Leading automakers are ramping up production and building dealer inventory to meet strong customer demand as India enters the peak festive buying season, with manufacturers seeking to ensure adequate vehicle availability and convert healthy bookings into retail sales.
Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India has 2.2 lakh pending bookings ahead of the festive season, while Hyundai Motor India has built four-five weeks of inventory across its dealer network. Mahindra & Mahindra, meanwhile, has scaled up its utility vehicle and electric vehicle manufacturing capacity to 68,000 units a month to improve supply and bring down waiting periods.
Maruti Suzuki India’s Senior Executive Officer Partho Banerjee told PTI, “At the beginning of this financial year, we had 12 days of stock. The current bookings pendency is 2.2 lakhs, which translates to 16 days of stock before the festive season.
“We have already commissioned two new production lines, adding 5 lakhs capacity in total. The production is being ramped up gradually, and we expect these lines to fully stabilise by year-end.”
He shared that the company is calibrating production and supplies across models to prevent waiting periods from rising disproportionately for individual vehicles during the festive period.
“For Maruti Suzuki, our supply chain and production teams are putting in efforts and trying to meet the festival demand. However, due to supply constraints, we may introduce special schemes for our pending booking customers,” Banerjee said.
Tarun Garg, MD & CEO, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, said, “The festive season continues to be a key growth driver for the Indian automotive industry, and we have been proactively preparing our operations, dealer network and supply chain to effectively cater to customer demand across the country.”
“Over the past few months, we have strengthened dealer inventory, optimised logistics and enhanced product availability across the Hyundai Motor India Limited network to support timely deliveries and a seamless customer experience,” he added.
Garg shared that Hyundai Motor India Ltd has proactively built dealer inventory ahead of the festive season, with inventory levels of 4-5 weeks across its network, to effectively cater to anticipated festive demand.
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“Our focus remains on maintaining the right balance between fulfilling existing customer bookings and ensuring adequate stock availability at dealerships to maximise retail conversions during the festive period,” he added.
Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said demand remains robust across its portfolio.
“Over the first half of the year, we scaled up our SUV and EV manufacturing capacity to 68,000 units per month to cater to growing customer demand.
This has helped us significantly improve supply-side responsiveness and bring down waiting periods across the pnavortfolio, even as bookings have remained healthy,” Gollagunta observed.
“Given the positive consumer sentiment, the freshness of our portfolio, and the improvements we have made on the supply side, we remain confident of converting strong festive demand into retail sales and delivering another successful festive season for both Mahindra and the industry,” he added.
The festive season is a crucial period for India’s passenger vehicle industry, with manufacturers and dealers seeking to maximise deliveries during the period spanning Navratri, Dussehra, Dhanteras and Diwali.
With manufacturers stepping up production and building inventory, the focus this festive season is increasingly on ensuring that supply keeps pace with bookings and that vehicles are available for customers when they are ready to make their purchases.
Published on October 4, 2026
