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-   -   Why Maruti ? not anything else?? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/49511-why-maruti-not-anything-else.html)

hi friends
i am going to start this thread for all of us . I have many questions that why are there maruti suzuki cars in india more than any other reputed brands??
why we are more inclined towards maruti when there are much more reliable brands ??
we have other brand cars for same price as marutis and having more functions and safety than maruti than also why are we inclined towards maruti??
do we have a blind faith in marutis and inturn of which they are selling us anything which they want to??
I think only advantage of a maruti car is its cheap spares and service centers . But is it advisable to overook safety just for saving spare cost.

there are better cars than marutis hot selling cars.

These are few reasons I can think of:
1) Relatively reliable. Not that others are not, but general opinion is that tata vehicles are not as reliable, but I cant be sure of that since I dont own one. Then Hyundai, which is relatively new entrant, as compared to maruti, so people required some time to be confident of their reliability. But I think people now consider Hyundai almost as reliable as Maruti.
2) As you already mentioned, cheap spares and service centres. Some how I think this is because many people who come from an era or amby and premier, thinks that cars will spend more time in garage than on the road. These days breakdowns due to engine troubles, major mechanical problems are rare compared to yesteryears vehicles. So, this is not a major factor, especially if you live in city. This maybe important factor, if you live in away from city or does frequent long trips(in which case it is assuring to know that there will be a service station nearby where ever you go, incase of any problem).
3) Cheap. Because they have cars based on decades old models still selling, so obviously they can sell it cheap.
4) No real competition in the market. I mean when we speak of small cars(below 5 lks range) where is the competition. Just hyundai, tata, and very recently GM with spark. Which in my opinion is very little competition. People have very less to choose from.

The way they treat you at the service centre.
I truly feel like a king when I give in my car for service.

My cars, Morris Minor, M 800 and now the Wagon R.

My service is at RK Saboo Motors, Nampally.
The good feeling persists from the time I bought my car from the truevalue outlet till date.

Will I again buy a Maruti. I dont know but if everything else is equal, I will prefer Maruti over the competition.

Its simple, they are the only company that cater to the growing needs of the common masses with a wide range of small cars/muv's etc. They A.S.S is exemplary, and their service centres cover even the remotest part of this country.

Only company that is coming close to SMIL is Hyundai.

This is relative term. Rolls-royce is reputed, but not affordable for everyone.
Coming back to other segments, can you give me a reason why Maruti cannot be reputed ?
The cars produced by Maruti are good without doubt and they have earned this reputation.

How can we raise questions on reliability of Maruti brand ? IMHO, this Maruti brand produces most reliable cars in India.

Apart from Onmi, Maruti 800, Gypsy, all of their cars are safe. We cannot say that Maruti cars are unsafe.

Let us take Honda for example. The G2HC was overpriced and not available with ABS and airbags till SX4 came out. Apart from this example, its not that Maruti is selling crap cars. No way.

Again we dont have any proof that the modern cars sold by Maruti are unsafe and sold by others are very very safe cars.

Relative term. Depends upon the requirements of individual customers.


There are no proof that modern launches by Maruti are unsafe or come with poor reliability.
Each and every brand has its own set of weakness and strenght. Maruti covers up most of the points and hence is the leader. There is no official data about the facts that you have posted.

As said, they have a car for everyone and look after them well wherever its needed.

Harry, if you can, please tell me what cars do you own.

For a Maruti: In case of emergency, i would not think twice of letting a road-side service centre guy doing the job. Of course i would have it checked by an authorised guy when i can. Most of the genral workshop guys are well versed with Maruti.

Other Cars: i do not know as i have not owned any.

I agree with bblost the service center treats everyone like a King / Queen.

I have seen service supervisors taking pains to explain to customers why they need to change some stuff if required. Many a times they do fix-up small things without a charge. Most of the time the bill is far lesser than estimated.

Apart from the above my personal experience while I met with a accident on a holiday that I could locate a service station within 20 KMs; they fixed the car in 40 minutes and did not charge me labour charges and charged me only for parts as I was proceeding on a holiday.

I guess there is competition but people look up to Maruti for reliability, lesser breakdowns, spares are cheaper and affordable cars for very segment.

This is coming from someone who does not own a car but is planning to get the first car ever in his family in the next 6 months.

Maruti is a name that I've been hearing since I was a child (I am 32 yrs now). It is a name that has my father and grandfather associates with a car! From what one reads/hears, it has THE best service network in the country and as someone already pointed out, even the most amateur mechanic would be able to open the car up and repair most of the minor problems (get it running again in emergencies) it if the need arises. That's one car which has the least running cost (or at least thats it's reputation).
For an average Indian middle class family who has saved for years to get their dream Alto, running costs would always be a concern. This is where Maruti has a big reputation as compared to its rivals (and rightly so).

1. They have first mover advantage. Before Maruti 800, only "real" choice we had was color or Premier Padmini. And treatment you got at A.S.S. was comparable to any govt department.

2. Lower Cost. In terms of initial purchase and long term ownership. Still NO car competes with 800/Alto in terms of cost.

3. Public perception of reliability and "quality" that has been built over 3 decades.

4. Sales network. Suggested Spark to someone in family. But nearest GM dealer was 200 KM away. Maruti has 2 dealers in that town (Satna). So, outside of Tier 1 and 2 cities, Maruti almost has monopoly.

Don't think there is any other car that can match Maruti 800/Alto in terms of cost. No other car costs less then 3 lakh (On road). There is a reason Alto is largest selling car in India.

Maruti can very easily loose all these advantages IF they keep this game of 6 months waiting period (on quite a few models) on for long. It will be history like PAL.

I have second thought what you have written above. What is your criteria of a car being a Safe. You simply said Omni, Gypsy, 800 are unsafe vehicles. Even many people in this forum said particularly about 800. How do you say that above vehicles are not safe apart from that all other vehicle Wagon R, Swift, Zen, Estilo, Santro, Indica, Getz are safe.

Can you provide some data with support of your statement?

Even in this forum I have read more accidents in Swift, Verna, Scorpio, Safari, Indica what not others. I have yet to come across any 800 fatal accident in this forum despite the fact that number of 800s in Indian road are maximum compared to any other car from any manufacturer.

Please do not go over size, suggest with appropriate data.

Maruti Omni lacks any crash space. I think that this is sufficient to say that Omni is not a safe car. I case of a crash, the passenger's life are at risk.

In case of Gypsy, there were not many crash test carried out earlier and that car is not a full fledged crash tested body. The construction is body on chassis ( correct me if I am wrong ) and the chassis was not designed keeping in mind the present crash standards.

Maruti 800 has crumple zones built into its cassis, but it is very old and the crash safety is not the best. The entire structure of the car was developed many years ago and the standards for crash safety were not very as stiff as they are now. Over the years better materials and technology became available for building cars and these have not followed into this car.

In comparison, all other maruti products like Alto/Wagon R/Estilo ( all of them are based on same platform ), Swift, SX4, Grand Vitara and even Baleno and versa have chassis designed keeping in mind the present crash safety norms and are more modern. So all the development that has went in to the automotive safety world like better metals, more stronger safer passenger shells without more weight are adopted into these cars.
Swift and SX4 use tailored blanks, a technique through which the metal thickness can be varied as per locations and requirements. This reduces weight and give out better stronger passenger shelll along with more effective crumple zones.
Unitary construction was introduced to the world by Citroen but was introduced in India by Maruti 800.

Basically Maruti alto is new 800 and A-star is new alto. So all the technological development is implemented in subsequent generations, but not on the older cars.

Even Maruti 800 has crumple zones and seat belts and it is as safe as new Verna without ABS, Airbags. I agree that there are many more small additions to safety in newer generations cars but I feel those are seondary.

I remember one accident of Skoda Laura in New Delhi near India Gate with six Airbags and what not safety equipments on board (You must have read Skoda Laura Ad). Out of four occupants 2 were died on the spot.

So, Ultimate theory is safety is in the hand of drivers. If there is minor crash then seat belts and crumple zones work more than sufficient.

1) I dont agree with this. Verna chassis is much stronger and more appropriately designed to absorb and distribute the energy. Verna has 2/5 star rating in Euro NCAP and Maruti 800 never appeared for that test.
But in verna's class, we have SX4 that has 4/5 rating in Euro NCAP.

2 & 3) Agree with you. In case of very high speed, nothing helps. And the first safety is in the hands of driver himself. Without doubt, driver error is mostly responsible for accidents in India ( IMHO ).

Sorry, Harry, perhaps this is just a case of individual perception.
I cannot ever agree with either of your statements above.
To date, for most of us, Maruti represents the best, most cost effective ownership experience. Safety? On our roads (here in Delhi) it's BMWs figuring in the news more often than the humble 800 or the Alto!

I know you'll say the media only reports the exotics that are involved in accidents.
Point is that when there is a fatality, the media does report it.
I do not see too many Marutis figuring in those reports, despite being present on the roads in the largest numbers.