Longer waiting time is affecting demand for cars, although disruption to the supply of chips has eased in recent months, according to a senior official of car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki.

The automobile company currently has a
pending order of around 2.5 lakh units with demand in the market continuing to
be buoyant, while its production was over 80 per cent of normal in November,
reported PTI.

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“The bookings show that the demand
continues to be quite robust, both in terms of inquiries and the bookings, but
now availability is an issue and waiting periods have gone up,” Maruti
Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) Senior Executive Director (Marketing & Sales)
Shashank Srivastava.

“So we are a little bit afraid that
the longer waiting periods will affect the demand pattern and it can have a
negative impact,” he further said.

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Waiting time for delivery in the Indian passenger vehicles market stretches into months. Srivastava, however, said bookings were not being cancelled because the company was constantly communicating with customers. “Almost every customer is being contacted every week, explaining the situation. Most consumers understand and they have not cancelled their booking because of the waiting period,” he added.

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Besides, the company is trying its
“best to increase the production as much as possible”, in order to
overcome the situation, he added. “If you look at
the availability of electronic components, this is affecting the production
since August and onwards. Situation is getting a little better – September was
40 percent of the planned production, October was 60 percent, November was
about 83-84 percent and December, as we have stated it will be about 80 to 85
percent”.

While things are improving, he said when it
will become normal is going to take some more time, but it is difficult to
predict because the global supply chain is involved.

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Srivastava also said the current decline in
sales is large because of the supply issue and not a demand issue.