Demand for car spares zooms

With thousands of cars off Mumbai roads on account of floods, auto manufacturers are giving priority to production of spare parts over new vehicles.

Automobile service stations said even immediate availability of spare parts would not help much considering the limited space available for repairs.

While local manufacturers like Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Fiat have been proactive in serving their customers, owners of luxury cars like Mercedes Benz, BMW and Skoda would take a month for getting replacement of spare parts as most of them would have to be imported from Germany, said a BMW dealer.

Catalytic converter, battery, fuel system, electronic and electrical components, lights, bumpers, door sheets, bonnets and upholstery are some of the sensitive components that get affected when water enters into a car.

About 3,000 Maruti cars are stranded on Mumbai roads on account of lack of space at the service stations in the city. "The waiting period for a customer is between three weeks and three months for repair or replacement of spare parts," said an official with a Maruti workshop.

Maruti accounts for 40 per cent of the total number of cars plying in Mumbai. Maruti dealers and workshops are getting over 1,000 complaints daily.

"As the floods were unexpected, Maruti has sought time for making the spare parts available," said Maruti dealers. The car manufacturer is working closely with its vendors for making additional spare parts.

Mahindra & Mahindra's Kandivali plant is affected by the floods. Rajendra Bhurat, vice president, spares business unit, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), said: "Spares will be our first priority even at the cost of producing new vehicles."

M&M's dependence on its Kandivili plant in Mumbai for spare parts is about 20-25 per cent.

With the Mumbai plant having been affected, the company anticipates problems in meeting demand for spare parts in the coming weeks.

Tata Motors is working over-time at its spare parts division to supply and deliver spares to meet the entire demand of Mumbai city.

Workshops of Tata Motors in the western suburbs of Mumbai on Friday saw over 400 vehicles coming in for servicing and repairs. "We will work even on Sunday to ensure fast delivery," said senior company officials.

M&M has stock of spare parts to last about four to five days. The automanufacturer has made efforts to ensure availability of spare parts from its Nasik plant, said Bhurat.

The company had to stop production at its Kandivali plant for a day as the factory was submerged in water. The company makes spare parts here, which also includes engine of its utility vehicle Scorpio.

Fiat has set up special commercial communications centres for dealers and customers to avail of spare parts and cars on time.

There are four major Fiat dealers and each of them received about 70 complaints daily from customers.

Paolo Castagna, managing director, Fiat India, said, "We have set up a system wherein each of our dealers can contact us to register their requests and place orders for spares so that necessary action can be taken on time."

Fiat's Kurla plant has been affected by the flood and non-availability of power.

"We are confident that the models at the depots and at our dealerships are sufficient to meet the requests from our customers for the future weeks. Starting from Monday we are restoring the shipment of spare parts, cleaning up the backlog of request of the last days," said Castagna.

Dealers have received complaints from 18 BMW customers, said an official at Navnit Motors, the only BMW showroom in Mumbai. It is estimated that 150 high-end cars would have been affected by the recent monsoon deluge that hit Mumbai.