Strike proves hot for `hottest little thing'

Strike proves hot for `hottest little thing'
Nandita Roy

New Delhi, Oct 20: The hottest little car in town may no longer remain hot news. Yes, you've got it right. It's the much-hyped new car on the block -- Alto that we are talking about. Thanks to the agitation by workers of Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL), which began a month back, Maruti dealers are complaining that Alto has taken a severe beating at the sales counter.

Pegged as the company's ray of hope to beat the onslaught of competition, Alto was strategically launched during the festive season, also a time for hectic buying by consumers. But alas, the company could take little advantage of that. Over the past two weeks, not a single Alto was delivered to any of the dealers. Result: Alto which could have captured at least 40-45 per cent of the market share in that segment failed to capitalise, say dealers.

On the contary, dealers have to cope with a long waiting list for delivery of Alto, which is also increasing by the day. All major dealers in Delhi have more or less the same woes. While Competent Motors has over 100-odd customers eagerly awaiting the delivery of this new car, at Allied Motors and Vikas Motors there are around 80 to 85 customers in the waiting list.

``The off-take of Alto was really good at the beginning. Within the first 20 days of its launch we sold around 50-55 cars at our shop alone,'' says Ravi Parimoo, sales manager, Competent Motors. While customers were promised a waiting period of around 3 to 7 days at the time of booking, it has increased to more than a month now. ``Over the past two weeks not a single Alto has been dispatched from the factory,'' Parimoo said.

Dealers also feel MUL should have kept the festival season in mind and altered its production pattern accordingly by increasing the production of Alto and cutting down a little on its other models. ``Since production of new cars are usually quota-based, the company should have produced more Alto's keeping the Diwali season in mind, a time when people indulge in consumerism. Had they done that, we would have easily captured 40-45 per cent market share in that segment,'' said dealer Vikas Motors.

What is more, this is also likely to have a big impact on the bottomlines of dealers. ``Our sales will be affected by at least 30 per cent to 40 per cent because of the strike,'' Parimoo added. Other dealers too admit of a similar impact.

Meanwhile, the face off between the managment and workers continue, with neither of them willing to relent. While the Maruti Udyog Employees Union (MUEU) is insisting that they be allowed to enter the factory without being forced to sign an undertaking, the management is refusing to budge. Workers are also not willing to accept the new incentive scheme according to which the average monthly cost to the comany per employee has been increased to Rs 33,767 from Rs 23,008 over a period of two years. Workers are hung on a higher incentive package, while the management feels incentive scheme cannot be viewed in isolation. And thus the deadlock continues.