The Maruti Vitara Brezza compact SUV, launched on March 8 this year, has set the cash registers ringing for the country’s leading carmaker.Bookings for the Vitara Brezza currently stand at 30,000 units with about 5,000 having been delivered since March 25, when the compact SUV first reached retail outlets. At that time, the waiting period was in the range of 6-8 weeks as reported by our sister concern Autocar Professional.

 

Following the compact SUV’s entry into showrooms, potential customer footfalls have risen substantially across the country. The latest status is that the waiting period for all bookings from March 29 have climbed up, with the wait for the top-end ZDi+ D and ZDi+ editions spiralling upto five months.

 

Overall, about 50 percent of the bookings are for the top-end models, according to dealerships in south Delhi.

 

At present, the waiting periods for Vitara Brezza’s seven variants rangefrom 16-17 weeks for the LDi and LDi (O) to 11-12 weeks for the VDi and 12-13 weeks for the VDi (O).The ZDi+ and ZDi+ (D), which cost around Rs 10 lakh, have the longest wait at 18-20 weeks.

 

Another interesting phenomenon is that about half the buyers of the Vitara Brezza have shifted their bookings from the LDi or VDi variants to the top-end ZDi and ZDi+ trims, once they took a closer look at the vehicle in dealerships.

 

The ZDi’s dual-tone colour palette and floating roof along with other features has been a big crowd-puller.

 

 

Production being ramped up

 

Maruti officials say current production of the Vitara Brezza stands at 8,000 units a month but that demand is growing at a faster pace, creating a mismatch in the demand-supply chain. In February, the carmaker’s Gurgaon and Manesar manufacturing facilities had stopped production for a few days due to the agitation in Haryana. Given that the two plants together produce around 5,000 vehicles a day, it is estimated the carmaker would have lost production of around 15,500 vehicles during these days.

 

With the Vitara Brezza being produced at the Gurgaon plant, it would have also faced some delays in production that will be ramped up in a phased manner.

 

RC Bhargava, chairman of Maruti Suzuki, said, “We had planned for around 1,00,000 units annually and are on track to reach that figure. For scaling up, vendors also have to deliver at such short notice. If there are about 200 suppliers and even 1 or 2 don’t supply on time, production will be affected,” he admitted.

 

In the meantime, the carmaker is examining how fast the ramp up in production capacities can be undertaken at the suppliers' end.   

 

Maruti Suzuki is experiencing a similar situation in the case of the Baleno hatchback that is clocking 6-9 months' waiting. The car's production schedule had been planned to deliver 10,000 units for the domestic market and 4,000 units for exports per month. But demand is outstripping supply. Maruti clearly has a problem of plenty.