While the strike at
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd ( MSIL) has marred the company's festive sales numbers and dented its revenues, its rivals are notching up big gains with soaring sales graphs.
Competitors Toyota Motors, Volkswagen, General Motors and
Hyundai Motors India Ltd are taking over the market with their new launches.
Top cars in your budget: Rs 3-8 lakh With the waiting period for deliveries of the new Swift getting longer at nine to 10 months due to the strike at Maruti's plants, a large number of consumers have shifted to Volkswagen Polo, General Motor's Chevrolet Beat, Toyota Etios and Ford Figo. Maruti's competitors are cashing in on the situation by offering better deals to their potential customers.
Eon to set tone for 'car party' in India "Since the Maruti strike, sales of Volkswagen have increased considerably, especially of Polo, which has seen demand almost doubling," a Volkswagen dealer in West Delhi told Mail Today.
"The demand is more for the Polo diesel variant. This has added some cheer to the otherwise dull festive season. We expect more customers to switch over to Polo," he added.
Hyundai launches small car Eon And this was despite the difference in the prices between the diesel version of the new Swift and Polo.
Volkswagen sold 6,845 vehicles in September, 2011, a growth of 39 per cent, compared to 4,663 vehicles sold in September, 2010.
The growth was driven by the Polo and the Vento at 6,335 units.
According to various dealers, just the last week saw cancellations of about 3,000 bookings of the new Swift due to long waiting period. So with many options available in the market they are opting for other companies as well.
Due to disruption in production, bookings for the new Swift have piled up to cross the one lakh mark and the company's dealers have now stopped taking new bookings.
Another company which has emerged as a gainer from Maruti's miseries is General Motors.
"The firm has seen demand growing for both the petrol and diesel versions of its Chevrolet Beat. If the strike at Maruti Suzuki continues, sales (of Beat) may rise further," a Chevrolet dealer from South Delhi said.
General Motors India sold 5,261 units of Chevrolet Beat and 1,603 units of Chevrolet Spark in September 2011.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt Ltd sold 12,807 units during the month, more than double that of last year, thanks to its newly launched Etios sedan and Etios Liva small car.
For Hyundai, the launch of its entry-level car Eon couldn't have come at a more right time. The company which has packaged its car with many new features is all set to challenge Maruti Suzuki's small car Alto, which is the market leader in this segment.
Meanwhile, the labour problem at Maruti's Gurgaon and Manesar plants continue to fester with no resolution in sight.
The country's biggest carmaker has not been able to meet the festive demand due to the ongoing strike at its plant.
According to estimates, the total production loss for the company has been over 51,000 units.
The firm's domestic sales in September were 78,816 units, a drop of 17.2 per cent from 95,148 units sold in September, 2010.
Courtesy: Mail Today 
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