Waiting period for Maruti models gets longer

As thestrike at Maruti Suzuki India's (MSI) Manesar plant continued for the 12th dayon Wednesday, waiting periods for diesel options of three models, Swift, DZiREand SX4, have gone up by up to one month.

Even before the strike , these models havebeen having waiting periods ranging between one to four months.

In the meantime, MSI said its sales thismonth will be impacted due to the production loss that stood at about 10,200units till Tuesday, valued at around Rs 510 crore.

Strike at Maruti plant enters 12th day

The Manesar plant manufactures compact carsSwift and A-Star and sedans DZiRE and SX4.

"We have extended the delivery periodof diesel variants of Swift and DZiRE models from four months to five monthsnow. Similarly, the delivery period of SX4 (diesel) has also been increasedfrom two months at present to three months," Ludhiana-based Stan Autosowner Naresh Malhotra said.

Expressing similar views on the strike'simpact on delivery period, Libra Auto's Pritpal Singh also said the waitingtime of diesel options of Swift and DZiRE have been extended to five monthsnow.

A senior executive from a dealer in theNational Capital said the delivery period for Swift Diesel has gone up to aboutfive months due to the impact of the strike.

A Mumbai-based dealer also confirmed thatthere has been an increase in the waiting period for diesel variants of modelssuch as Swift and DZiRe of about two weeks.

When contacted, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI)Managing Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek said: "Ofcourse, strike has increased the waiting period of the diesel versions of thethree cars."

He, however, said the waiting period hasgone up by only one to one-and-a-half week.

When asked about sales, Pareek said:"We usually do not produce more cars than the market demand. So, whateverloss in production we are witnessing, that will be the impact on sales in thismonth."

The company sells about 10,000-12,000 unitsof Swift, 8,000-10,000 units of DZiRE, 2,000-3,000 units of SX4 and 3,000-4,000units of A-Star every month, he added.

Dealers are also facing threat ofcancellation of booking by "disgruntled" customers.

"As of now we have not seen muchcancellation of orders by customers but those who have already booked areinsisting on delivery of their models on promised schedule," Malhotra ofStan Autos said.

Meanwhile, the company has also startedinforming its customers to bear with the inconvenience due to the strike.