With new car customers becoming impatient to get into the new car they have ordered, Indian market leader Maruti Suzuki has started establishing vehicle stock holding yards in various parts of the country to reduce wait times for its best sellers.
The first facility will be ready within six months in Bangalore, and land has already been acquired, according to the Hindustan Times.
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Models like the Swift, sedan variant Swift Dzire and the Eeco ‘people mover’ have current waiting lists of almost four months and rivals like Ford and GM have been looking to lure customers unwilling to wait that long away from Suzuki. The company has earmarked INR200 crore (INR2bn or $US64.7m) for new holding yards and showrooms around the country.
“The intention is to set up at least one stockyard in each of the zones. Such a concept is important for a vast country like India and will reduce the waiting period for the customers,” a company official told the paper. “Very often there is a mis-match between the variant and colour of a particular car that a customer wants and the car that is available at the dealership. Setting up regional stockyards will increase availability of the cars and reduce time of transportation.”
The yards, on about 25 acres will also help reduce dealer working capital needs as they can reduce their vehicle stocks.
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