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Maruti 800 on waiting list

V Phani Kumar in Mumbai

Maruti Udyog is running a waiting list on its old warhorse and India's largest selling car, Maruti 800, three months after it effected a massive price cut.

The waiting list has been building up since July 24, when Maruti cut prices by Rs 15,000-18,000 to arrest the slide in sales, and is currently stands at around 5,000 cars, or about 12 days of sales.

Maruti officials said this is the "first time in many years" that the waiting list on the car has been maintained beyond a few days.

"Whenever we used to make special festival offers, the demand for the 800 used to shoot up for a few days. But this is the first time in many years that the waiting list has been maintained for so long at a stretch," they said.

Industry analysts said the wait-list on Maruti 800, while not very large in absolute terms, is an important indicator as Maruti has already sold over 1.8 million units of the car in the country thus far.

The monthly sales of 800 stood at 7,180 units, 9370, 8432 and 8,932 respectively between April and July.

Also, Maruti's market share had dropped to an all-time low of around 42 per cent by end-July.

However, after effecting the price cut towards the end of July, Maruti sold 13,563 units and 13,878 units respectively in August and September, clearly indicating a sharp rise in sales.

However, auto analysts doubt whether Maruti will be able to continue with the lower prices on the 800, as it sharply erodes the company's profitability.

Already, top Maruti officials have already indicated that the price-cuts may not be sustainable in view of the sharp increase in input costs, especially in steel and aluminium, over the past few months.

Maruti Udyog, which is now 54 per cent owned by Japanese auto giant Suzuki, had reported profit of Rs 105 crore (Rs 1.05 billion) during 2001-02 against record losses of Rs 269 crore (Rs 2.69 billion) in the earlier fiscal.

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