4 car models see demand outstrip supply

Swift’s two versions, i20, Xylo have long waiting periods.

The passenger vehicle market may be slowing, but Maruti Suzuki’s Swift Dzire sedan and Swift hatchback, Mahindra & Mahindra’s (M&M’s) utility vehicle Xylo and Hyundai’s i20 have long waiting lists that have their manufacturers struggling to increase production.

Xylo, the multi-utility vehicle (MUV) (base model is priced Rs 6.48 lakh ex-showroom, Delhi) that was launched in January this year, has a waiting period of over two months. Despite M&M raising pricesby Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 about a month ago, sales have not been dented, say company executives. The company had initially set a production target of 120 units a day; unprecedented demand has forced it to raise this to 130 to 135 units per day.

“The top-end variant is seeing the maximum surge in demand,” said Pawan Goenka, president (automotive sector), M&M. Xylo has even eaten into the share of M&M’s sports- utility vehicles Scorpio and MUV Bolero. About a quarter of buyers who had planned to buy Scorpio or Bolero booked Xylo, said the company.

Maruti Suzuki’s Dzire, the sedan version of the popular Swift hatchback that was launched in March last year, has a waiting period of three to four months for both versions (the diesel variant costs Rs 5.47 lakh and petrol Rs 4.61 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi).

“Initially, there were some constraints on availability of engines. Those are over and we are raising capacity. But demand has also increased,” said RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki, adding, “It is difficult to say if we will have spare capacity to increase production further.”

The company initially produced 3,000 Swift DZires a month but had to quickly scale up to 7,000 as demand grew. Bookings, however, crossed 10,000 vehicles a month.

“We have continuously scaled up production for Swift DZire but the demand is still far ahead. The car, which is promoted as a vehicle that meets all aspirational needs, will continue to see healthy growth in demand even in such a downturn,” said Mayank Pareek, executive officer (sales and marketing), Maruti Suzuki.

About 65 per cent demand for Swift DZire is for the diesel variant.

Maruti’s Swift hatchback has a waiting period of over three months in most markets, with the diesel variant being the most in demand. Company executives said they were producing over 9,000 units a month but were booking about 11,000. The petrol version costs Rs 3.99 lakh and diesel Rs 4.67 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Hyundai had priced the i20 at a steep Rs 4.79 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) when it launched it in December last year and did not expect to sell more than 1,000 units a month. Bookings however, have ranged from 2,000 to 2,200 cars every month.

“Initially we had a waiting list of 60 days but this has come down to 45 days after we increased production. However, we had not anticipated this response for a car that was considered expensive in its category,” said a company spokesperson.

Hyundai says that it has been able to increase production to around 1,500 a month — which is around 7 per cent of monthly production — by juggling the production of different models.