Maruti Jimny gathers over 150 bookings a day; deliveries begin

Maruti Suzuki announced the prices for the Jimny on June 7, with the base variant priced at Rs 12.74 lakh, and going up to Rs 15.05 lakh (ex-showroom) for the top-spec automatic variant. Bookings for the Jimnny commenced since its debut at the Auto, and by launch, Maruti had already racked up over 30,000 orders. And while deliveries have commenced in full swing, Maruti says the demand for the retro-styled off-roader seems to be steadily picking up.

1. Entry-level Jimny sees more bookings
2. City buyers prefer automatic variants
3. Current waiting period at around 7 months

Jimny has more value proposition than Thar, says Maruti Suzuki 

According to Shashank Srivastava, executive director of Sales & Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India, the Jimny was clocking around 92 bookings a day before the prices were announced. Since the launch, the SUV has been gathering around 151 bookings daily, which suggests that the acceptability of the SUV has gone up.

Srivastava further said that even at a starting price of Rs 12.74 lakh, the Jimny has more value than the Mahindra Thar 4X4, which starts at Rs 13.87 lakh. The Jimny comes with 4WD as standard on all variants, and it has five doors instead of the three on the Thar at the moment. Additionally, the Jimny gets six airbags as standard, while all variants of the Thar get two airbags only. 

He added that at Rs 14.89 lakh, the Jimny petrol automatic 4WD is cheaper by around 1.3 lakh than the Thar LX 4WD automatic, which costs Rs 16.10 lakh. Srivastava also said that the Jimny is primarily being seen as a second or a third vehicle by most buyers, and that not many are buying the SUV as their primary vehicle.

Jimny waiting period stretches to around 7 months

Thanks to a strong order book even before the price announcement, the Jimny currently has a waiting period of around 30-35 weeks at most locations. Dealers tell us that the major chunk of bookings is for the entry-level Alpha variant, a preferred choice for buyers who want to customise their SUV according to their taste. The automatic-gearbox-equipped units of the Jimny are also seeing decent traction, especially from cities like Mumbai.