[ChiragM]

Mahindra is said to be facing massive issues due to a severe chip shortage.



Mahindra has not started full production of the XUV700 due to the ECU shortage issue. Around 8,000 semi-finished cars are lying in the yard waiting for ECUs at the Chakan plant. The plant will receive around 1,000-2,000 ECUs next month, out of which only 500 will be allotted to the XUV700.

The XUV700 is also facing a major shortage of the infotainment system. Just like Mahindra did with the Thar, they might ship the XUV700 without an infotainment system. The system is likely to be installed by the dealer.

At Mahindra's Nashik plant, 10,000 vehicles are said to be lying without ECUs. The company is believed to have parked the cars in around 10 empty plots. Apparently, they use dummy ECUs to drive the cars to the plots and then bring back the ECUs to the plant for the next lot.

Thanks to the Team-BHP fan (he prefers to remain anonymous) who sent this information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

[drivingmelody]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

At Mahindra's Nashik plant, 10,000 vehicles are said to be lying without ECUs. The company is believed to have parked the cars in around 10 empty plots. Apparently, they use dummy ECUs to drive the cars to the plots and then bring back the ECUs to the plant for the next lot.
this Team-BHP share page!

Alarm bells for everyone booking the new XUV 700. There is going to be lot of disappointed customers due to long delays. The same will be the case with other manufacturer as well.

[sheelapratosh]

Not surprising. I canceled my Thar booking due to insane wait times. And they want a month to process refund. When money gets debited at the click of a button, it should also get credited the same way. But it isn’t. They seem to hide behind rules, despite slicing some amount before refunding.

Sorry for off topic. But how can they start booking for XUV knowing their limitation? Folks should be careful about booking. Despite a small amount locked, unless they offer to give the car at introductory price, it doesn’t make any sense.

I read a Reuters article recently. They expect the global chip shortage to normalise only by Mid 2023. And auto manufacturers are the last in the priority.

[shady_lawyer]

This is actually true. I know of Mahindra Dealers who've ended up with End April, Early May Stock as well as late May Stock for vehicles being delivered since the 1st of this month.

In fact during my XUV500 purchase I was honestly told that the car is awaiting the requisite parts though is manufactured and kept ready. I have visited two separate stockyards of Dealers where in all there must be atleast 60 Thar's parked all without the infotainment system and a big white sticker pasted in its place.

[GautamJ]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Mahindra has not started full production of the XUV700 due to the ECU shortage issue. Around 8,000 semi-finished cars are lying in the yard waiting for ECUs at the Chakan plant. The plant will receive around 1,000-2,000 ECUs next month, out of which only 500 will be allotted to the XUV700.
The XUV700 is also facing a major shortage of the infotainment system.

I simply fail to understand, if M&M cannot supply then why create demand for the product. Leaving sour image of L-O-N-G waiting periods and regular price hikes (if XUV follows Thar strategy).

[warrioraks]

This is a serious face-palm moment if true. Mahindra not being able to cash-out on the XUV700 buzz, feel sorry for them actually.

[AnandB]

Could be they were forced to soft launch because ofthe photo leaks and the negative impact it was having.

[cloudno19]

Chip shortage is an industry agnostic reality and it would be unfair to target just Mahindra for same. Be it VW, Jeep, Hyundai, Toyota or even any other gadgets (ex. PS5) that rely on these chips are all struggling to get even the committed allotment forget about new orders, so whether we like it or not we need to understand the long waiting periods at least until the end of 2023 for most of the popular products until the chip situation stabilizes.

Also, I do not blame manufacturers taking time to refund money or adding some deductions to your booking amount when you go for cancellations. The simple reason being the accounting, taxation, and administration process and efforts that go behind the scene. If a refund with ecommerce stores who support return and refund policy as part of their primary workflows can take weeks and in some case months, I think we can definitely cut some slack for these manufacturers.

Meanwhile, coming back to Mahindra they have taken some serious time (after multiple delays) to finally launch this product, so I would like to think they would definitely be coming prepared with some inventory to offer at launch, but that doesn't mean there won't be long waiting period (just looking at the interest this product has generated), trust me they would all want to cash in the profits if that was possible by converting all their bookings into actual sales and deliveries and capture that important market share.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

At Mahindra's Nashik plant, 10,000 vehicles are said to be lying without ECUs. The company is believed to have parked the cars in around 10 empty plots. Apparently, they use dummy ECUs to drive the cars to the plots and then bring back the ECUs to the plant for the next lot.

This has become the norm everywhere not only in Mahindra and across the world. Manufacturers cant stop the assembly lines due to the lack of certain parts and hence cars are manufactured and stored in all ways possible. Once the ECUs are available, they would be installed and then sent to the dealers or even otherwise such that the dealers would install these parts. Quite a serious problem globally and hopefully it would get better soon.

[warrioraks]

On second thoughts, this news might also be a ploy by one of the competitors to take sheen off XUV700 hype.

[Raghu M]

I think this is the same situation with all manufacturers. The XUV launch has been doing the rounds for a while now. I don't think M&M will miss such a simple point that it will just soft launch a vehicle without actually it being in stock. I see the waiting period for Sonet, Creta and many other best sellers to be in months. Are they immune to chip shortage? I don't think M&M will stop production because of a chip, they need to keep the assembly line moving and wait for parts. A factory cannot afford to stay idle for such reasons.

[condor]

Originally Posted by drivingmelody

The same will be the case with other manufacturer as well.

Logical, though would like to know the extent of impact on other manufacturers

Originally Posted by sheelapratosh

And they want a month to process refund. When money gets debited at the click of a button, it should also get credited the same way. But it isn’t. They seem to hide behind rules, despite slicing some amount before refunding..

The process for a customer to buy a car can take more than 1-2 months for most cases. The review & decision part, review of financing, selecting and the negotiation with the dealer. It's only after this that the debit-at-click-of-a-button happens.

Comparatively, the manufacturer's process is a more fixed, and shorter, 1 month. There too, the transfer happens very fast - but after all the processes have been followed.

Almost instantaneously if we consider the batch process for refunds.

Even-Stevens, what say ?

[prasanna.vps]

Well, if everyone is in the same boat, then how come others do not seem to be having these humongous wait times?

This is a classic case of unfortunate supplier dynamics in COVID complicated by OEMs who have suppliers based out of ONLY China.

My guess is M&M did not have a back up to provide atleast some cushion, while others probably have.

What I do not get though is the frenzy marketing aided by the shock (albeit at value) sticker price, when you do not have a product delivery mechanism to cash it all in.

M&M has left the door open for someone to give a nice little discount and steal all the volumes while they just stare ! Very puzzling, unless they pull a rabbit (rather a Dino) out of their supply chain, and we know that never happens.

Now waiting with bated breath for discounts from competition, who will pull the trigger first! My guess Jeep and MG! While sincerely hoping that M&M finds an alternative to supply better.

Bring it on, some cheer for buyers either way. One guys funeral is another guys income!

[octane_100]

This bit of news comes at a very (in)appropriate moment! As a customer, I won't mind waiting a bit long for the car that I truly want to own. I won't simply go behind what is available first.

[Chanakya]

I am into electronics manufacturing. Industrial measuring equipment. I am facing massive delivery delays not only in microcontrollers but also in mundane ICs like power supply controllers.My R&D is doing only one thing nowadays- reviving old platforms so we run multiple ones on parallel. Essentially , use whatever is available and manage prodution. To give you an idea about how severe the problem is- NXP which supllied microcontrollers to my firm with a typical lead time of eight weeks, just told me it's now fifty-two weeks ! They'll give me the chips one full year after placing the order !! And it gets more bizarre with every passing day. This problem WILL persist well into 2023 as per some industry experts. Automobile industry will be in trouble till then...