Maruti Suzuki plans to bring down the waiting periods for certain variants of its popular Celerio hatchback by boosting production volumes, according to a report in the Financial Express citing a company executive. The variants in question are equipped with automated manual transmission (AMT) technology. "Demand for AMT and [the] Celerio models is surging and they have a waiting period of 6-8 weeks. We have told our supplier [Magneti Marelli] to increase the supply of AMT. We hope this will improve soon, and we will bring down the waiting period sharply. We are also looking at increasing the production of [the] Celerio's top-end model," said Manohar Bhat, vice president (marketing) at Maruti Suzuki. The automaker is also working with Magneti Marelli to increase supplies of AMT kits from 3,500 to 5,000 units in the short term.
Significance: Launched as a replacement for the slow-selling A-Star and Zen Estilo, the Celerio has been a successful model for Maruti Suzuki. In addition to featuring a fresh design, the model has benefited from the availability of the AMT technology, which offers the comfort of automatic driving at a fraction of the cost required for a conventional automatic transmission vehicle. Following the recent addition of AMT technology on the popular Alto K10 hatchback, buyers will now have a wider choice. Although the company is negotiating increased supplies to ease immediate waiting periods, lasting benefits will only be evident once Magneti Marelli's local production line comes onstream in 2015.
