[tsk13]

Maruti Suzuki: A Brief Insight conveyed via its Information Brochure.

[esteemer]

Maruti started with the humble 800 in the 20th century, is the leader of the Indian Automotive Industry and the 800 is still on sale.(Well yeah won't remain so for long, sadly)

We talk about After Sales Service and strangely the first word that comes to our mouths is Maruti.

Availability of spares? No problem. It's a Maruti.

Truly, India comes home in a Maruti.

[cyqed]

Well, that is a pretty huge plant. I doubt if they are making a dream come true every 16 seconds.

Ahhaa.. "Athiti Devo bhava" is a nice touch. so we Indians are the guests to a Japanese company in India. Very thoughtful.

[designersf]

The Manesar plant is massive and look at their figures - 80,00,000 units is an outstanding achievement! Every second car in India is a Maruti. That is spectacular. I'm worried now though with many new hatches flooding the Indian Auto industry, I dont see the WagonR, Estilo and Alto standing any chance against the likes of Figo, Beat and Polo. Moreover, we still have the Micra, Etios and 2CV coming up as well. Its going to be a difficult task to maintain their market share

[good.car-ma]

They have held off Hyundai for so long. I dont see Figo, Beat, Polo or Micra being a real threat unless they get very serious about India quickly. As for Etios and 2CV, whether they will live up to the hype remains to be seen.
Thats the reason Maruti succeeded in India - they take this market seriously

[Amartya]

@good.car-ma

Each and every car maker worth it's salt is taking the Indian market seriously, to name a few: Hyundai, Tata, Ford, Fiat, Honda, Toyota, VW, Chevrolet and so on. Their latest car launches and investments show that they are serious, and think about the fact that they never had government backing, something that Maruti piggy backed on for years.
With more competition, and hopefully a more informed buyer, Maruti's hegemony would come to an end.

[good.car-ma]

Yes, absolutely right. The bright side is, the more choice for us the better

[designersf]

@good.car-ma

The only way for Maruti hereafter is price. They do not have any world class models that would suit the Indian market. The JDM WagonR will not come here for 3-4 more years and they do not have any immediate replacements for Alto and Estilo. Only the next-gen Swift is their last hope. You might argue that they will hold their share but that also seems difficult, even if they cut the prices of their models by 20-30k.

You should be around so the sales trend for the year ending March 2011 will settle this.

[good.car-ma]

Originally Posted by designersf

You should be around so the sales trend for the year ending March 2011 will settle this.

I didnt understand what you meant

[recshenoy]

but with such huge plant why they have waiting period for Swift /Dzire? is it due to limited assembly line for these cars?

I know many people who want to buy Swift or Dzire but end up buying others due to waiting period!

[BurningHeart]

I have always noticed that they leave GV out of these brochures. Wonder why?

BH.

[longhorn]

Originally Posted by BurningHeart

I have always noticed that they leave GV out of these brochures. Wonder why?

BH.

That's probably because the GV comes in as a CBU.

[vishwas]

Their factory seems all OK but their product placement and marketing department is snoozing. Soon Maruti will have to make money by giving tours in their Manesar facility. I hope they get a severe dose of reality to contend with the new entrants. If they have done well it is because they are rising with the tide (the fast growing Indian consumer market) and because of the monopoly of having been a PSU.

Products in demand like Dzire are being severely mismanaged - pray why give a test drive in a ZDi when you are not willing to sell one in reasonable time. Why eliminate practical and cheap features like seat height and steering adjustment from large volume variants like VDi? And who ever designed and approved the ghastly blue interiors in the Ritz... And where else will 4 different model years of the same car starting with one from 1984, be sold as four different models?

[tsk13]

Originally Posted by recshenoy

but with such huge plant why they have waiting period for Swift /Dzire? is it due to limited assembly line for these cars?

I know many people who want to buy Swift or Dzire but end up buying others due to waiting period!

Your reason is perfect. Reserving all Assembly Lines for Swift/ Dzire will mean lack of production of other models. Moreover, other reasons such as Limited supply of anciallries like Lamps, Seats, Tyres etc. also influence the production of various models. Irrespective of capacity, any manufacturer scales up production only to an extent within which core production factors like Raw Materials, Supplies and Workforce can be arranged successfully and profitably. In case of a mis-match between Production Targets and Availability of Factors of Production, the entire system goes haywire.

[GTO]

Maruti now needs to heavily focus on internal R&D. Lets have some innovation in electric / fuel cell powerplants, small capacity turbo-charged petrols (an emerging trend), safety features & initiatives, cutting edge automatic transmissions, next gen traction control systems and the like. Maruti has 3 times the market share of Tata in passenger cars, yet it is the latter who we see investing in new technologies (and learning along the way).