he Swift - announced Maruti Udyog Ltd in a series of ads recently - is readily available now. A deluge of orders after the May launch saw Maruti fall short on delivery and run up a huge backlog. Last month, it increased production by 30 per cent and waiting time is down to just a couple of days now from two to three months earlier.
"We surpassed our own expectations. After noticing the market trends in the particular price segment, which had been selling on an average 1,500 Hyundai Getz and around 200 Fiat Palios per month, we set 5,000 as the benchmark for Swift. But the demand ever since its launch was more than the supply," a company spokesperson pointed out. Maruti, which had been producing about 5,000 Swifts per month, stepped up the production to over 6,000 units. But couldn't the production have been increased earlier? "No. There are over 200 vendors involved in the supply of components, and you cannot tell them overnight to increase the production to meet the market demand. Increase and decrease of production has a cycle time, which has to be followed," the spokesperson said.
Maruti sold 6,278 units of the Swift in November alone, taking the total to nearly 35,000 units since its launch. The model, according to the spokesperson has seen the maximum sales (roughly 20 per cent) in the National Capital Region and is quite popular with the 30-40 age group. The Swift starts at Rs 3.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).... more