EV, CNG car waiting jump to 3-4 months ahead of festival season

Indian automobile dealers are entering the festive season with around a month of overall stock, but are running short of the particular models, powertrains, battery packs and variants buyers want. The mismatch is leaving some customers waiting two to five months for delivery even before the year’s biggest vehicle-buying weeks begin.

Waiting periods for high-demand electric cars have risen to three to four months from about one month five months ago, while the TVS iQube electric scooter carries a four-to-five-month queue. Maruti Suzuki’s new Brezza has an average wait of about two months, with its turbo-petrol and CNG versions accounting for more than 70 per cent of bookings, according to an August channel check by YES Securities.

Passenger-vehicle inventories stand at roughly four weeks and two-wheeler stocks at four to five weeks. The mismatch has surfaced at the beginning rather than the peak of festive buying: Onam sales in Kerala grew more than 20 per cent year-on-year, while Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri, Dhanteras and Diwali are still ahead.

Enquiries and bookings for electric and CNG passenger vehicles have risen more than 30%, with demand growing at more than twice the pace of conventional ICE vehicles. Electric two-wheeler demand is growing 30-40%, against organic enquiry growth of 10-12% for the broader two-wheeler market.

YES Securities attributed the surge to new launches and “negativity around E20”. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles is recording stronger booking growth than peers, although Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai are witnessing similar trends. Tata’s battery warranty of around 15 years on key models, against eight years earlier, is also helping move EVs beyond the early-adopter category, the brokerage said.

The headline shortage masks large differences between models and even variants. Separate August model-level delivery data show the Tiago EV Smart 19 and Pure+ 19 and Punch EV Smart 30 carrying some of the longest waits at 18-24 weeks. The Punch EV Smart 40 takes around 10-12 weeks.

Move up the price ladder and the picture changes again. Mahindra’s XEV 9S and XEV 9e have indicative waits of around 16-20 weeks, while the Sierra EV Pure 65 takes 12-15 weeks and Maruti Suzuki’s e Vitara around eight to 12 weeks.

But an EV badge doesn’t automatically mean a long queue. JSW MG Motor India’s Windsor EV has an indicative wait of four to eight weeks, the Tata Nexon EV three to four weeks and the Harrier EV two to three weeks. The Curvv EV can be available in one to two weeks.

The dispersion suggests demand is clustering around particular launches, price points, battery packs and variants rather than creating an across-the-board shortage of electric cars.

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