A new small car from Maruti never fails to make noise in our country. Launched at the Auto Expo 2014, the new Maruti Celerio was one of the most awaited introductions from the company's stables. After the recent announcement of excise duty cuts and the subsequent lowering of prices by car manufacturers, the Celerio manual transmission range starts from Rs 3.76 lakh while the automatic transmission variants starts at Rs 4.14 lakh (all prices, ex-showroom, Delhi). With such a low price tag, the new Maruti Celerio is the cheapest automatic car one can buy in India.
The Maruti Celerio automatic claims to be as efficient as the manual variant while retailing for only around Rs 40,000 more than the manual transmission variant. Needless to say, the Celerio AMT is drawing a lot of buyers to Maruti's showrooms across the country. Maruti Suzuki even claimed that the Celerio is receiving over 1,000 bookings on a daily basis. But the attractive and affordable pricing has resulted in an unexpected problem for the carmaker.
Our sources tell us that around 80 percent of customers in metros are asking for the Maruti Celerio AMT. The market demand for the automatic Celerio is way above the supply capabilities of Maruti and its vendors. Maruti did not expect the Celerio automatic variants to be so successful and now, it may struggle to supply the car. The manufacturer has now reportedly asked its dealers to push the Celerio manual transmission variants more that the Celerio AMT trims.