As if the high fuel cost and interest rates were not enough, long waiting period is proving another deterrent for car buyers, who are faced with unrealistic waiting periods of between six to nine months, especially for
diesel cars. For Hyundai's new Verna the waiting period is eight months and for the diesel version the waiting period is nine to ten months, much to the dismay of customers.
In many cases, dealers of
Hyundai Verna and Maruti Suzuki Swift have begun refusing to take booking saying the demand is far higher than the supply. According to Arvind Saxena, director, marketing and sales, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), "There is already an order backlog of 20,000 units and the demand is just going up. The company is trying to clear the backlogs." At present, the company is producing about 4,000 units of Hyundai Verna Fluidic every month.
The same is case for Maruti Suzuki Swift. For the diesel variant of its newly launched Swift model, the waiting period is between seven to eight months. The production loss due to labour problem at the Manesar plant is further adding to the waiting period. While the company has total bookings for about 90,000 units it is able to produce only 620 cars per day at its Manesar plant. The company is also facing delay in the production of its SX4 model.
Petrol vs diesel car: The rich win "We are trying our best to increase the production and reduce the waiting period so that customers get their cars delivered on time," a Maruti Suzuki spokesman said. At Toyota Motors, there is a waiting period of over four months for the diesel variant of the Toyota Innova. The diesel variants of Etios, Liva Toyota Corolla Altis have the waiting periods of six to eight weeks.
However, the loss of these companies is the gain for General Motors and Volkswagen. With a waiting period of about six to eight weeks for its diesel cars, many Hyundai Verna customers are switching over to Volkswagen Vento, which has seen a surge in bookings in the last ten days.
Even with higher price range, Volkswagen Polo has also been able to attract many prospective buyers of Maruti Swift. "We have seen a huge surge in enquiry in the past few days. We are trying to keep the waiting period of about four to six weeks and that is clicking with the customers who are fed up with long waiting periods. Certainly sales numbers are increasing," a Volkswagen dealer from West Delhi said. Even General Motors' Chevrolet Beat is getting good response with its low waiting period and discount offers.
"I was planning to go for Hyundai Verna. But the dealer said that I have to wait for nine months. Waiting of four to six weeks is okay but nine months is crazy when I am paying for it," Rakesh Malhotra, a senior bank executive said.
Courtesy: Mail Today
For the diesel variant of its newly launched Swift model, the waiting period is between seven to eight months. 
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