Maruti Suzuki is India’s leading car manufacture company and the largest automobile manufacturer in South Asia. Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan, one of the world’s 10 largest automobile manufactures, holds the majority stake in Maruti India. Maruti Suzuki mainly focuses on small cars and has its headquarters in Delhi, with an annual turn-over of $4.8 billion for the year 2009.
Maruti Suzuki was primarily owned by the Government of India and Suzuki Motor Corporation was just a minor partner. In the beginning, Suzuki helped Maruti to manufacture cars for the Indian middle class. Maruti’s tie-up with Suzuki resulted in great success and they began mass production of cars. In turn they got thousands of customers and the Government of India handed over the ownership to Suzuki Motors Corporation.
Maruti Suzuki India Limited became the most valuable customer of Suzuki Motors Corporation, Japan. In the year 2006, Maruti Suzuki’s annual production was 626, 071 units and Maruti became Suzuki’s largest support. The overall productions of Maruti from its inception year till 2004 were 5 million cars. Apart from India, Maruti Suzuki cars are sold world-wide. However, the cars sold in foreign markets are not actually manufactured by Maruti.
Maruti Suzuki’s birth place is India and it was born in the year 1981. During its year of inception, was named Maruti Udyog Limited and then renamed to Maruti Suzuki India Limited on September 17, 2007. Although Maruti Suzuki was founded in 1981, its operations really began in 1983. Maruti Suzuki cars and units are manufactured in Manesar, which is located in south Delhi. Apart from that, Maruti vehicles are manufactured in Gurgaon as well.
Maruti 800 was the first car produced by this organization; the car competed against Premier’s Padmini and the Hindustan Motor’s Ambassador, which had already been in production for almost 25 years. Hence, the Maruti 800 emerged as the modern car of that period.
These days India has become a great hub for small cars and Maruti Suzuki holds the major share of small cars market. The most notable thing is that Maruti Suzuki has constantly held this position of leadership for over two decades.
Shinzo Nakanishi is the key person in the Maruti Suzuki organization. During the 1980s he played a major role in resulting a joint venture between the Suzuki Motors Corporation and Government of India. However, he became popular only during the 1990s, when this partnership had become strained. After the aforementioned issues were resolved, Nakanishi’s popularity sank into the shadows once again. In early 2004, the Government of India and Suzuki Motors Corporation made a new joint venture agreement in 2004, in which Nakanishi once again played a significant role. His continuous hard work has made Maruti a very successful organization.
Today Maruti sells one in every two cars across the country. During 2008-2009 alone, Nakanishi launched almost five cars. He is the first non-Indian CEO of an Indian company.
In 1970, Sanjay Gandhi envisioned a people’s car. Ten years later, Maruti decided to take action upon this vision and launched the Maruti 800 on December 14, 1983. It came to be the world’s cheapest car and penetrated a much larger part of society that could now have the privilege of owning a personal vehicle. Thus, this model came to be the inspiration and success for this corporation.
A recent Google India Study on the program, ‘The Role of the Internet in Automotive Buying’ says, “Maruti Suzuki India is the most searched car maker among potential buyers looking for online information”. The study also says that 56 percent of people search for the Maruti Suzuki brand before buying a car and 33 percent of them actually end up purchasing a Maruti car after the same.
When the main stake of Maruti India was under the Government of India, the brand used the logo of Maruti Suzuki India Limited. Later when Suzuki Motor Corporation bore the majority of ownership, the Suzuki logo was added alongside with the Maruti logo.
Maruti Suzuki Dealer Network in India
Maruti Suzuki has a wide range of dealerships all over the country. No matter if it is a remote village or high terrain area, every nook and cranny of India has Maruti dealerships and service centres. Currently there are dealerships located in over 454 cities, with a total of 681 Maruti dealerships in India.
Apart from that, the company has 799 Maruti dealer service workshops, 1945 Maruti Authorized Service Stations. Furthermore, on 30 National Highways Maruti has 30 Express Service Stations.
The most famous and popular Maruti car dealers in the major metros are –
Delhi: A M Automobiles, AAA Vehicleads, Aalianz Automobiles, Apra Auto PVT Ltd, Bagga Link Motors PVT ltd, Competent Automobiles Co Ltd, D D Motors Pvt Ltd, Fair Deal Cars Pvt Ltd, J J Impex, Krish Automotors Pvt Ltd, Magic Auto, Pasco Automobiles, Marketing Times Automobiles, Rana Motors Pvt Ltd, Rohan Motors Limited, Saya Automobiles Ltd, Shiva Motors, Sikand and Company.
Chennai: ABT Private Limited, Cart India Private Limited, East coast Automobiles Private Limited, Indus Motor Co. Pvt Ltd, Kapico Motors, Khivraj Motors Limited.
Mumbai: Automotive Manufacture Limited, Autovista, Fort Point, Laxmi cars Private Ltd, M/S SK Wheels Pvt Ltd, Navnit Motors Pvt Ltd, Ratan Motors, S.K Wheels, Spectra Motors Ltd, Sah and Sanghi Auto Agencies Ltd.
Kolkata: Auto Hi-tech Pvt Ltd, Dewar’s Garage, Jalan Distributors, Machino Techno Ltd, Mohan Motor Udyog.
Maruti Suzuki Used car market
Maruti Suzuki itself deals with used cars. Therefore, customers need not look outside to buy or sell used Maruti vehicles. Maruti offers very good rates compared to the market. Thus, most Maruti customers often sell their used car here itself or exchange them for newer models by paying a lesser premium. This used marketplace of used Maruti cars is known as Maruti True value or Maruti True Service. Currently there are over 315 Maruti True Value outlets across the country.
Maruti Suzuki Future plans
Maruti Suzuki plans to produce the SX4 Hybrid concept vehicle by 2015. Maruti Suzuki intends to develop an unseen hybrid system. The SX4 Hybrid will run short distances using electricity alone. Suzuki will explain the SX4 in detail during India’s Commonwealth Games, which are to commence in October 2010. The standard Maruti SX4 (A3 segment sedan car) was launched in 2007.
R3 MPV is another recently unveiled concept car from Maruti Suzuki. Maruti Suzuki’s R3 MPV is a compact multipurpose vehicle in which six people can sit in three rows.
Maruti also has plans to release a D-Segment car named Kizashi The Kizashi has a 2.4 liter WT petrol engine with a six-speed manual transmission.
Maruti Suzuki Current Models
Maruti Suzuki currently offers 14 successful new car models that range between compact economy cars (Maruti 800, Maruti Alto), luxury SUV’s (Grand Vitara), and premium sedans (Maruti Suzuki SX4).
Over 2.5 million Maruti 800’s have sold from its launch date until now. The model is very successful and it is priced around Rs. 2 lacs. After two decades of success, Maruti Suzuki plans on stopping the production of the Maruti 800 from April (2010) onwards due to a decline in the sale of this model. The Maruti 800’s exteriors are compact and five people can be accommodated inside. The model comes in four variants and they all come with 799cc engine. The variants and their Mumbai ex-showroom prices are - Maruti 800 Standard Petrol for 2 lacs, Maruti 800 A/C Petrol for 2.3 lacs, and Maruti 800 Duo Standard LPG for 2.2 lacs and Maruti 800 Duo AC LPG for 2.4 lacs.
Maruti Swift is another popular car from Maruti Suzuki. The model was introduced in the year 2005. Maruti Swift comes with both hatchback and sedan variants. The exteriors of the Maruti Swift look stunning and stylish and the interior is very comfortable and delivers a high quality ride. Maruti Swift comes with both petrol and diesel engines. There are totally five variants available in this model. The models are Maruti Swift Lxi, Maruti Swift Vxi, Maruti Swift Zxi, Maruti Swift Ldi (diesel), Maruti Swift Vdi (diesel). The prices of the Maruti Swift range between Rs. 4 lacs and Rs. 6 lacs.
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