Team-BHP - View Single Post

GTO · 6th June 2004, 19:37

SLK, Most of your "what ifs" have to do with the timing. You suggest that if the Wagon R, Ignis, Wagon R+ and the Liana were launched before the competition - they would have been the success stories today. Timing the launch of a product is very important, but it is not the only deciding factor. I doubt Maruti could have managed as good a job of marketing the Wagon R as Hyundai did with the Santro.

There are many other errors with your assessment. One thing is that the Ignis with a Zen diesel engine would be grossly underpowered. The Peugeot TUD5 did suffice in the 730 kg Zen, but in the 920+ kg Ignis....the car would be left gasping for power in almost any driving condition. Also the Ignis could not have been launched before the Indica, for the simple reason that the Ignis was not even ready by the Indica launch year. The American Esteem (Baleno) did not ever sell with a 140 bhp engine. It did have a 1.8 liter option, which was capable of 122bhp. For Indian conditions this would surely have been detuned to 115bhp.

I do agree with you that Maruti has got its timing game wrong in a couple of instances, but this was more because of the fatal bloodbaths between the Government of India and Suzuki Japan than anything else. Unfortunately, even their sheer domination in the Indian market made them that much more over-confident of their hold over the Indian market...and Maruti showed that it had learned some management techniques from HMs and PALs of the protected era.

But more than the timing, I think Maruti has suffered tremendous because of an ageing product line, a not-so-lean&mean management, faulty pricing strategies and their marketing decisions.

GTO

6th June 2004, 19:37	#3 (permalink)
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 13,824	SLK, Most of your "what ifs" have to do with the timing. You suggest that if the Wagon R, Ignis, Wagon R+ and the Liana were launched before the competition - they would have been the success stories today. Timing the launch of a product is very important, but it is not the only deciding factor. I doubt Maruti could have managed as good a job of marketing the Wagon R as Hyundai did with the Santro. There are many other errors with your assessment. One thing is that the Ignis with a Zen diesel engine would be grossly underpowered. The Peugeot TUD5 did suffice in the 730 kg Zen, but in the 920+ kg Ignis....the car would be left gasping for power in almost any driving condition. Also the Ignis could not have been launched before the Indica, for the simple reason that the Ignis was not even ready by the Indica launch year. The American Esteem (Baleno) did not ever sell with a 140 bhp engine. It did have a 1.8 liter option, which was capable of 122bhp. For Indian conditions this would surely have been detuned to 115bhp. I do agree with you that Maruti has got its timing game wrong in a couple of instances, but this was more because of the fatal bloodbaths between the Government of India and Suzuki Japan than anything else. Unfortunately, even their sheer domination in the Indian market made them that much more over-confident of their hold over the Indian market...and Maruti showed that it had learned some management techniques from HMs and PALs of the protected era. But more than the timing, I think Maruti has suffered tremendous because of an ageing product line, a not-so-lean&mean management, faulty pricing strategies and their marketing decisions. GTO __________________ GTO Change the way you think, and watch the world change around you. Please don't PM for support. Use the Contact Form instead. Please read the NEW Team-BHP FAQ section for all your queries.