More demand than we can supply: Mahindra’s Executive Director

Mahindra’s executive director Rajesh Jejurikar has just revealed that the automaker is struggling to meet the massive demand for its SUVs. He’s gone on to state the demand is so much that it’s outstripping supply, and this is leading to long waiting times.

Here’s what he told Reuters at a recent earnings call where Mahindra revealed a massive jump in profit – from Rs. 424 crores in the first business quarter (April to June) of 2021 to Rs. 2196 crores in the first business quarter of 2022.

We have kicked off capacity expansion programmes but had not anticipated this kind of demand. We are ramping up capacity to make sure we can leverage all the demand we have. 

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Mahindra has factory capacity to build 6,000 units of the recently launched Scorpio-N SUV each month. Demand has been overwhelming, with Mahindra receiving 1 lakh bookings for the Scorpio-N in just 30 minutes after bookings opened. The huge demand meant that Mahindra had to hurriedly close bookings as it scrambles to fulfil the order backlog. The Mahindra Scorpio-N is expected to command waiting times stretching between 4 months to about a couple of years depending on the variant chosen.

The story is similar across Mahindra’s recent SUV launches. Ever since Mahindra launched the all-new Thar in 2020, the automaker has been struggling with massive waiting periods as demand is outstripping supply at many of its production facilities. While the all-new Thar’s launch happened during a severe supply chain crunch, the semi-conductor shortage is said to be more or less in control now.

Despite this, waiting times for certain variants of the Mahindra Thar are as high as 11 months. Even the Mahindra XUV700 – a runaway hit since its launch last year – is witnessing long waiting periods, with some variants taking up to 21 months from booking to delivery. With the Scorpio-N now being launched, and the tremendous response it’s received, waiting times are unlikely to go down in a hurry.

On the 15th of August this year, Mahindra will showcase a new range of electric SUVs that the company is planning to launch shortly. The XUV400 – a longer electric variant of the XUV300 – will be the first all-new electric SUV that Mahindra will soon launch in India. Next year, the automaker will launch a longer wheelbase, 5 door version of the Thar.

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