MSIL gets 21,000 bookings for Dream Series models launched in June, extends scheme to July

Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), which has been struggling with dwindling sales of its entry-level models, with the ubiquitous Alto and S-Presso, registering a notable 33.15 percent decline in June, itself, has extended the limited-edition run on these models.

The company, which introduced the discounted versions of the Alto, S-Presso, and Celerio under the ‘Dream Series’ editions in June, says it will now extend the special edition in July as well. According to Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, MSIL, “The response to the Dream Series has been quite encouraging, and we are going to extend it to July as well. We started Dream Series for the month of June, and it brought about a growth of 17 percent in footfalls.

“While there was some shrinkage that was happening in this core entry-level segment, we were able to register around 21,000 bookings last month. We are now also trying to work out special finance packages for these customers with various banks,” Banerjee pointed out.

MSIL which has reported a nominal 1.2 percent uptick in Q1 FY25, with total domestic sales of 419,114 units (Q1 FY24: 414,055), saw entry-level models de-grow at nearly 24 percent to 30,816 cars (Q1 FY24: 40,400). The carmaker says that as its current network inventory stands at around 37-38 days, and while a 30-day stock is typically considered reasonable in the industry, its numbers are not too far away from normal.

“Our existing stock levels are a little high as compared to norm, but they are almost within the standard range,” Banerjee said. To counter the situation, the limited-edition runs are aiding MSIL volumes, and as a result, the company has experimented with this strategy to other models as well. For instance, it recently introduced the Velocity Edition on the Fronx compact crossover. Given the current scenario, discounts are likely to remain prevalent, and as per MSIL, depend on the model, as well as vary from market to market.

The company is presently sitting at an order book of around 164,000 cars by end-June 2024, with the Ertiga CNG claiming almost 26 percent or 43,000 units of this pendency. MSIL says while it is largely able to fulfil customer requirements at the earliest, there is a waiting period of around 2-3 weeks, mostly owing to unique colour preferences.