[puneetakhouri]

One thing I feel that the members here are forgetting is that there is a world outside Team bhp who have no clue about how cars work. I have folks who call themselves car enthusiasts tell me that Glanza is built by Toyota hence it is safer than Baleno and better quality. They admit that Maruti is unsafe but simply based on outer sheet metal dents. So given the education level of majority of buyers of Maruti, this seems to be well targeted IMO.

[Dry Ice]

It seems like a feeble attempt of getting in on the whole safer cars debate. Yes, we care about safety too!

I wish their intent was genuine though. The top man saying things like more airbags are impractical in smaller cars, or making smaller cars safer will hurt affordability etc does not help their case.

On the other hand, for all their shortcomings, kudos to our homegrown manufacturers who have taken the fight to Maruti. To put it politely, MUL has been caught napping. How they climb out of this rut, and will there be any change in the kind of cars they produce, only time will tell.

[aravind.anand]

So their boss did not know that they had very safe cars built with crumple zones all around when he questioned the testing agencies, the policy makers, the road pavers, the maintenance of the car and everything else in the universe - when asked about how safe Maruti cars were?

Overnight, they suddenly became #drivenbysafety without changing anything on their cars? Wow! What a miracle

[gururajrv]

I want to use unparliamentary words for the ad makers for taking this route to influence the uninitiated towards safety aspect! While other car makers are making sincere effort towards adding safety features, MS is being utterly careless and their sales team will now brag this as a feature to counter customers' questions onnsafety when compared with Tata / Mahindra cars.

I really hope customers will not fall for this campaign! Just because they can't build strong cars, they're using marketing strategy turn to opposite feature!

[RunGaDa]

It’s a great mystery why we try to reinvent the wheel. There are clear benchmarks internationally as to what strength of metal, what tolerance of frame and what safety features to be implemented to save the passengers.
But due to horrible weight throwing which the govt cannot set off MSIL just barraging on.
Because of this undue advantage many international car makers found it impossible to compete in our lopsided car market.

Just some stomach is needed on GoI to tighten the screws.

Till then MSIL keeps fooling people at their own life.

[Old_Salt]

That’s the way the cookie crumbles,

Or

That’s the way the Suzuki crumbles!

MSIL is truly inspired!

[Drivaholic@2727]

#Driven by safety? Or Driven by Money?. I mean who are they trying to fool?. MSIL will keep selling their unsafe cars until the government intervenes. The 6 airbags mandate was good but as long as GOI does not implement minimum Crash Rating rule these, full crumple zone cars will still be selling. Last time Maruti chairman said that all their cars are in order with government rules and NCAP is not required. If they trust their products so much, I dont see Maruti's higher ups being driven in a Maruti. A quote by Abraham Lincoln is best suited here “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by AutoNoob

Personal experience: Few months back, my friend's Dzire (2018 model) met with an accident. It was a partial overlap impact at low speed (10~15kmph) on RH side; the front bumper tore away, headlight lens cracked, right fender crumpled like paper. The airbag was obviously not deployed. The other vehicle barely had minor scratches on the bumper; no apparent damage. It was an Altroz.

See, now you can relate to this. It's because of the crumple zone! (Just that we kept it a secret till now) Altroz didn't have crumple zone and it did not crumple; ours has crumple zone and it literally crumpled. How's that for marketing

[am1m]

Originally Posted by puneetakhouri

So given the education level of majority of buyers of Maruti, this seems to be well targeted IMO.

Spot on. (Though I wouldn't classify it as 'education level'- I'd say given the target audience of potential Maruti customers, new and possible repeat.)

At my first job, whenever we'd laugh at the 'rupa banian' ads, my first boss from advertising used to tell us, "the best ads aren't the ones that win Cannes Lions, they are the ones that get people to buy the product."

[srvm]

I'm no fan of Maruti Suzuki. In fact, I did not even consider it as an option when I was in the market for a sub 10-lakh car due to their attitude towards safety & crash tests. Yet, I feel the response from many BHPians in this thread are overly critical & harsh for their ad.

But I can understand why. Its probably this: MSIL do sell safe cars in other countries/markets. Quite possibly manufactured in the same Gurugram/Manesar/Gujarat plants. Then why aren't we (their biggest market) getting the same quality as other markets? Don't we deserve it? At least as a fully-loaded top variant?

[khanmaj]

Hypothetical scenario- What would happen to Maruti’s statements and ads if any of their car models accidentally achieves 5 star NCAP rating? I guess they will have to make all their models 4/5 star if not then imagine Nexa SA saying, "sir, this one is a 5 star NCAP rating strong and the rest are Dil se strong"

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by puneetakhouri

So given the education level of majority of buyers of Maruti, this seems to be well targeted IMO.

Originally Posted by am1m

Though I wouldn't classify it as 'education level'

I think, by saying education level, puneetakhouri meant technical understanding how structural crash safety works.

At my first job, whenever we'd laugh at the 'rupa banian' ads, my first boss from advertising used to tell us, "the best ads aren't the ones that win Cannes Lions, they are the ones that get people to buy the product."

Rightly said. And Maruti is selling in lakhs.

Originally Posted by Drivaholic@2727

Last time Maruti chairman said that all their cars are in order with government rules and NCAP is not required. If they trust their products so much, I dont see Maruti's higher ups being driven in a Maruti.

From what I know from friends, almost all higher-ups in Maruti use or are driven in Maruti vehicles only. Infact only Maruti vehicles are allowed to enter inside the company premises. There may be only handful exceptions in special circumstances (e.g. for senior guests etc.)

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by srvm

But I can understand why. Its probably this: MSIL do sell safe cars in other countries/markets. Quite possibly manufactured in the same Gurugram/Manesar/Gujarat plants. Then why aren't we (their biggest market) getting the same quality as other markets? Don't we deserve it? At least as a fully-loaded top variant?

This point has been deliberated upon ad nauseum. The simple answer is that there is no norm that has been publicly implemented by regulatory authorities that mandates a certain build quality to ensure crash survivability. If ever such a thing happens, then we may see some changes. Note- I am not talking about safety equipment here.

[MyLife_MyCar]

Originally Posted by FLYBOYSID

the advertisement in no way says the whole car is a crumple zone.

Get the sarcasm - whole car as a crumple zone

[wizard_sultan]

The idea of Crumple Zones goes back to 1959. But using this as a marketing strategy as if this is something ground breaking or bonnet wrecking makes you think twice

But on a serious note as some members have already mentioned, its a good thing that car companies are now focusing more on safety than on features.