Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Wednesday said that it has run out of stock of its two best selling models - Swift and DZire - which are produced at the Manesar plant, where it has declared lockout following violence last week.
"We do not have any stock of Swift and DZire at our factory. About 10,000 cars of both the models are on transit and that is the inventory at present," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chief Operating Officer (Marketing and Sales) Mayank Pareek said.
The company, however, ruled out stopping bookings for these models. "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," said Pareek.
Maruti runs out of stock of Swift, DZire but bookings to continue
Pareek was confident that customers will 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. Out of these, 80 per cent are for the diesel variants. There is no order backlog for SX4 and A-Star models, which are also produced at the Manesar plant.
Asked how long it could take to clear the backlog, Pareek said: "Assuming that production starts today, it will take us four to six months to clear the backlog depending upon the variants."
During the April-June quarter this year, MSI had sold over 56,000 units of Swift, while DZire had recorded sales of about 47,000 units. Pareek also ruled out shifting production of Swift and DZire to Gurgaon plant.
Asked when the production is likely to start at Manesar, Pareek said: "We are optimistic about the situation. Our people are working very hard to restore normalcy."
Dealers on the other hand are pushing customers to buy cars before stocks run out. "As of now we have stock and the company has not asked us to stop bookings. But as we all know the factory is shut, after next week we may run out of stock, so if you want to buy Swift or DZire, better do it now," said a sales executive in one of the dealers in the National Capital.
Asked what the dealership would do once the stock runs out, he said: "We are not sure what we will do after that." At present, the diesel version of DZire has a waiting of five months, while that of Swift is two months. The petrol versions are available off-the-shelf as of now, said another sales executive.
Last week, the company had declared a lockout at the Manesar plant following violence on July 18, in which a senior executive was burnt alive and 100 others injured.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government assured that the perpetrators of violence at the Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant will be punished "without delay" to prevent repeat of such incidents even as industries in the state have been advised to maintain "cordial relations" with workers. "It is our bounden duty to ensure that the guilty be given exemplary punishment with speed and trial commences so that punishment to perpetrators of the crime becomes an example for others not to indulge in such incidents," Haryana Industry Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said.
The police have arrested over 100 workers following the incident. The state government and the company are separately investigating the incident.
Surjewala said the violence was not spontaneous, and it was a "designed" act to damage industrial peace in the state. "Prima facie, it is a concerted effort to disturb industrial peace...it is not a spontaneous (incident) and it is also not a labour unrest issue," he said.
Condemning the recent incidents at the Manesar plant, AARC Chamber of Commerce & Industry President Vikramjit Sahney said violence at industrial units will dent India's image as a manufacturing base and a conducive investment destination.
"Acts of violence besides physically shedding blood sullies the image of India as a manufacturing base and as a conducive investment destination especially in view of the economic slow down," he said in a statement.
