Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) has mopped up about Rs 210-220 crore from the 6,500 to 7,000 customer orders which it received for its 1000cc Zen model during the five-day period for which bookings were open recently. The delivery period for the vehicle has been set at around six weeks.
In what can be seen as the first signs of a pick-up in the domestic car market, Maruti Udyog has notched up orders for about 45 days of production earmarked for domestic sales of the Zen.
If this trend continues with future bookings, as the company expects, then MUL would be able to achieve its domestic sales target of about 50,000-60,000 Zens this year.
MULs returns on the bookings have been possible because, unlike the Rs 30,000 per car booking amount that was fixed by Maruti when Zen bookings was first open last year, this time around tithad asked customers to pay up the total ex-showroom price of the car at one go.
While the ex-showroom Delhi price of a Zen is Rs 3.42 lakh, the price of the car varies anywhere between Rs 3.2 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh across the country depending on the different excise and sales tax rates in force. The booking figures were indicated by the preliminary estimates of the company, which expects to get the final data ready by Tuesday. Books for MULs Zen model opened on August 16 and closed on August 20.
This has been termed as a very good response by a senior executive of the company, especially in the light of the sluggish market conditions that persist in the domestic economy. The booking of about 6500-7000 cars comprises about one-and-a-half months availability of Zen production that is earmarked for the domestic market. This is a very good response. And, unlike last time, most of the current bookings are serious, he said.
Last year, Maruti received some 2.8 lakh bookings for the Zen, a majority of which dropped out, leaving only about 68,000 confirmed bookings by the end of the year.
The company finished delivering the last of these bookings, as per the allotment letters, last month. Maruti recently stepped up the production of the Zen to 80,000 cars per annum against 2,500 Zen cars annually when it first went into production in 1994 out of which 20,000 cars are expected to be exported by the end of this year.
