Baleno demand is on a high, Maruti to speed up production

Maruti Suzuki, India's largest carmaker is seeing a rising demand for its recently launched premium hatchback Baleno, which is why it has decided to speed up the production and reduce the waiting period.

As per reports, its Japanese parent company Suzuki Motor Corp is also expected to start pilot production at the plant based in Gujarat by January-March quarter of 2017. This plant will exclusively supply vehicles and components to Maruti Suzuki.

"We are making all possible efforts to de-bottleneck the lines and enhance production (of Baleno)," said R S Kalsi, executive director, (marketing and sales), MSIL.

"We have wonderful products in our portfolio like Baleno, S-cross, Vitara and Brezza, which are doing very well in the market. Waiting period is also there (for these vehicles)," he added.

MSIL currently has over 45,000 outstanding bookings of both Baleno and Brezza, with Baleno’s waiting period ranging from 6 to 8 months, depending on the variant.

The past few months have seen MSIL doubling its production to around 12,000 a month, so that it can meet both the domestic and export demands.

"It is not only Maruti Suzuki alone. There are close to 250 (company) vendors in the supply chain. They also need to ramp up their production, investments and capacities. So, it takes time. Towards the second part of the year, we would be able to increase the volume," Kalsi added.

Image source