Long waiting periods and negligible discounts: Semi-conductor shortage woes for car buyers – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Waiting periods running into several months, production cuts and near-negligible discounts mark the festive season as semiconductor shortages have seen companies slash wholesale deliveries, even in the month preceding Diwali.
Mirroring the dismal trend seen over the past few months, wholesales deliveries for companies such as Maruti, Hyundai, Honda and Kia was down once again as companies faced difficulty in sourcing semiconductors.
However, some managed to duck the negative trend – perhaps due to relatively better supplies – and reported a growth in numbers, and these included Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota.
Maruti has said it has a backlog of 2 lakh deliveries, and the company has been taking steps to beef up its semiconductor in times of shortages.
Chairman RC Bhargava said that availability of the chips is important for the company to scale back quickly, and resume its normal production schedules that have been under pressure for the past few months.
Hyundai also complained of the problems, and blamed it on global semi-conductor supply constraint. It said that the situation “continues to be a challenge, resulting in lower production across the industry.”
Veejay Nakra, CEO of Mahindra’s automotive division, said that supply chain issues around semi-conductor related parts continue to be dynamic.
There is a waiting period of up to six months on certain models, and these include those from Korean companies Hyundai and Kia.
On the two-wheeler side, demand for larger players such as Hero MotoCorp continues to be a challenge as many consumers stay away from the market due to high prices of petrol and also increased vehicle prices.