The consequences are right here of the violence that took place a week back in the Manesar plant of Maruti. The production has halted post the lockout and now, the two best selling models, Swift and Dzire are out of stock. There are 10000 units of these cars which are in transit. However, the orders are coming in and the company has not stopped taking the orders. The customers seem to have lot of faith in the two brands and thus are ready to wait to own their dream. The company has in fact informed the dealers and the customers of the current situation. Still, there has been a good booking rate.
Currently, there are 55,000 Swift bookings and 65,000 Dzire bookings. Out of these almost 80 percent of the bookings are for the diesel variants which clearly reflects the demand for the diesel vehicles in the market. Its a backlog that the company has to clear and according to the company officials, once the production resumes, it would take almost four to six months to clear the backlog. The customers are told about the possible delay and only then does a customer go for a booking. The time is ripe for the competitors to pull the customers and they are indeed trying to lure the customers through various schemes. But, Maruti is still able to hold on the to the customers without any offers in this crisis situation. The credit would indeed go to its offerings- Swift and Dzire, which have been the most sought by the Indian customers.
The 2012 Swift DZire measures under 4 meters in length and uses the same platform as the new Swift. Prices start at 4.79 Lakhs for the Lxi Model. It has a boot-capacity of 316-liters, making it a compact sedan. It is powered by 1.2-litre petrol and diesel engines. The petrol DZire produces 86 BHP of peak power at 6000 RPM and 11.6 KGM of peak torque at 4000 RPM. The diesel on the other hand produces 74 BHP of peak power at 4000 RPM and 19.3 KGM of peak torque at 2000 RPM. Both these engines are mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox but the petrol DZire also gets the option of a 4-speed automatic in VXi trim (along with ABS). The ARAI certified mileage for the petrol manual is 19.1 kmpl, petrol automatic is 17.4 kmpl, while the diesel DZire returns an impressive 23.4 kmpl. The fuel tank capacity is the same as the Swift at 42-litres, while the turning radius is just 4.8 meters.
Source – Economic Times