The waiting game
It's that time of year when our country is awash with lights, celebrations and festivities all over. The Indian car market has been down in the dumps for several months now and carmakers have been banking on the festive season to provide a filip to the industry. There have been some much anticipated launches and the popularity of some of these freshly introduced models may just be an indication that things could be looking up for the auto industry here. Case in point, the Ford EcoSport , the all-new Skoda Octavia and the Toyota Innova. That said just how long would you have to wait to get delivery of any of these recently launched cars? We wondered the same, did some research and here's what we found out.
Buyers interested in the Ford EcoSport, we have bad news. Waiting periods in Mumbai for the diesel variants of the compact SUV stretch to around eight or nine months. What's worse, if you had your eyes set either on the 1.5-litre petrol or 1.0-litre EcoBoost variants, then you'll have to try your luck at a later date as most dealerships have stopped taking bookings altogether.
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It's more of the same in Delhi. Most of the dealers we spoke to said that EcoSport petrol bookings have been put on hold, as has the diesel Ambiente trim, while the higher Trend, Titanium and Titanium (O) trims have a waiting period of anywhere between eight and ten months.
Then there's the new Skoda Octavia, which you can get delivery of a lot faster than an EcoSport, but it's still a considerable period. Most dealers in Mumbai and Delhi have stated that the diesel variants have a waiting period of six to eight weeks, while the diesel Ambition and Elegance trims in automatic transmission guise can be yours in around 10 weeks' time. As for the petrol variants (1.8-litre TSI and 1.4-litre TSI), bookings are on but deliveries won't commence before the first week of January, 2014.
The recently launched Toyota Innova facelift, in comparison, hardly has a waiting period. The dealers we spoke to said there's high demand for the new Z variant, leading to a waiting period of a little over 20 days. The other two trims (GX and VX) can be yours in around 10 to 15 days. It's also worth noting that most dealers are struggling to sell the base GX variant, with most buyers opting for the VX and Z trims.
Also, colours like Silky Gold, Silver Mica and Grey Mica are readily available, whereas opting for any other colour like Super White, Dark Red Mica and Blue will push your delivery date back by anywhere between three and five days.
Disclaimer: Waiting periods are subject to change depending on dealer.
