Due to the acute shortage of chips, the production of car companies has been affected and as a result of this, car buyers have to wait a lot during the high demand wedding season.
Wedding season is about to start and in such a situation, if you are planning to buy your new favorite car, then you may have to wait for it. In fact, due to the acute shortage of chips, the production of car makers has been affected and as a result of this, car buyers have to wait a lot in the high demand season. Interactions with dealers and company officials indicate that there is a waiting period of months for popular models like Mahindra XUV700, Thar, Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos and Maruti Suzuki Baleno.
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Why is the delivery getting delayed?
Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India told FE Online that post-Covid-19, demand has increased due to increase in bookings from rural markets as well. However, due to supply issues, production has been affected, as a result, customers have to wait a long time for delivery.
Vijay Nakra, CEO, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra said that the prevailing geo-political tensions and the COVID lockdown in different countries globally have created a problem of global semiconductor shortages and affected the supply chain. “We are continuously working on measures to develop new supply sources and address the problem of spot purchase of ICs, multi-sourcing of components and semiconductor supply,” Nakra said.
“There is a minimum waiting period of 2-3 months for cars,” FADA President Vinkesh Gulati told FE. Since the top-end variants are usually more popular, customers have to wait longer for these variants. Currently, Maruti has 2,85,000 bookings as compared to 1,74,000 in the corresponding period last year.
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What is the waiting period for different cars
M&M has a waiting period of over 18 months for the XUV700, while there is a waiting period of around eight months for the Thar. Buyers may have to wait more than nine months for the top-end diesel variants of the Creta and more than 2-4 months for the Maruti Suzuki models. According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the deliveries of Tata Motors electric cars are expected to happen 2-3 months after booking.
In the Delhi-NCR region alone, there is a waiting period of around 6-8 weeks for Baleno and Ciaz and 6-18 weeks for Vitara Brezza. Hyundai Motor India, the country’s second largest PV manufacturer, currently has around 110,000 booking bookings. Depending on the variant, the waiting period for the Hyundai i20 is 4-15 weeks in Delhi-NCR and 6-8 weeks for the Verna. Apart from this, customers have to wait for 6-8 weeks for Venue and 25-47 weeks for Creta. According to FADA’s Gulati, “There are 120-130 bookings for every 100 cars being produced. Unless automakers increase their capacity, this problem will remain.
(Article: Vikram ChaudharyVarun Singh)