Maruti Suzuki launched the Celerio earlier this year and the hatchback received a terrific response. The Celerio has been selling in very good numbers and it commands a significant waiting period for most models. The waiting period ranges anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Maruti currently offers seven variants of the little hatchback – LXi, LXi AMT, VXi, VXi AMT, ZXi, ZXi (O) and CNG. Since the vehicle’s launch in February, Maruti has received 58,000 bookings out of which approximately 25,000 bookings are for AMT variants. The company was expecting the AMT variants to comprise of 25% of the total sales but the current demand stands at 43%.
Officials from Maruti Suzuki have now stated that they are hiking production of the AMT variants of the Celerio to reduce waiting periods. When the vehicle was launched, its monthly production stood at 4500 units which has now been increased to 6500 units. 22000 manual variants and 7000 AMT models have already been delivered to customers so far. The main reason for the high waiting period is that the company is facing supply constraints from Magneti Marelli which produces the AMT gearboxes. The Italian manufacturer will soon shift its production facility to Manesar itself.
The waiting period for the vehicle will now be around 4 months for the AMT variants and none for some of the manual variants. The Maruti Celerio AMT sells in good numbers since it offers buyers the convenience of an automatic gearbox at only a marginally higher cost than the manual transmission. Combining this with good fuel efficiency, it is not at all surprising that the Celerio sells in so good numbers. The Celerio is priced between Rs. 3.96-5.03 lakhs (ex-showroom, Mumbai) and it competes with the Hyundai i10 and Honda Brio.
