The waiting period of Maruti Suzuki's successful small car offering Celerio has reportedly been extended to seven to eight months and beyond in India, due to the scaling demand for the vehicle in the country.
The car, which earlier had a waiting period of nearly six months, now reportedly has it extended upto one year, forcing many to cancel their bookings, reported Autocar India. According to the report, the takers of the Celerio may have to wait till next year to place their hands on the steering wheels of Maruti's latest car.
Maruti Suzuki Celerio AMT, a radical offering of the country's largest car maker Maruti, garnered 22,000 bookings within 30 days of its launch. The automatic transmission (AMT) model of Celerio is witnessing greater demand in the country, compared to the manual model. The report also noted that the manual Celerio has a waiting period of upto four months.
Unveiled at the Auto Expo 2014 in Noida, Celerio is the first car in India to come with Automated Manual Transmission (AMT). Under the hood, Celerio packs a 998cc, 3-cylinder, K10B engine, which can churn out a power of 67 bhp at 6,000 rpm and a torque of 9.1 kgm at 3,500 rpm. It is offered in six variants in India - two with automatic transmission and four with manual transmission, and claims a fuel efficiency of 23.1 kilometers for both versions. Like the features offered in Celerio, Maruti's small car is also attractive in terms of pricing.
The car that was originally launched at a starting price of ₹3.90 lakh but is now available at ₹3.76 lakh. The company revised the price of the hatchback in India, after the announcement of a reduction in excise duty by finance minister P Chidambaram. The Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) equipped LXi and VXi variants will now go on sale for ₹4.14 lakh and ₹4.43 lakh respectively, as against ₹4.29 lakh and ₹4.59 lakh quoted previously.
(Ed: VP)
