[RavenAvi]

A very interesting incident happened at around 11 AM earlier today:

I received a call from Maruti. The lady on the other end said that she was calling on behalf of Maruti-Suzuki and told me her name. She then went on to confirm my name, and that I owned a Swift of 2014-make with the number "XXXX". Upon confirmation of the same from me, she proceeded to outline her purpose - she was calling in regards to Maruti's new car, the Vitara Brezza.

She went on to highlight the features of the car, and then popped the question - am I interested in a new car purchase anytime soon? If yes, they could arrange for the exchange of my 2014 Swift at an appropriate price and I could drive home the new Brezza.

I was taken aback for a bit, but since I have no plans of buying a new car anytime soon and nor was I interested in exchanging a less-than-2-year-old car (our Silver Queen) which is predominantly used by my Dad, I declined the offer. She thanked me, repeated her name and again said she was calling on behalf of Maruti-Suzuki, and hung up.

For a car commanding a seven-month waiting period, I wonder what was THAT all about.

Or maybe Maruti is bringing out the petrol variant of the Brezza pretty soon and wanted to seek out any/all prospective customers from their existing database as some sort of "preparations in advance". But the lady in question didn't mention anything in this regard, and specifically highlighted "diesel only" when she was narrating the features of the Brezza.

Nevertheless, a very interesting way of starting my day.

[Omkar]

In order to keep up with the increasing demand for the Vitara Brezza, Maruti Suzuki has decided to ramp up the production of the car. According to media reports, the waiting period for the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza has gone up to 7 months. The customers placing their orders for the LDi, LDi (O), VDi and VDi (O) will have their cars delivered in December 2016 or January 2017. The top-end variants (ZDi (O) and ZDi+) account for about 50% of the total number of bookings received. These variants have a waiting period of 9 months.

Since its launch on March 8, 2016, the Vitara Brezza has received a great response in the Indian market. The company sold 7,832 units of the car in the month of April.

Other reports also indicate that the production of the Swift hatchback and the Dzire compact sedan have been cut down to increase the production of the Vitara Brezza and the Baleno. The Baleno was launched in October 2015. Maruti Suzuki managed to sell over 9,562 units of the car in April. The increasing sales of the Vitara Brezza and the Baleno might have caused the company to reduce the production of the Swift and the Dzire. The Vitara Brezza and Baleno are more profitable.

Maruti Suzuki had planned to manufacture 1,00,000 units of the Brezza annually. The company is on track to achieve this number. It plans to cope with the demand by the second half of the year. The car is currently being manufactured at the company's Gurgaon plant.

Source: Autocar Professional and MoneyControl

[t2k4]

Originally Posted by Omkar

In order to keep up with the increasing demand for the Vitara Brezza, Maruti Suzuki has decided to ramp up the production of the car. According to media reports, the waiting period for the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza has gone up to 7 months. The customers placing their orders for the LDi, LDi (O), VDi and VDi (O) will have their cars delivered in December 2016 or January 2017. The top-end variants (ZDi (O) and ZDi+) account for about 50% of the total number of bookings received. These variants have a waiting period of 9 months.

They have finally succeeded in selling a million rupee car after the failed experiment with Kizashi. The icing on the cake is that Maruti India team designed and architected Brezza with no input from Suzuki Japan. However, the 7 and 9 months waiting periods are a damper. The economy is not in recession!

[Amit_breakfree]

Maruti should work with all the might to start production in its Gujarat plant by this year end or by early next year. The company is simply on a bull run with no kind of disturbance or distraction in its sight. Maruti is in a situation where other companies would die to reach even 50% of it as it has a problem of excess. It manufactures less number of cars than it can sell. Even Ritz, which is a slow mover, sells close to ~2,000 units, which is a dream of 50% of other car manufacturer in the country.

The fact that it has to cut down on the production of Swift and Dzire to accomodate Baleno and Breeza is a feat in itself. Swift and Dzire have been 2 of the most successful models for the company in the recent past and are still going strong with the next update not slated before 2017-18. With new cars coming in such as Ignis, Baleno RS, Brezza Petrol, and S-Cross petrol, the company has it's hands full.

[bhansali_hardik]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

A very interesting incident happened at around 11 AM earlier today:

I received a call from Maruti. The lady on the other end said that she was calling on behalf of Maruti-Suzuki and told me her name. She then went on to confirm my name, and that I owned a Swift of 2014-make with the number "XXXX". Upon confirmation of the same from me, she proceeded to outline her purpose - she was calling in regards to Maruti's new car, the Vitara Brezza.

She went on to highlight the features of the car, and then popped the question - am I interested in a new car purchase anytime soon? If yes, they could arrange for the exchange of my 2014 Swift at an appropriate price and I could drive home the new Brezza.

I was taken aback for a bit, but since I have no plans of buying a new car anytime soon and nor was I interested in exchanging a less-than-2-year-old car (our Silver Queen) which is predominantly used by my Dad, I declined the offer. She thanked me, repeated her name and again said she was calling on behalf of Maruti-Suzuki, and hung up.

For a car commanding a seven-month waiting period, I wonder what was THAT all about.

Or maybe Maruti is bringing out the petrol variant of the Brezza pretty soon and wanted to seek out any/all prospective customers from their existing database as some sort of "preparations in advance". But the lady in question didn't mention anything in this regard, and specifically highlighted "diesel only" when she was narrating the features of the Brezza.

Nevertheless, a very interesting way of starting my day.

Well, I ran into a similar weird situation. about petrol! Where did I get the rumour from? I went to a shell bunk in Bangalore ( which is close to one of the biggest dealers) and the fuel bunk manager whom I know Came up to me and asked did you get a petrol one too? Already? And at end of the conversation he told they had a brand new vehicle from the dealer and they were fueling it up with petrol and all were puzzled when they asked for petrol. This is certainly not worth believing as there are 1000's of vehicle that come to that bunk in a day and I really don't think they would closely observe the vehicle and fuel grades. However, I left the bunk puzzled after the conversation and tankful method is giving me efficiency figures of 15.6kmpl in BANGALORE city with which I have nothing to complaint about.

[anycatd]

Originally Posted by bhansali_hardik

Well, I ran into a similar weird situation. about petrol! Where did I get the rumour from? I went to a shell bunk in Bangalore ( which is close to one of the biggest dealers) and the fuel bunk manager whom I know Came up to me and asked did you get a petrol one too? Already? And at end of the conversation he told they had a brand new vehicle from the dealer and they were fueling it up with petrol and all were puzzled when they asked for petrol. This is certainly not worth believing as there are 1000's of vehicle that come to that bunk in a day and I really don't think they would closely observe the vehicle and fuel grades. However, I left the bunk puzzled after the conversation and tankful method is giving me efficiency figures of 15.6kmpl in BANGALORE city with which I have nothing to complaint about.

16 is what I am getting but it needs to be better as most of my driving is on highways albeit single lane ones.

[bhansali_hardik]

Originally Posted by anycatd

16 is what I am getting but it needs to be better as most of my driving is on highways albeit single lane ones.

On my highway run @80kmph I was below the turbo and the instantaneous FE on MID would show 25 to 30 kmpl. However when I shoved in a little acceleration and was in turbo zone with speeds upto 110kmph it would fall down to 13 to 16 kmpl. So on highway runs this would produce close to 17kmpl. How did you check your FE? I have found an error margin of 1.3kmpl on my MID. But I wouldn't calibrate it as the city traffic here is way out of control and there is no way calibration would ever be close to real world. :sly:

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

....For a car commanding a seven-month waiting period, I wonder what was THAT all about.

I have received exactly similar calls to exchange my WagonR for the Baleno (long waiting periods) and the S-Cross (low selling). The calls were from Nexa representatives. Three different representatives had called on 5 different days as I was busy in office and not ready to discuss with them. I appreciate their patience for following up with me. They kept calling me at my suggested timings. Eventually, I declined their offer as I am not interested in a new car right now.

[RavenAvi]

Sharing from Gaurav Arora's Facebook page:

Poor Quality delivered by Maruti Vitara Brezza, Sudden rain and hailstorm in Gurugram (Gurgaon) on Wednesday, 25th May 2016 caused several dents on bonnet & roof of Brezza. whereas there were many other cars parked along with brezza which were uneffected.

[Switch]

OMG. That's atrocious. Have me worried about mine now. I hope insurance covers this kind of natural calamity damage.

[nitinrawatdun]

Is maruti using a weaker sheet of metal for body types..?? This is the second case i am seeing on BHP. Hailstroms are very common in northern states..can be a big deterrent for buyers

[Leoshashi]

A similar thing happened to my neighbor's newly acquired Scorpio today. The hood had transformed into an egg-tray post the hailstorm

Its one of the most common forms of damage cars face during rains in Northern India and the only protection can be parking under some kind of shade.

Regards,
Shashi

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Sharing from Gaurav Arora's Facebook page:

This is less than what happened to a Tata Safari belonging to my Uncle, the roof and hood of it looks like that of crater filled moon and a friend's Vento. The Safari incident happened about 4 years back when my Wagon R was brand new, not even registered. Both cars were caught in same hailstorm, not even a small dent to my Wagon R but a whole lot of damge to his Safari. In both cases, there's no damage to windshield. The issue is not only thin metal sheet but also the intensity of hailstorm and size of hails, damage is more if driving. Also, the hood profile in Brezza/Safari is near parallel to ground but most of other cars, its kind of sloping. It could be one reason of lesser damage to other cars. Nevertheless, he should get it inspected.

[Switch]

Whatsoever be the case, it's totally not acceptable. Driving should anyways be avoided in hailstorms but parked vehicles having these issues is totally insane. What about dealers with new vehicles parked in their yard.

[CarMind]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

This is less than what happened to a Tata Safari belonging to my Uncle, the roof and hood of it looks like that of crater filled moon and a friend's Vento. The Safari incident happened about 4 years back when my Wagon R was brand new, not even registered. Both cars were caught in same hailstorm, not even a small dent to my Wagon R but a whole lot of damge to his Safari. In both cases, there's no damage to windshield. The issue is not only thin metal sheet but also the intensity of hailstorm and size of hails, damage is more if driving. Also, the hood profile in Brezza/Safari is near parallel to ground but most of other cars, its kind of sloping. It could be one reason of lesser damage to other cars. Nevertheless, he should get it inspected.

So considering that even a Safari and Scorpio are prone to such a damage by hailstorm, are we able to draw any conclusions on the widely known thin metal sheet Marutis' (read Brezza and Baleno) specific to this scenario? Just trying to understand whether a decision to go for Baleno or Brezza should get impacted by this kind of damage susceptibility.