[SwiftSD]

The primary reason as per me is that Bigger cities being a bigger market (may not be true always) gets more preference for car allotments. In case a Tier-I city dealer makes a requisition of 50 cars and another (say a Tier-II/III) for 10 cars , it is more likely that the manufacturers would try and give a higher priority to the first request.

Not trying to justify any of the manufacturers just putting in my own view.

[Aroy]

At one time NCR had more vehicles registered than 4 other metros combined. Do not know if that is still true, but there is a huge demand in NCR, and the dealers have a lot of clout both due to high sales as well as due to their powerful political connections.

Dealers in smaller markets have much less clout hence may be allotted less numbers, even though there is supposed to be a computerised list and the deliveries are supposed to be on first booked first served basis.

Then there are third party operators who are not authorised dealers but offtake large lots from the dealers who can call shots at times.

[Turbanator]

I have booked a Toyota Liva in Ludhiana, and I have been given an estimated delivery date in March. Dealer tells me usually the cars come in 3-4 months.

I think they work on allocations , so every city based on the order bookings / overall sales get cars allotted . It must be uniform for all Major Manufacturers , when Demand is more than Supplies they try to Ration the supplies to there dealers or even sometimes try to package non moving models with the fast moving ones.

BTW if you have not cancelled your Ludhiana booking and need car early , please PM . I may be able to help you , have few contacts there

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

I think they work on allocations , so every city based on the order bookings / overall sales get cars allotted . It must be uniform for all Major Manufacturers , when Demand is more than Supplies they try to Ration the supplies to there dealers or even sometimes try to package non moving models with the fast moving ones.

BTW if you have not cancelled your Ludhiana booking and need car early , please PM . I may be able to help you , have few contacts there

Thanks for the offer
I have not cancelled my booking and have decided to wait.
That said, demand supply thingy is all fine, but the end result is that people in non-metro cities are waiting 3x more inspite of paying the same money,

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Now this is very strange, since cities like Ludhiana and other smaller towns have very high car density.
They are not exactly villages too that transporting cars there is an issue.
Nor there are other logistical issues involved etc.,

I think logistics could also be an issue. The manufacturers may want to wait till a certain number of bookings are made from any city before despatching cars to that city. With a metro, this number is reached earlier/easily - so most of the despatches will happen to the bigger cities.

Also, in your case, the booking is made in Ludiana - which isn't anywhere close to Bangalore where TKM factory is. So the turn-around-time for each despatch truck will also be more.

Bigger cities also have more than one dealer - hence the dealers may also want to get the cars earlier to remain competitive. No such issues in a place which has only one dealer - the customer isn't going anywhere.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

I think logistics could also be an issue. The manufacturers may want to wait till a certain number of bookings are made from any city before despatching cars to that city. With a metro, this number is reached earlier/easily - so most of the despatches will happen to the bigger cities.

Also, in your case, the booking is made in Ludiana - which isn't anywhere close to Bangalore where TKM factory is. So the turn-around-time for each despatch truck will also be more.

Bigger cities also have more than one dealer - hence the dealers may also want to get the cars earlier to remain competitive. No such issues in a place which has only one dealer - the customer isn't going anywhere.

Booking queue is dealer independent, its assigned from Toyota head office. Speaking of volumes, per dealer volume in cities like Ludhiana is actually as high as those in metros.
Surprisingly, other manufacturers offer comparable waiting lists in Ludhiana as opposed to metros, unless its a home location(eg chennai for Nissan).
Moreover logistics cannot explain 1 month vs 3-6 months waiting lists given in Ludhiana.
Its not a remote mountain city but a well connected city in Punjab which has excellent road and rail freight networks.