But bookings will continue: Maruti
Maruti Suzuki India, on Wednesday, said it had run out of stock of its two best selling models, Swift and DZire, which were produced at the Manesar plant where it had declared a lock-out following violence last week.
The company had, however, ruled out stopping bookings for these models.
“We do not have any stock of Swift and DZire at our factory. About 10,000 cars of both models are on transit, and that is the inventory at present,” company COO (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek told PTI.
Bookings to continue
Asked if the company would stop taking orders for these models, he said: “Our booking is going on, and we will not stop it. We have informed the dealers and customers about the situation. We tell the customers that this is the current situation (about the production at Manesar) and if even after that, they want to book the car, then it shows the strength of the two brands.”
Mr. Pareek was confident that the customers would remain loyal to the company. “During the strikes in last year also, we did not stop booking. Our rivals are still offering discounts to attract customers, but we are receiving huge response to our cars without any scheme even in our crisis period.”
He said at present Swift has a booking order of 55,000 units, while DZire has 65,000 bookings.
Keywords: Maruti Suzuki strike, Manesar plant
Instead of preening about the "brand strength" Maruti management should communicate clearly how (and if) other plants are gearing to take on the backlog challenge. There is absolutely no point in making such bravado filled corporate communication. There is nothing called absolute customer loyalty. Why should a customer wait 6-8 months for a car for heaven's sake, in this day and age of real choice. Some competitor WILL step into the vacuum and Maruti WILL lose sales. That is the truth on the ground. There is no further proof of the fragile nature of the illusion of "brand invincibility" than iPhone's recent sales in China.
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