[TusharK]

Deliveries of the new Mahindra Scorpio-N will start from Dusherra, but the waiting period for select variants has already crossed 2 years.



According to a media report, the Mahindra Scorpio-N now has the highest waiting period for any SUV in India. The Z8 L variant has the lowest waiting period of under 20 months, which clearly shows that Mahindra has prioritized the production of the top-spec Scorpio-N.

Deliveries of the Z2 petrol and Z2 diesel variants are expected to be 22 months, while the waiting period for the Z4 trim is just under 2 years. The Z6 and Z8 variants command a waiting period of 2 years.

The Scorpio N was launched in June this year with prices starting at Rs 11.99 lakh (ex-showroom). The SUV comes with two engine options: 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine with 198 BHP / 380 Nm and a 2.2-litre diesel producing 173 BHP / 400 Nm. Transmission options include a 6-speed manual and a 6-speed automatic.

Source: Autocar India

Link to Team-BHP News

[negi15]

In my honest opinion, commanding a waiting period of 2 years, for a vehicle whose single delivery has not been made yet, is not something which company should be proud off. At most it should have been six months and then booking halted to first deliver the variants which have been booked. It's purely a cash making approach adopted by company where lower variants are put on lower priority(as if they are not important) and on other hand company got a big chunk of cash in form of advance booking amount, which it can earn interest on.

However, I must congratulate their PR department who created such a hype that many people did multiple bookings just to ensure they get one. Now even if they cancel their extra bookings, its win-win situation for company, where it deducts small amount and it has already served their purpose of getting a waiting period of 2 years.

[acquillew]

Originally Posted by negi15

Now even if they cancel their extra bookings, its win-win situation for company, where it deducts small amount and it has already served their purpose of getting a waiting period of 2 years.

There is currently zero cancellation charge for Scorpio-N.
Also, IMO it doesn't benefit the company to declare long waiting periods. There are plenty of people who will NOT book the car with such waiting periods. I believe that when cancellations start, most bookings will get preponed.

[dr_TJ]

The strategy of Absolute priority to Z8L variants is something which is good for manufacturing point of view but not good at all from delivery point of view.

Z8L followed by Z4 then Z6 and finally the Z8 variants.
Yes, semiconductor shortage and streamlining production is a reason but for someone who has booked Z8, which is a top variant in all regards without the Luxury pack is given a tentative delivery date of post April 2023. And someone like me who have booked a Z4 variant gets a delivery date of Jan-Feb 2023.

All we can do is wait and watch.
I would be happy if my delivery gets postponed atleast beyond the Auto Expo 2023

[GTO]

Mahindra is hitting it out of the park with their new SUVs. The XUV700, Thar and Scorpio-N have all enjoyed exceptional demand from customers.

Originally Posted by negi15

In my honest opinion, commanding a waiting period of 2 years, for a vehicle whose single delivery has not been made yet, is not something which company should be proud off. At most it should have been six months and then booking halted to first deliver the variants which have been booked.

Over-capacity is the auto industry's silent killer. It can completely cripple the car manufacturer's finances. One cannot have excess capacity from year 3 - 7 of the product, just to ensure that the waiting period in years 1 - 2 is minimal.

Mahindra has churned out 7000+ Scorpios last month, along with a whopping 6000 XUV700s (which also has a long waiting) and almost 4000 Thars. These are healthy production numbers, whatever way you look at it.

If Mahindra expected the XUV700 & Scorpio-N to sell 4000 - 5000 units a month, that was based on historical sales as well as informed projections. We have to understand that every blockbuster product will have long waiting periods. The Duster did, ditto with the EcoSport, the original XUV500 etc. You'll also have to wait really long for some premium cars like the Kodiaq, and luxury ones like the GLS (had a 9-month waiting earlier in 2022).

Of course, some manufacturers (e.g. Maruti) do a fantastic job of clearing up the delivery backlog.

[diwakarmuthu]

IMHO this is bad planning from Mahindra. With Thar and XUV700 they are already struggling with supply chain issues and delivery timelines. Now with the ScorpioN booking very similar to IPO allotment (Where people use multiple accounts to bid for shares) it is only getting confusing.

I too want to make a booking, but am holding it because I don't want to book without a definite timeframe. Also you don't get price lock in beyond the first 25k bookings.

Maybe they need to get into some kind of contract manufacturing agreement and get the cars delivered rolling out quickly. It is quite evident that their production lines are stressed right now and some capacity expansion (even 25%) will help them. When profits supersede everything, it becomes a difficult decision

[rodeoz]

Originally Posted by negi15

It's purely a cash making approach adopted by company where lower variants are put on lower priority(as if they are not important)

This does not seem to be the case other than Z8L. For example, among the introductory booking group, Z4 deliveries start much before Z8. Not sure why they are prioritising Z8L so much. Either they want only the top spec Scorpios on the road initially, or they make a fat profit on Z8L (compared to Z8) and after they have prioritised it, they are prioritising variants which require less semiconductor chips.

[Sahil]

Booked the Z2 last week and the delivery date is showing Nov 2024

[rooster.ram]

Mahindra has done good job by designing SUVs to suit Indian Test. And also to market them well. Let the initial clutter clear so that dual bookings done by many dealers, cross bookings along with XUV700 will reduce the waiting period.

MnM had taken caution while issuing the delivery dates by taking Under promise- Over delivery approach. Otherwise there is no reason that many Z8 bookings are only being given the delivery dates post February 2023. There must not be such a high demand for Z8Ls that they cannot produce Z8s even when Z8 ATs/ 4WDs are fetching higher returns for MnM over Z8L MT. For initial bookings, IMHO, the wait time is at least going to get reduced by 3 months and for those having 2 years waiting period it should get delivered in 12 to 15 months.

[AROO7]

I don't see an issue with the long waiting period reason being a manufacturer can't increase the production capacity at a moment's notice. As GTO rightly said, one also needs to understand that Mahindra is churning out cars at its maximum capacity and the only way to bring down the waiting period is by adding another production plant which won't happen overnight.

That said, even if they see such astronomical demand and plan to increase the production capacity what is the guarantee that demand would be the same a couple of years down the line? Because people can cancel the booking, the ride-hailing apps can again make a comeback, or even better, the public transport system starts improving. So even if Mahindra wished to make more vehicles per day to deliver vehicles at the rate of a pizza there are several factors it needs to consider beforehand.

As for the owners waiting for the delivery of their Scorpio N, I would suggest being patient for a couple of months after Dussehra because many above you on the waitlist won't be and cancel the booking (especially those who won't be getting the vehicle in and around Dussehra), eventually pushing you up in the booking list. Also, remember buying a vehicle in Dusshera makes it a year old in a couple of months compared to buying the same next year in or after January.

[UD17]

Originally Posted by diwakarmuthu

IMHO this is bad planning from Mahindra. With Thar and XUV700 they are already struggling with supply chain issues and delivery timelines.

If i may say so, everything is perfectly working as per Mahindra's plan. The long term sustainability of sales (specially Diesel) is always has some risk attached to it (like regulations, competition, Technology change aka Hybrid/EVs/CNG, customer preference etc.). Mahindra had put a lot of thought into it and build a capacity and they are selling with their full capacity right now (and will continue to do so in future due to large bookings), so there is no struggle per se in supply chain wrt the installed capacity. Its always better to loose some sales rather than build over capacity, else you would become Ford (India).

On the other hand, I am wondering what is stopping Mahindra to start delivering the ScorpioN to the customer even now, I am seeing the yards fully packed and dispatches trucks doing sorties in full swing.

[Contrapunto]

Originally Posted by GTO

Mahindra is hitting it out of the park with their new SUVs. The XUV700, Thar and Scorpio-N have all enjoyed exceptional demand from customers.

Over-capacity is the auto industry's silent killer. It can completely cripple the car manufacturer's finances. One cannot have excess capacity from year 3 - 7 of the product, just to ensure that the waiting period in years 1 - 2 is minimal.

Long delivery periods have another not-so-well-recognised cost, one which is not recognised by the manufacturers flush with success. Its the potential loss of customer goodwill who starts looking at alternatives after some time. Only people buying second or third cars can wait that long. Fleet operators and corporates definitely can not wait that long.
Once customers go through the emotional pain of cancellation and goes to another brand, they are unlikely to come back to Mahindra very soon. Or that is my perception from my own personal experience and talking to others who have had to do the same. I got smitten by the top trim XUV700, but could not so long, so I shifted to Fortuner E4. When I buy my next car in 4-5 years time, when its time to replace my EcoSport, will I again go for a Mahindra/. Possible, but unlikely.

Originally Posted by Sahil

Booked the Z2 last week and the delivery date is showing Nov 2024

If you are single, you can probably have a large enough family to fill up all 3 rows just in time for the Mahindras to be "delivered"

[negi15]

Originally Posted by acquillew

There is currently zero cancellation charge for Scorpio-N.

Thanks for clarification. I just checked and Scorpio N is an exception as of now. However, this may have caused multiple and dummy bookings. One of my friend who has booked scorpio N at introductory price has seen these dummy bookings up for sale on Facebook groups at some premium. Hopefully Mahindra would not allow this. I think better way to avoid this would have been one booking against single PAN number, as finally dealer is going to ask for it to deduct TCS.

Originally Posted by GTO

Over-capacity is the auto industry's silent killer. It can completely cripple the car manufacturer's finances. One cannot have excess capacity from year 3 - 7 of the product, just to ensure that the waiting period in years 1 - 2 is minimal.

Mahindra has churned out 7000+ Scorpios last month, along with a whopping 6000 XUV700s (which also has a long waiting) and almost 4000 Thars. These are healthy production numbers, whatever way you look at it.

Fully agree that manufacturer has to act as per his finances. My only concern is for buyer. It should have been gradual rise of deliveries instead of bulk deliveries at one go. This would have given manufacturer chance to resolve the niggles and issues reported in initial lots. I am not an expert on QC standards of manufactures. But as a layman, I think vehicles released for press and promos must have gone through strict QC checks and long test runs, as they would not have wanted bad promotion. Actual niggles will show up when real owners start driving them on roads with different driving styles after delivery. For this reason, even my friend who has delivery lined up in march 2023 wants the date to remain same and does not want to take delivery earlier. With current approach, manufacturer is fully banking on fact that there will be no major niggles because they won't have turnaround time to fix it. Hope it remains that way for end buyers.

Originally Posted by rodeoz

This does not seem to be the case other than Z8L. For example, among the introductory booking group, Z4 deliveries start much before Z8. Not sure why they are prioritising Z8L so much. Either they want only the top spec Scorpios on the road initially, or they make a fat profit on Z8L (compared to Z8) and after they have prioritised it, they are prioritising variants which require less semiconductor chips.

Agree. They are balancing semiconductor shortage with their production plan in order to maximise their profits.

[UD17]

Originally Posted by Contrapunto

Fleet operators and corporates definitely can not wait that long.
Once customers go through the emotional pain of cancellation and goes to another brand, they are unlikely to come back to Mahindra very soon.

I fully agree with your statement, BUT if you really see popular SUV model's (comparable to XUV7oo, ScorpioN) waiting period from other OEMs, you will find they are also quite long. Creta - 4/5 months, Harrier/Safari- 2 months, Jeep- 2 months, MG- again 2-3 months. So if one's heart stings are touched by Mahindra's product due to its technical superiority Vs cost, people will surely choose to wait.

You can vouch for the opinion of many BHPians here, they are awaiting their XUV7oo even if they would have got their Harrier/Safari during that waiting period.

[Contrapunto]

Originally Posted by UD17

So if one's heart stings are touched by Mahindra's product due to its technical superiority Vs cost, people will surely choose to wait.

You are right of course. And people, a lot of people are indeed waiting. Though Mahindra does not publish their cancellation data (to my knowledge) , but I think quite a few are not waiting. As I said, unless its a second/ third car, you often do not have the luxury of waiting it out. You can wait 2-4 months, but not 2 years !!!

All the best of Mahindra of course. But I am afraid that inside their fruits of success, lie the seeds of deep customer dissatisfaction and future failure.