Even with carmakers increasing car prices and the new emission norms kicking in, it is surprising that demands for car are shooting up. Yes, believe it or not, but it is the truth. Demands for cars is far outstretching the production capacity and some popular car models, including Maruti Suzuki’s Swift and Swift Dzire, Indigo Manza, Chevrolet Beat and Cruze, Volkswagen Polo and the diesel variants of Hyundai i20 and Verna, now have waiting periods that range anywhere from a fortnight to nearly four months.

Also, these are the models which are not running any discounts. While the petrol variant Swift has a waiting period of one month, the diesel variant of the same would make you wait for almost two-and-a-half months or more. Swift Dzire (both models) tops them both with a waiting period that stretches up to four months! Apparently, this is happening because Maruti, in order to cater to the export needs, had to accommodate the A-Star production at its Manesar plant. “We are bottlenecking capacity by realigning product mix at both the plants,” Mayank Pareek, executive officer (sales and marketing) had earlier said.

The company has shifted the production of its Swift petrol model to Gurgaon and has produced about 40,000 units per year at Manesar plant. Export activities of Maruti grew by 126.7 per cent between April 2009 and this February, at 131,982 units, with A-Star contributing for most of it. Earlier Maruti Suzuki had said that Manesar production capacity would be enhanced by up to 250,000 units by 2012, at an investment of Rs 1,700 crore.

The situation is pretty much same with Volkswagen Polo too. Neeraj Garg, member of the board and director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India, said: “Polo is having a waiting period of about three-four months currently. We are ramping up the production of it at Chakan (near Pune) and will try to bring down the waiting period. We have confirmed bookings of 5,000 units of the Polo, with 500 units already delivered.” Polo was launched in the second week of March and is currently distributed through a network of 43 dealers across India.

But there is just no escaping the waiting period, even if you decide to run to Hyundai. Hyundai Verna has a waiting period of three to four weeks and the latest hit from Hyundai, the i20, will make you wait for about three to four months.

“Demand for the i20 is three to four times higher than what we anticipated. As a result, the company had ramped up production and is now working in three shifts across its two plants to roll out 4,500 units of i20 a month,” said Arvind Saxena, senior vice president, Hyundai Motor India.

Chevrolet has been experiencing a lot of success with its Beat, Cruze and Spark Now, Beat and Cruze have a waiting period of two-month and one-month respectively.

“Beat has been in great demand and we are operating in two shifts to roll out 4,000 to 4,500 units a month. This, along with Spark and other models, will help the company to grow in excess of 100 per cent in March, vis-à-vis 5,001 units sold in 2009,” said Ankush Arora, vice president (sales and marketing), General Motors India.

So, if you decide to buy one of these models, your waiting skills might just come handy.