[noopster]

Originally Posted by rr_zen

This move by Maruti reminds me of what TVS did in the early nineties by removing the TVS tag for their bikes and retaining only the "SUZUKI' tag.

It was actually "Ind Suzuki" before it became "TVS Suzuki" and if you ask me that was a much better sounding name!

[Grr7]

Originally Posted by saket77

The word 'at par' is the key. It's not like a 10L customer is treated like a 3L customer. He is treated 'at par'. Not a bad thing I guess for either of them.

The treatment meted is relative here.
Eg. if the 3 lac customer is being served water, then 10 lac customer commands to be served coffee. Further, if 3 lac customer is being served coffee, the 10 lac customer commands to be served CCD coffee or may be Starbucks coupon for the outlet next door. So on and so forth.
That is human psychology. If same treatment is meted to both, the 10 lac premium customer feels shortchanged. Hence, shift to another brand that would provide a relatively superior treatment(and probably inferior/same quality product).

[noopster]

Originally Posted by Grr7

The treatment meted is relative here.
Eg. if the 3 lac customer is being served water, then 10 lac customer commands to be served coffee. Further, if 3 lac customer is being served coffee, the 10 lac customer commands to be served CCD coffee or may be Starbucks coupon for the outlet next door. So on and so forth.
That is human psychology.

I can buy my own coffee thanks very much! When I go to an ASS, all I ask for is prompt, responsive and efficient service. It really doesn't matter whether I drive an Alto or a Grand Vitara.

Of course Maruti is perfectly within its rights to have dedicated service areas in their facility for the premium offerings but if I were an Alto driver who came in on time for an appointment and watched a couple of "premium" guys being shunted ahead in the queue, I would not be a happy Charlie!

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by noopster

It was actually "Ind Suzuki" before it became "TVS Suzuki" and if you ask me that was a much better sounding name!

Thats correct. 'Ind Suzuki' was a much better name than TVS Suzuki and the quality of the product was the best when it was 'Ind Suzuki' . But again, Suzuki was a much better name than TVS Suzuki. So in the same breath, I guess the shift from Maruti Suzuki to Suzuki will be welcomed by the typical Indian.

[Bhodrolok]

You actually mean that all buyers are treated equally shabbily irrespective of the amount they are looking to spend?

Not to forget, one of the major strengths on which Maruti has thrived in India is that a 3 lakh rupee car customer is treated same as a 10 lakh rupee customer.

[rajeev k]

If Suzuki feels that this marketing tactic would help them garner higher sales volumes for their premium offerings, let that be. Perhaps, in future all Maruti Suzuki cars will sport only the Suzuki badge.

[mi2n]

Saw this coming. Saw this coming since a long time and I can bet that I am not the only one going by the increasing numbers of De-badged Swifts I see everyday. Seems like a section ( all be it very small) does not want to associate themselves with the Maruti badge anymore.

I am not generalizing. This very year, I was involved in car buying decisions of two cousins, both working in the IT industry aged 25 & 27 respectively. I like the Suzuki Swift, so my default suggestion to both were the Z-Spec versions in diesel. The TD went fine as reported but they ended up buying a i20 Elite petrol ( surely this cousin is no enthusiast) and a Polo TDi respectively. When asked to justify their decisions, surprisingly both came up with the same - both found the Swift very engaging, were all praises about the easy gear-shifts, handling, etc. But apart from those everything felt Maruti ! They exclaimed how the Elite and Polo is much more talked about in their circles and held in higher regard than the capable Maruti Swift. Any Maruti is regarded as a common, no frills, no bragging rights car as per them.

That got me thinking, I cannot brag about handling, turbo kick, slick shifts with my non-petrolhead friend. "I own a Volkswagen" does a much better job in such scenarios. I wondered if a Suzuki Swift would have found a place instead. I also couldn't argue that a 25 year old, spending 8-9 big ones would want some bragging rights to boot as well. Something, no Maruti can ever provide. As for me, I would probably have bought the Swift and De-badged it right away. Heck, I would have even got rid of that annoying DDiS badge.

In my opinion, this step, if implemented, would help massively in bringing this segment of customer back to them. More so, when there are exciting new launches to look forward to.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by Bhodrolok

You actually mean that all buyers are treated equally shabbily irrespective of the amount they are looking to spend?

Not really. If you have been a Maruti customer, you would know this firsthand.

[Chetan_Rao]

In what world is SUZUKI a premium brand?

And even if Maruti intends to segregate customers in the showroom, what about A.S.S.? Will they provide separate service bays and personnel there too? If not, this doesn't make much sense. The customer may like the special treatment in the few visits to the showroom, but A.S.S. is where the customer will keep coming throughout ownership, and that's where the 'experience' will make a difference.

[kothamasi]

I think Maruti commands a better brand loyalty than Suzuki. Maruti's premium cars don't sell because they just are not premium. They are rather boring and dull when compared to competition from Honda, VW or even skoda. I have not named Mercedes or BMW because they are just way ahead of Suzuki. It is not like Suzuki cars are doing any better in other parts of the world. In fact the only place in the world where Suzuki is a market leader is India and the Maruti brand name has had a big role in that. World over Suzuki is known for cheap small cars to get you from point A to point B. Suzuki has never been a desirable brand. Good luck to them if they think they will fare better by removing the Maruti tag.

[RSR]

I saw this coming, especially after their plan of establishing separate showrooms ("Nixa" for models above the Swift Dzire) got publicised. Again, this is not exactly new. The Grand Vitara XL-7, Grand Vitara and Kizashi only sported the Suzuki nomenclature, as they were CBU imports from Japan. This may be the first time models manufactured in India carry only the Suzuki name (other than the export versions, of course).

I think this also ties in with the long term strategy of Suzuki Motor Company (SMC) of gaining total ownership & control over Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL). They are doing it slowly, and in phases. Their new plant in Gujarat, which will be built and operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMC called Suzuki Gujarat Limited, is another step in this direction. At some point in the future, SMC may buy out much of the remaining stake in MSIL by offering a tempting price for minority shareholders. Even if not 100% under the ownership of Suzuki, MSIL may become like Toyota Kirloskar Motor in which the Japanese automobile company owns ~ 90% (and their Indian partners own the remaining).

Using a half-different badge for their more expensive models may be fine as a branding strategy, but treating customers differently in the same showroom and workshop is a strict no-no. If they discriminate against an Alto or Celerio or Swift customer by treating him/her in an inferior way compared to a Ciaz or A-Cross customer in the same showroom, then when the time comes for the former to upgrade his/her ride, he/she is going to look at a different brand altogether.

It would be interesting to see how they're going to pull off this thing in common showrooms. It will be a slippery path for sure, as they wouldn't want to alienate future Suzuki car buyers by treating them in a shabbier manner (comparatively) when they come in to purchase a Maruti Suzuki car.

On a related note, if the idea is to align their more expensive models on par with those of Suzuki globally, then why rename the S-Cross as the A-Cross for India? I can understand them dropping the SX4 moniker to avoid association with the earlier sedan, but why turn the "S" into an "A"? Perhaps some other auto company has the rights to the S-Cross name in India, just like Ford did with the Splash (Ritz in India)?

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by RSR

It would be interesting to see how they're going to pull off this thing in common showrooms. It will be a slippery path for sure, as they wouldn't want to alienate future Suzuki car buyers by treating them in a shabbier manner (comparatively) when they come in to purchase a Maruti Suzuki car.

Premium /luxury retail is differentiated in almost all categories. Be it jewellery, apparel, watches etc.

Even apple is treating customers checking out gold edition watches differently(not inferior but more special) .

It's not hard to see a customer profile of the alto will be different than the Grand Vitara.

There are even bank branches for NRI/HNI customers.

It's just the way it is. If you want high end customers, you have to go 'exclusive'.

[Added_flavor]

I think they are putting themselves either in a dicey situation here or this whole thing might prove to be totally insignificant - Depending on how aggressive they are with this move.

1. If they don't market this 'change' aggressively, the common junta will never know of it - Any car that comes out of the showroom will still be a Maruti for the layman.

2. If they are very aggressive in stressing the removal of 'Maruti' badge on the premium cars, there's a good chance that the common junta with half-baked knowledge will consider the 'Maruti' badged cars as Indian (=low quality) and the Suzuki badged ones as foreign (=high quality). This will be a shoot yourself in the foot situation.

Since the above post mentioned the TVS and Suzuki example, I am reminded of what my Fiero mechanic used to tell me. 'Saar Suzuki Fiero was excellent. TVS Fiero has lot of problems'

[carwatcher]

I saw this coming.
Its the NORM out there.
Proof ! Look at the Micromax, they roped in Hugh Jackman and not Salman Khan why, is it so difficult to understand.
Look at all the aspiring INDIAN brands, almost all of their ads feature phoren models.
And the best one is our very own Mahindra who is hell bent on showing phoren models and locations since Scorpio, can anyone care to explain.
If one looks deeply, foreign movies highlight typical Indian music and dancer while shooting in India (with Sitar being the quintessential instrument), same goes for their Ads (does anyone remember Visa Ad featuring Richard Gere shot in Rajasthan).
One more contradiction worth noting is that most of the South movie songs feature Desert and not beach.

[digitalnirvana]

In theory, this is a good move if done right. But MSIL's approach is baffling me for following reasons

1. Why not create a separate brand altogether like Lexus or Genesis? The current MSIL lineup already sport the Suzuki S, what differentiating factor would it bring to the table by just dropping the "Maruti" word from the rear badge? It is brand overlap (I am not even sure if I should call it that, because essentially it is just the one brand anyway!), and confusing

2. This strategy of creating a separate brand is generally done by players who are entering a new market, or trying to shake off an adverse brand perception, e.g. Toyota or Hyundai were seen as low cost overseas cars, and thus needed the creation of new brands/product lines to move up the value chain. MSIL is in a very different situation. It is the founding father of the modern Indian automobile industry, and being "the" dominant player its brand is entrenched in the consumer's mindset. In fact its brand is so strong, that simply renaming it to Suzuki would have no effect whatsoever. People would continue to associate Suzuki to Maruti, as always. My next car will be a MS, simply because I can rely on the brand (easy to use, vfm, good resale, wide service network etc). If MSIL wants to disassociate its premium offerings from those perceptions, it must bring in a brand new brand name (pun intended)

3. Common showrooms for a luxury sub brand makes little sense, and would actually erode the exclusivity of the "premium" brand

4. Lastly, will a new brand ultimately help the parent MS badge? Or will it downscale it firmly to the value category? If not managed right, the sub brand (if MSIL decides to bring in a new name, that is) will not really improve the parent brand's perception. Toyota gained overall by introducing Lexus, Hyundai didn't according to this article (http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...drum-15539113/)

But hey, I could be spouting nonsense