The Maruti Swift has a waiting period of three months (in some cases) from the date of booking at present, according to a leading Maruti dealer in Mumbai.

Dealers in the city were not willing to give priority allotment even at a premium of Rs 75,000 offered over the retail price.

According to a leading auto consultant, three months is pretty long a time for some impatient customers to switch their loyalty to alternative attractive models such as the Hyundai Getz.

The Maruti Saga

The Getz, launched in the B-plus segment by Hyundai late last year, compares squarely with the Maruti Swift and is available off the shelf.

Maruti confirmed this and cited sourcing problems from the vendors as a major reason for the order backlog. Currently, Maruti Udyog [Get Quote] has a booking for over 20,000 vehicles.

"The response from customers is overwhelming. Our vendors have not been able to supply the huge chunk of components within a short period. Even before the launch of the Swift on May 25, we had booking for 9,000 cars. The company has the capacity to make only 5,000-6,000 cars a month," a source said.

Maruti despatched around 3,000 Swift units in May and 6,000 in June. Currently, the Swift is about 85 per cent localised in India, with some high-end technological components such as sensors and gear-box components being imported from Japan.

Three versions of the Swift -- LXi, VXi and Zxi -- were launched in the last week of May at introductory prices ranging between Rs 385,000 and Rs 483,000. However, within 10 days, the prices were increased by Rs 8,000-Rs 10,000.

In response to this price increase by Maruti, Hyundai reduced the prices of its Santro by about Rs 19,000. However the Korean giant has not altered the price of the Getz.