketing gimmicks?

The Indian car market is one of the most diverse and interesting automobile spaces in the world. Every year, during the festive season, which spans from September to November, the Indian car landscape sees the introduction of a host of special edition cars, in both the mass-market segment as well as in the luxury category as well. These special edition cars come adding more colour to the automaker's lineup.

Right ahead of the start of this year's festive season, several automakers including Jeep, Skoda, Renault, Nissan, Audi, MG and Mercedes-Benz have launched their respective special edition cars in India. While these special edition models come as limited edition iterations of their standard versions, they get certain cosmetic updates and new features to build up the excitement. The main aim of the automakers to launch these special edition cars is to capitalise on the positive consumer sentiment during the festive season resulting in a sales boost.

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Renault launched the Urban Night special edition for its Kiger, Triber and Kwid models in India last month, with 300 units of each slated to be produced. These Urban Night special edition iterations are based on the top-end trim of the respective models. They come wearing a special black shade along with some cosmetic upgrades over the standard models like silver-finished skid plates, puddle lamps and ambient lighting.

For example, let's take the Renault Triber Urban Night special edition model, which is based on the top-end trim of the MPV. The standard RXZ manual trim is priced at ₹822,500 (ex-showroom), while the RXZ AMT is priced at ₹874,500 (ex-showroom). On the other hand, the Triber Urban Night MT is priced at ₹837,499 (ex-showroom) and the AMT version is available at ₹889,499 (ex-showroom). This means the Urban Night special edition of Triber comes at a premium of ₹14,999 compared to their respective manual and AMT standard RXZ versions.

While this was just one example, the special edition cars usually come at a premium over their respective standard iterations. No wonder, the special edition cars with all their glittering graphics and other cosmetic updates come as distinctive models compared to the standard versions. However, mechanically or even on the feature front as well, they come the same as their regular versions. Hence, the question, should you buy a special edition car just to stand apart in the crowd?

Speaking on this, Puneet Gupta, Director of S&P Global Mobility, said that these special or limited edition cars help customers get a value proposition and the OEMs push more retail numbers. “India is a country with different cultures, different tastes, different age groups, different needs and different budgets. So OEMs launch limited edition models and serve these customers. These limited editions are targeted and also help customers get a value proposition and OEMs push more retail," Gupta said.

Pankaj Dubey, former national business head of Yamaha Motor India, believes that the special edition cars are an attempt from the OEMs to just boost sales and churn higher revenue. “Special edition cars represent a strategic approach by companies to command higher premiums from customers, enticing them with emotionally appealing features," said Dubey.

Avik Chattopadhyay, former head of marketing, product planning and PR at Volkswagen India, differs from this opinion and believes that these special edition cars are mere marketing gimmicks. “As almost all special editions are merely cosmetic, they actually add no value to the buyer. Only when the edition is truly special in its benefit orientation, does it become worthwhile. In India hardly any automaker has tried mechanical modifications to create a truly special edition. That seems to be too much work for the designers and engineers," he said.

If we see the special edition cars launched in the Indian market over the last few weeks, most of the cosmetic updates in them can be both conceived and executed by the dealers of the respective OEMs. At times, that special touch can be given to the respective models at lower costs compared to the price the OEMs are mentioning for those special edition cars.