Submitted By:

DECLARATION1

We hereby declare that the project titled “Maruti Suzuki Segmentation and Sales Trend ” is an original piece of research work carried out by us under the guidance and

supervision of Mr. Manoj Mittal. The information has been collected from genuine &

authentic sources. The work has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement

of BBA.

Place: Signature:

Date: Name of the student

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives us pleasure to express our most profound regard and sense of great indebtedness

and sincere gratitude to Mr. Manoj Mittal for his superb and painstaking guidance, untiring help,

keen interest and constant encouragement thought the period of project.

We would also like to express our thanks to the faculty Members who helped us.

Especially library members, Computer lab staffs, without whose help the project could not be

completed.

We would like to express my sincere thanks to Vishal Bhole sir and my colleagues who

helped us thought the period of project.

We also like to thanks VIRAT computers whose help make us to convert our project into

paper mode.

And at last but not the least, we would express our hearty gratitude to the ALMIGHTY

who gave us tremendous energy and power to complete this whole project.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In this project we are trying to find the segmentation of cars done by Maruti Suzuki and

its effect on customer we are also trying to study the sales trend followed by Maruti Suzuki.

In our study we had followed different method to find and analyze the data we are using

primary data as well as secondary data. Before our study lots of study is being done but no

one had tried to research on Maruti Suzuki segmentation and its effect on sales trend. We had

used the questionnaire method to study the Maruti sales trend we had asked question to

dealers. In pune Maruti has six showroom we visited them and tried to know that what are

the cars which they are selling more what is the sales trend of Maruti which kind of cars

customer is demanding and why. What modification should Maruti make in its cars to take an

edge over competitors? We are also using secondary data to analyze the sales trend of

Maruti Suzuki. In which we had studied the Maruti shares condition in the market. Its profit

and lose its market share and many more. We had analyzed where Maruti having an edge

over competitor and where it is lacking behind. How it would improve its sales trend. What

are analyzing the future prospects of Maruti in Indian cars market.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Introduction …………………………. 6

2. Objectives ………………………….. 17

3. Theoritical Perspectives …………………………… 18

4. Company Profile ……………………………... 27

5. Car Market Classification……………………………. 42

6. Conclusion …………………………….. 50

7. Bibliography …………………………….. 53

8. Annexure ……………………………… 55

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INTRODUCTION

The Indian Automobile Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.5 percent

amounting to Rs. 13,008 million by 2010. The Commercial Vehicle Segment has been

contributing to the automobile market to a great extent.

Many foreign companies have been investing in the Indian Automobile Market in

various ways such as technology transfers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, exports, and

financial collaborations. The auto market in India can boast of attractive finance schemes,

increasing purchasing power, and launch of the latest products.

Total sales of major car manufacturers in India registered a figure of 0.674 million units

at the end of March, 2007. The number of car exports in India was 39,295 units. General

Motors, Maruti, and Honda accounted for 60 percent of the market sales at the end of April,

2007. There has been an increase in the purchase of motorcycles and cars both, in the rural as

well as urban areas.

Maruti Suzuki is India’s No. 1 customer satisfaction car company. Its sale is more than

50% of care of Indian car market. But now it is getting a good competition with other new

car company and foreign companies and its sales is going down because other car companies

are trying to present different types of new car in different segment. So in our study in we

had tried to study Maruti Suzuki segmentation of cars and its sales trend and its effect on

customer. This project is all about segmentation and sales trend study of Maruti Suzuki.

Through our study we are trying to analyze the customer demand in different segments and

advancement required in Maruti’s segmentation. We are also analyzing Maruti Suzuki sales

trend. We had visited different dealers of Maruti Suzuki in pune and asked some question

and based on that we are tying to analyze the data and sales trend of Maruti Suzuki. We had

also collected some secondary data of different study done on Maruti Suzuki and based on

that we are trying to present the sales trend analysis of Maruti Suzuki.

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MARUTI UDYOG LIMITED

Maruti is India's largest automobile company. The company, a joint venture with Suzuki of

Japan, has been a success story like no other in the annals of the Indian automobile industry.

Today, Maruti is India's largest automobile company. This feat was achieved by the missionary

zeal of our employees across the line and the far-sighted vision of our management.

The Company Mission:

To provide a wide range of modern, high quality fuel efficient vehicles in order to meet the need

of different customers, both in domestic and export markets.

The Company Vision:

We must be an internationally competitive company in terms of our products and services. We

must retain our leadership in India and should also aspire to be among the global players.

Their focus is on:

Building a continuously improving organisation adaptable to quick changes

Providing value and satisfaction to the customer

Aligning and fully involving all our employees, suppliers and dealers to face competition

Maximising Shareholder's value

Being a responsible corporate citizen

At Maruti, they have a clear perspective on manpower. They see it as a unique resource, in the

sense that optimal productivity of other resources depends largely on the way human resources

are utilised. The basic philosophy of management that underlies the Maruti culture is that all

employees of the company should be moulded into a team which then strives as one, to achieve

commonly shared company goals and objectives. To make this philosophy tenable, the Company

takes several initiatives. Inputs are sought from employees at all levels. They believe that

everyone should contribute to the formulation of company policies, goals and objectives.

Secondly, at Maruti, they encourage leadership in the best sense of the word. According to us, a

leader is one who must be impartial, must have the ability to rise above his own subjectivity,

and, most importantly, must practice what he preaches.

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They understand that the process of creating a sense of belonging that all employees can identify

with is a lengthy one. To ensure that this translates into concrete reality, they have taken several

simple but specific and well thought out measures. The first step in this direction has been the

introduction of a common uniform for all employees. Another measure is the creation of a

common canteen where all employees have lunch, stand in common queues, and sit on the same

table. Common toilets, common transport and similar facilities for all levels of employees are

other measures that reinforce their emphasis on genuine equality in the workplace.

At Maruti They do not believe in the notion of organisational hierarchies. As a matter of fact, the

management structure and systems in Maruti have been designed to promote decentralisation of

authority. Maruti has a horizontal management structure with only four functional levels of

responsibility to facilitate quicker decision making.

Another focus area of the Maruti culture is the maintenance of a smoothly functioning

communication network. Maruti believes that communication channels between labour and

management cannot simply consist of having a labour representative on the Board of the

Company. They have faith in the ability of labour to effectively participate in management and

make constructive suggestions. To encourage this, they ensure that there is a thorough

dissemination of information at all levels, through newsletters or via a letter from the Chief

Executive to all employees. Meetings with the Union are held regularly, and programmes being

contemplated by the Company are discussed with the Union. The Sahyog Samiti, a collection of

representatives of non-unionised employees, training programmes in Japan, Quality Circles,

productivity-linked incentive schemes, and an ethos of discipline and teamwork, all contribute to

the Maruti culture.

Several measures of performance have made amply clear that Maruti has established a truly

healthy work culture. They have met all project and performance targets since inception. Their

productivity levels are constantly improving. The Company has had good labour relations with

employees from the very beginning, and they have been successful in the export market. Yet, the

Maruti culture is one that does not believe in resting on its laurels. They adhere to the spirit of

Kaizen, which states that constant improvement is always possible. The most basic tenet of

productivity that they hold dear is that " Today should be better than Yesterday and Tomorrow

should be better than Today".

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Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in Feb 1981 through an Act of Parliament, to

meet the growing demand of a personal mode of transport caused by the lack of an efficient

public transport system.

Suzuki Motor Company was chosen from seven prospective partners worldwide. This was due

not only to their undisputed leadership in small cars but also to their commitment to actively

bring to MUL contemporary technology and Japanese management practices (which had

catapulted Japan over USA to the status of the top auto manufacturing country in the world).

A licence and a Joint Venture agreement was signed between Government of India and Suzuki

Motor Company (now Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan) in Oct 1982.

The objectives of MUL then were:

Modernization of the Indian Automobile Industry.

Production of fuel-efficient vehicles to conserve scarce resources.

Production of large number of motor vehicles, which was necessary for economic

growth.

Core Value Customer Obsession

Fast, Flexible and First Mover

Innovation and Creativity

Networking and Partnership

Openness and Learning

Vision The leader in the India Automobile Industry, Creating Customer Delight and Shareholder’s

Wealth; A pride of India”

Technological Advantage

We have introduced the superior 16 * 4 Hypertech engines across the entire Maruti Suzuki

range. This new technology harnesses the power of a brainy 16-bit computer to a fuel-efficient 9

4-valve engine to create optimum engine delivery. This means every Maruti Suzuki owner gets

the ideal combination of power and performance from his car.

Our other innovation has been the introduction of Electronic Power Steering (EPS) in select

models. This results in better and greater maneuverability. In other words, our cars have become

even more pleasurable to drive.

Production/R&D

Spread over a sprawling 297 acres with 3 fully-integrated production facilities, the Maruti

Udyog Plant has already rolled out over 4.3 million vehicles. In fact, on an average, two vehicles

roll out of the factory every minute. And it takes on an average, just 14 hours to make a car.

More importantly, with an incredible range of 11 models available in 50 variants, there's a

Maruti Suzuki made here to fit every car-buyer's budget. And dream.

Production Milestones

1st vehicle produced, December 1983

1,00,000 vehicles produced by August, 1986

5,00,000 vehicles produced by June, 1990

10,00,000 vehicles produced by March, 1994

15,00,000 vehicles produced by April, 1996

20,00,000 vehicles produced by October, 1997

25,00,000 vehicles produced by March, 1999

30,00,000 vehicles produced by June, 2000

35,00,000 vehicles produced by December 2001

40,00,000 vehicles produced by April, 2003

45,00,000 vehicles produced by April, 2004

WHY MARUTI SUZUKI10

The Quality Advantage

A car is an engineering product, only as good as the technology used to make it. Actual users of

our technology are saying something very clearly Maruti Suzuki is No.1 in quality:

Maruti Suzuki owners experience fewer problems with their vehicles than any other can

manufacturer in India (J.D. Power IQS Study 2004). The Alto was chosen No.1 in the premium

compact car segment and the Esteem in the entry level mid-size car segment across 9

parameters.

The J.D. Power APEAL Study 2004 proclaimed the Wagon R. No. 1 in the premium compact

car segment and the Esteem No.1 in the entry level mid-size car segment. This study measures

owner delight in terms of design, content, layout and performance of vehicles across 8

parameters.

Maruti Suzuki has a sales network of 307 state-of-the-art showrooms across 189 cities*, with a

workforce of over 6000 trained sales personnel to guide our customers in finding the right car.

Our high sales and customer care standards led us to achieve the No.1 nameplate in the J.D.

Power SSI study 2004. The SSI study measures sales satisfaction across 6 parameters: deal

received, paperwork, dealer facility, salesperson, delivery timing and delivery process. Maruti

Suzuki has not only got the No.1 nameplate in the J.D. Power SSI study 2004, but also ranked

way above the industry average (Maruti Suzuki was at 784 while industry average was at 760).

What is significant is that it was ranked above Skoda, Ford, Chevrolet, Mitsubishi and Hyundai.

To be really happy with the car you own, it should have a reliable service network at hand and

within easy reach. Their 1036 city strong service network is equipped to service 20,000 vehicles

a day. No wonder Maruti Suzuki has been awarded the No.1 nameplate in customer satisfaction

in India for the fifth year in a row, a feat unprecedented for any automobile market leader in the

world.

In the J.D. Power CSI study 2004, Maruti Suzuki scored the highest across all 7 parameters: least

problems experienced with vehicle serviced, highest service quality, best in-service experience,

best service delivery, best in-service experience, most user-friendly service and best service

initiation experience.

In fact, 92% of Maruti Suzuki owners feel that work gets done right the first time during service.

The J.D. Power CSI study 2004 also reveals that 97% of Maruti Suzuki owners would probable

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recommend the same make of vehicle, while 90% owners would probable repurchase the same

make of vehicle.

A Buying Experience Like No Other

Maruti Suzuki has a sales network of 307 state-of -the-art showrooms across 189 cities, with a

workforce of over 6000 trained sales personnel to guide our customers in finding the right car.

Our high sales and customer care standards led us to achieve the No.1 nameplate in the J.D.

Power SSI Study 2004.

Quality Service Across 1036 Cities

In the J.D. Power CSI Study 2004, Maruti Suzuki scored the highest across all 7 parameters:

least problems experienced with vehicle serviced, highest service quality, best in-service

experience, best service delivery, best service advisor experience, most user-friendly service and

best service initiation experience.

92% of Maruti Suzuki owners feel that work gets done right the first time during service. The

J.D. Power CSI study 2004 also reveals that 97% of Maruti Suzuki owners would probably

recommend the same make of vehicle, while 90% owners would probably repurchase the same

make of vehicle.

One Stop Shop

At Maruti Suzuki, you will find all your car related needs met under one roof. Whether it is easy

finance, insurance, fleet management services, exchange- Maruti Suzuki is set to provide a

single-window solution for all your car related needs.

The Low Cost Maintenance Advantage

The acquisition cost is unfortunately not the only cost you face when buying a car.

Although a car may be affordable to buy, it may not necessarily be affordable to

maintain, as some of its regularly used spare parts may be priced quite steeply. Not so in

the case of a Maruti Suzuki. It is in the economy segment that the affordability of spares

is most competitive, and it is here where Maruti Suzuki shines. The recent Auto car

Survey conducted in August 2004 bears testimony to this fact. In the Maruti Suzuki

stable, the Omni has the lowest aggregate cost of spares followed by the Maruti-800. The

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Maruti-800 has the cheapest spares of any Indian car with a basket of just Rs. 23,422. In

the Lower Mid-size segment as well, price-consciousness is very high, where the cars

have to be not only affordable on purchase price but also need to combine quality,

drivability and have comfortable interiors. In this segment, the Maruti Suzuki Versa has

scored particularly well with the lowest cost of spares in the segment. In the Upper Mid-

size segment, the Maruti Suzuki Baleno has the segment's lowest prices on a majority of

the spares.

Lowest Cost of Ownership

To be really happy with the car one owns, it should be easy on the pocket to buy and to run-

which is why the cost of ownership is so important. And here again, a Maruti Suzuki is a clear

winner, as shown by the recent J.D.Power CSI study 2004. It is clear that a Maruti Suzuki

delights you even when you run it for years. The 6 highest satisfaction ratings with regard to cost

of ownership among all models are all Maruti Suzuki vehicles: Zen, Wagon R, Esteem, Maruti

800, Alto and Omni. They are proud to have the lowest cost of operation / km (among petrol

vehicles) - the top 5 models are all Maruti Suzuki models: Maruti 800, Alto, Zen, Omni and

Wagon R.

Employee Quality Measures

Kaizen is based on the concept of making incremental improvements in our products. It

incorporates a series of continuous small and simple improvements, which aim at involving

employees at all levels.

The Suggestion Scheme is based on the same principle. Under this scheme, employees are

encouraged to make suggestions for improvement in any area of our operation. Over 50,000

suggestions are received from employees every year.

Maruti has won the First place in "Excellence in Suggestion Scheme Contest 2003", which is

the 6th consecutive award won in as many years. This contest is organized by Indian National

Suggestion Schemes Association (INSSAN). Since 1998 Maruti has won this award 10 times.

"Quality Circles" are groups of five to eight members from a particular work area who work as a

team to identify priorities and solve work related problems in the area.

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We believe that it is this unwavering commitment to quality that will lead to the further growth

of the organization as competition increases.

ISO 9001:2000

At Maruti, our approach to quality is in keeping with the Japanese practice--"build it into the

product". Technicians themselves inspect the quality of work. Supervisors educate and instruct

technicians to continually improve productivity and quality. The movement of quality indicators

is reviewed in weekly meetings by the top management.

In 2001, Maruti Udyog Ltd became one of the first automobile companies anywhere in the

world to get an ISO 9000:2000 certification. AV Belgium, global auditors for International

Organization for Standardisation(ISO), certified Maruti after a four day long audit, covering

varied parameters like Customer Focussed organisation, Leadership, Involvement of people,

Process approach, System approach to Management, Continual improvement, etc.

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In May 1995, Maruti got ISO 9002 certification. The audit for this covered quality assurance

in production, installation, marketing and sales as well as after sales services. We were also one

of the first companies in the world to pioneer ISO 9000 certification for our dealers.

In October 1993, MUL passed the Conformity Of Production (COP) Audit, which is based

on a European Union Directive. This authenticated our quality systems and testing facilities for

export to Europe.

Their emphasis on total quality has meant that today they are in a position to guide vendors and

dealers in establishing and consolidating their individual quality systems. This commitment to

quality has ensured a consistently satisfying product and world-class sales and after-sales

services.

TS16949:2002 - A new feather was added recently in Maruti’s cap in the field of quality

when the Quality Management System of its Press Shop & associated functions (collectively

termed as Press Function) got certification for conformance to the requirements of

TS16949:2002 standard.

The need for TS certification of Press Function had its genesis in the prestigious project that

Maruti earned for the supply of stamped panels to General Motors India for one of its

forthcoming models.

As a part of Quality system requirements, GM requires all its suppliers to be certified to either

ISO TS 16949 or QS 9000.

These standards address Quality System requirements, which are particularly specific to the

automotive industry and requires an organization to be in compliance with ISO 9000 systems as

a basic requirement. However, whereas QS 9000 would become defunct and cease to exist after

Dec 2006, TS 16949 is going to be the standard of the future.

The TS 16949 standard, brought out by ISO in the year 1999, is an extension of the ISO

9001:2000 standard that prescribes Quality management system requirements that are

specifically applicable to the automotive industry.

TS 16949 has gained high popularity and almost all major automobile players across the globe

including GM, Ford, Daimler Chrysler, Nissan, Honda are embracing & promoting it.

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ISO

9001:2000  

Maruti Suzuki- at a glanceMaruti Suzuki India Limited is a

publicly listed automaker in India. It is

a leading four-wheeler automobile

manufacturer in South Asia. Suzuki

Motor Corporation of Japan holds a

majority stake in the company. It was

the first company in India to mass-

produce and sell more than a million

cars. It is largely credited for having

brought in an automobile revolution to

India. It is the market leader in India.

On 17 September 2007, Maruti Udyog

was renamed to Maruti Suzuki India

Limited. The company's headquarters remain in Gurgaon, near Delhi.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd

Type Public (BSE MARUTI, NSE MARUTI)

Founded 1981[1]

Headquarters Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Key people R C Bhargav , Chairman

Shinzo Nakanishi, Managing Director

Industry Automotive

Products Cars

Revenue ▲US$2.5 billion (2005)

Employees 6,903[2]

Parent Suzuki

Website www.marutisuzuki.com

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OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the study is to recognize the sales trend and segmentation of Maruti

Suzuki .

Special challenges that must be identified and addressed:

To know the segmentation and sales trend of Maruti Suzuki.

Along with this we are trying to assess company’s performance compared with that of the

competition..

To know the way Maruti has segmented its cars

To know the areas in which the dealers satisfy their customer and the areas that they

do not satisfy.

To come out with the conclusion and recommendations based on the analysis and

interpretation.

THEORITICAL PERSPECTIVE18

Consumer is strictly, the ultimate consumer of a product, the ultimate user of a product; the

person who derives the satisfaction or the benefit offered. The 'consumer' is not necessarily the

customer, since there are often 'customers' in the buying/ distribution chain; moreover, the

consumer is frequently not the person who makes the buying decision; for instance, in the case

of many household products, where the housewife may make the purchase but consumption or

use is by the whole family. 'Consumer' is not normally applied to the purchase of industrial

goods and services where the customer is usually a corporate body. Nevertheless, consumable

goods are sold to industry for corporate purposes and the consumers of these goods can be

identified for marketing practice.

Consumer behavior is the study of buying habits or patterns of behaviour of consuming public

either in general or in specific groups.

THE BUYING PROCESS

The complexity inherent in understanding consumer behaviour has led to the construction of

models of the buying process which indicate the stages through which the consumer passes from

the time he or she first becomes aware of a need for a product or service to the time when a

product is purchased, a brand selected, and the consumer evaluates the success of his purchase

decides whether to buy that particular product and / or brand again. It the same time, such

models usually indicate the social and psychological forces which shape the potential buyer's

action at each stage in the process. The two principal aims of such model building are the

prediction of future behavior based on measurement of relevant variable and the explanation of

this behavior in terms of theoretically relevant constructs.

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The starting point for understanding the buyer is the stimulus-response model shown below

Marketing stimuli

Other stimuli Buyer's Characteristics

Buyer's decision process

Buyer's decisions

Product

Price

Place

Promotion

Economic

Technological

Political

Cultural

Cultural

Social

Personal

Psychological

Problem recognition

Information search

Evaluation decision

Post-purchase behavior

Product choice

Brand choice

Dealer choice

Purchase timing

Purchase amount

Stages in Buying Decision Process

Need

recognition

Informatio

n search

Evaluation of

alternatives

Purchase

decision

Post-

purchase

behavior

The consumer passes through five stages : Problem recognition information search, evaluation

of alternatives purchase decision and post-purchase behavior. Clearly the buying process starts

long before the actual purchase and has consequences long after the purchase.

This model implies that consumers pass through all five stages in buying a product. But this is

not the case, especially in low-involvement purchase. Consumers may skip or rreverse some

stages. Thus a woman buying her regular brand of toothpaste goes directly from the need for

toothpaste to the purchase decision, skipping information search and evaluation. However, we

have already used the model in above, because it captures the full range of consideration that

arise when a consumer facer a highly involving new purchase. We will allude again to Linda

Brown and try to understand how she became interested in buying a laptop computer and the try

to understand how she became interested in buying a laptop computer and stages she went

through to make her final choice.

Major Factors Influencing Buying behavior

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Cultural

Social

Culture

Subculture

Social Class

Reference group

Family

Roles and statuses

Personal

Age and life-cycle stage

Occupation

Economic circumstances

Lifestyle

Personality and self-concept

Psychological

Motivation

Perception

Learning

Beliefs and attitudes

Buyer

Rogers model for the adoption and diffusion of innovations Innovation Adoption

CURVE

The innovation adoption curve of Rogers is a model that classifies adopters of innovations into various categories,

based on the idea that certain individuals are inevitably more open to adaptation than others. Is is also referred to as

Multi-Step Flow Theory or Diffusion of Innovations Theory.

 

Innovators

Brave people, puling the change. Innovators are very important communication.

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 Early Adopters

Respectable people, opinion leaders, try out new ideas, but in a careful way.

 Early Majority

Thoughtful people, careful but accepting change more quickly than the average.

 Late Majority

Skeptic people, will use new ideas or products only when the majority is using it.

 Laggards

Traditional people, caring for the "old ways", are critical towards new ideas and will only accept it if the new idea has

become mainstream or even tradition.

 The diffusion of innovations curve (innovation adoption curve) of Rogers is useful to remember that trying to

quickly and massively convince the mass of a new controversial idea is useless. It makes more sense in these

circumstances to start with convincing innovators and early adopters first. Also the categories and percentages can be

used as a first draft to estimate target groups for communication purposes.

 Diffusion research focus was on five elements: 1) the characteristics of an innovation which

may influence its adoption; 2) the decision-making process that occurs when individuals

consider adopting a new idea, product or practice; 3) the characteristics of individuals that make

them likely to adopt an innovation.

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ProfileMaruti Suzuki is one of India's leading automobile manufacturers and the market leader

in the car segment, both in terms of volume of vehicles sold and revenue earned. Until recently,

18.28% of the company was owned by the Indian government, and 54.2% by Suzuki of Japan.

The Indian government held an initial public offering of 25% of the company in June 2003. As

of May 10, 2007, Govt. of India sold its complete share to Indian financial institutions. With this,

Govt. of India no longer has stake in Maruti Udyog.

Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in February 1981, though the actual

production commenced in 1983. Through 2004, Maruti has produced over 5 Million vehicles.

Marutis are sold in India and various several other countries, depending upon export orders. Cars

similar to Marutis (but not manufactured by Maruti Udyog) are sold by Suzuki in Pakistan and

other South Asian countries.

The company annually exports more than 30,000 cars and has an extremely large

domestic market in India selling over 500,000 cars annually. Maruti 800, till 2004, was the

India's largest selling compact car ever since it was launched in 1983. More than a million units

of this car have been sold worldwide so far. Currently, Maruti Alto tops the sales charts.

Due to the large number of Maruti 800s sold in the Indian market, the term "Maruti" is

commonly used to refer to this compact car model. Till recently the term "Maruti", in popular

Indian culture, was associated to the Maruti 800 model.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited, a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan, has

been the leader of the Indian car market for over two decades.

It’s manufacturing facilities are located at two facilities Gurgaon and Manesar south of

New Delhi. Maruti’s Gurgaon facility has an installed capacity of 350,000 units per annum. The

Manesar facilities, launched in February 2007 comprise a vehicle assembly plant with a capacity

of 100,000 units per year and a Diesel Engine plant with an annual capacity of 100,000 engines

and transmissions.

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Manesar and Gurgaon facilities have a combined capability to produce over 700,000 units

annually. More than half the cars sold in India are Maruti cars. The company is a subsidiary of

Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan, which owns 54.2 per cent of Maruti. The rest is owned by the

public and financial institutions. It is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock

Exchange in India.

During 2007-08, Maruti Suzuki sold 764,842 cars, of which 53,024 were exported. In all,

over six million Maruti cars are on Indian roads since the first car was rolled out on December

14, 1983.

Maruti Suzuki offers 10 models, ranging from the people’s car, Maruti 800, for less than

Rs 200,000 ($ 5000) ex-showroom to the premium sedan SX 4 and luxury SUV, Grand Vitara.

Suzuki Motor Corporation, the parent company, is a global leader in mini and compact

cars for three decades. Suzuki’s technical superiority lies in its ability to pack power and

performance into a compact, lightweight engine that is clean and fuel efficient.

Maruti is clearly an “employer of choice” for automotive engineers and young managers

from across the country. Nearly 75,000 people are employed directly by Maruti and its partners.

The company vouches for customer satisfaction. For its sincere efforts it has been rated

(by customers)first in customer satisfaction among all car makers in India for seven years in a

row in annual survey by J D Power Asia Pacific.

Maruti Suzuki was born as a government company, with Suzuki as a minor partner, to

make a people’s car for middle class India. Over the years, the product range has widened,

ownership has changed hands and the customer has evolved. What remains unchanged, then and

now, is Maruti’s mission to motorize India.

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SERVICES OFFERED

The following products are offered by Maruti Suzuki:-

1. Maruti 800: Launched 1983. Largest selling car in India, until 2004. Cheapest car in

India. 3 Face-Lifts.(P)

2. Maruti Omni: Launched 1984. 2 Face-Lifts.(P)

3. Maruti Gypsy: Launched 1985.(P)

4. Maruti Wagon-R:Launched 1999, 2 Face-Lifts.(P)

5. Maruti Alto: Launched 2000. Currently the largest selling car in India. 1 Face-Lift.

({{Tooltip|P|Petrol

6. Maruti Versa(2003-) (P)

7. Maruti Zen Estilo (2005-) (P)

8. Maruti Suzuki Swift 1 very small face-lift(2006- ) (P & D)

9. Maruti Suzuki SX4 (May 2007- ) (P & D)

10. Maruti Grand Vitara Sports Utility Vehicle Launched in (July 2007- ). Imported(P)

11. Maruti DZiRE Sedan Version of swift launched in (March 2008- ) (P)

Upcoming models in 2008

1. Suzuki Splash

2. Suzuki A-Star

Future Maruti Suzuki Plans

1. Maruti Omni Face-Lift in 2009

2. New Mini-SUV in 2010 Likely to be a four-door Jimny.

3. New Luxury Sedan in 2010 Likely to be a production version of the Kizashi.

4. New Swift in 2011

5. New Alto

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(Price wise product segmentation by Maruti Suzuki)

GENERAL DISCRIPTION OF MODELS

MARUTI 800:-

Maruti 800 is a city car manufactured by Maruti Udyog in India

.It used to be the largest selling car in India until the Maruti Alto

recently took that title. It is also exported to a number of

countries in southeastern Asia including Bangladesh and Sri

Lanka, and to some South American markets (as Chile, sold as Suzuki Maruti), and was

available in selected European markets between 1988 and 1992, sold as the Suzuki Maruti. In

Morocco it is currently sold as Suzuki Maruti (as of March 2008). The car comes in different

versions including one with air conditioning and one without. It was launched in December 1984

with almost 100% imported components.

MARUTI OMNI :

The Maruti Omni is a microvan manufactured by Indian automaker Maruti

Udyog Limited. The first version of Maruti Omni had the same 796 cc

26

engine as the Maruti 800 city car. This was the second vehicle to be launched by Maruti, one

year after the 800, in 1984. Later version of the Omni includes the

Omni (E), released in 1996, 796 cc engine, 8 seater capacity vehicle

Omni XL - 1999, same engine, modified with a higher roof.

Omni Cargo LPG - 2004, created to answer the growing popularity of this car being

used as an inter-city cargo vehicle.

Omni LPG - 2003, same 796 cc engine, added with a factory fitted LPG Kit, authorised by the

Indian RTOs (Regional Transport Offices). This makes it the most economic 4 wheeler in India,

as far as the driving costs are concerned

MARUTI GYPSY

The Maruti Gypsy is a four wheel drive SUV based on the Suzuki

SJ long wheel base.Produced in India, it is also a common sight in

Chile and Kenya. Within Europe, it is most often found in Malta and

Hungary. In contrast to the Suzuki, the Maruti is available with 4

seats and a sizeable trunk. The Maruti Gypsy is available as a "soft top", "hard top " and as an

"ambulance car". In India, it is widely used by the police and defense forces. In civilian use, the

Gypsy is a popular choice as a low-cost SUV and is a common sight at rally events.

MARUTI WAGON-R

The Maruti Wagon-R is a made for India version of Suzuki

Wagon R. The Wagon-R was born out of Japanese kei-jido-sha

restrictions which dictated a limited length and engine size. This

boxy, tall-boy design has now completed five years of presence on Indian roads. Now the car has

found a market for itself, especially among young Indian urban professionals who don't mind its

boxy slab-sided looks, but value its Maruti lineage. The car is currently among India's top five

best-selling cars.

27

MARUTI ALTO

The Maruti Alto is a city car manufactured by Maruti

Udyog in India. It is the best-selling car in India.It is

India's largest selling car and has recently crossed the 1

million production figure.It is exported to a number of

countries including Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and to

Chile. Alto has crossed the 150,000 export target. The popularity of the Alto has increased over

the past few years, mainly due to the reduction in prices. This reduction in prices has mainly

come in due to the reduction in excise duty over time. It has now become the first choice of

young car buyers intending to upgrade from a 2 wheeler. Some of its appeal is from stylish

looks, attractive features, and impressive fuel economy at very affordable prices compared to the

other cars in the Indian market.

MARUTI VERSA

The Maruti Versa is a micro van produced by Maruti

Udyog Limited and sold in India since October 2001. The

Versa is a clone of the now discontinued Suzuki Carry. It

is the second van released by Maruti Udyog since the Maruti

Omni was released in 1984. There are two basic versions

of this car in production; the two 8-seater DX/DX2

versions, and the 5-seater STD version. The DX2 version of the Versa is equipped with twin air

conditioners for front and rear.

MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT

The MARUTI Suzuki Swift is name plate marketed by Suzuki carried by vehicles of three

distinct derivations:

Generations I, II, III: a super mini that

began as an export nameplate of the

Japanese domestic market of suzuki .

28

Generation IV: the current JDM, Europe and Oceana generation, a significant departure

from the previous models, marketed solely under the nameplate "Swift". (this article)

Canadian Swift+: the current Canada-only generation marketed under the Suzuki swift.

Currently this varient is hot seller in India in the mini car segment.

MARUTI SUZUKI SX4

In an attempt to strengthen its position in the of Sedan

cars market, Maruti Udyog Ltd. has launched its

premium model bearing name SX4. After Maruti Suzuki

Swift, SX4 is the second international model being

launched in India. Suzuki SX4, is an A3 segment sedan

car, with a perfect combination of style, performance,

safety and comfort. There are two versions of Suzuki

SX4: Vxi and Zxi that gets power from latest and efficient 1.6-litre M-Series engine delivering

impressive 102 BHP of power. Having the price tag of between Rs. 6-6.5 Lacs, Maruti Suzuki

SX4 will provide tough competition to its rivalry models like Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Verna,

Honda City, and Indigo XL.

MARUTI SUZUKI DZIRE

Maruti Swift Dzire is the new entry level sedan

from Indian automaker Maruti Suzuki. Launched on

March 26 2008, Maruti DZiRE is based on the

popular Maruti Swift platform. The DZire replaces

Maruti Suzuki’s popular entry level sedan, Maruti

Suzuki Esteem, production of which was

discontinued in late 2007. Maruti Suzuki has

29

introduced DZire only in the Indian market. The car is pitted against the other entry level sedans

in the Indian market, such as the Mahindra Renault Logan and the Tata Indigo.

MARUTI SUZUKI ESTEEM

Sophisticated big structured Maruti Suzuki

esteem is one of the old car of the Maruti Udyog

group. To run this huge car its engine is made of

lightweight all-aluminum. This contemporary

engine has capacity of 65 bhp at 6000 rpm .

According to *Mileage (Auto India , Nov 2005),

Esteem holds the topmost position on mileage among the other category of cars including the

small cars. The Esteem was introduced in the global market in 1995 as Suzuki's first attempt in

the compact segment, at the time dominated by European cars such as the Volkswagen

Bora/Jetta and Opel Astra, and Japanese models such as the Nissan Sunny/Sentra and Toyota

Corolla. As a North American replacement for the Suzuki Swift sedan (the 3-door hatchback

remained after it was redesigned in 1995), it was built on a slightly stretched Suzuki Cultus

platform for improved cabin room, but otherwise sharing most of internal components with the

smaller model — and marketed as a distinct model

MARUTI SUZUKI BALENO

The Baleno has the looks and feel of a winner. This was

Maruti Udyog's first D-segment car launched in India to

compete with the Mitsubishi Lancer and the Honda City.

This is also Suzuki's biggest passenger car and in Japan and

other markets. The Baleno is called the Cultus in Japan.

Suzuki restyled the Baleno in 1999. The

car was given a new front end, with a

rounder grille and new headlights, and

the engine lineup was expanded.

MARUTI SUZUKI GRAND VITARA

30

The Suzuki Grand Vitara is a compact SUV, namely a long-wheelbase version of the Vitara,

produced by the Japanese automaker Suzuki since 1999. It was face lifted in 2002 and 2004, and

redesigned in 2006. A rebadged version was sold in North America by General Motors as the

Chevrolet Tracker. The Tracker is sold in Latin America, but Mexico, as Chevrolet Grand

Vitara. In Mexico, Grand Vitara and Tracker are different vehicles, sold by Suzuki and

Chevrolet respectively The 2006 model has had a structural redesign with a new ladder-boxed

chassis integrated into a unibody construction. In India, it is sold as a Maruti.

MARUTI SUZUKI ZEN-ESTILO

Estilo has got Wagon R's engine and chassis and Suzuki

MR Wagon's shape. Whatever remains is taken from Zen,

well does anything remain actually? This is the mixture

of zen and wagon -R . 'Zen Estilo'. In essence its stylish

Wagon R, Japan's MR Wagon, combination of the two or

anything but Zen. It seems Maruti wants to exploit Zen

brand-image hence named this car after Zen. With this model MSL has given it’s B segment a

new variant by which it may compete with the models of other company.

AWARDS

  2005

  Number one in JD Power SSI for the second consecutive year

 Number one in JD Power CSI for the sixth time in a row - the only

car to win

  it so many times

31

  M800, WagonR and Swift topped their segments in the TNS Total

     Customer Satisfaction Study

 Leadership in the JD Power Initial Quality Study - Alto number one

in its

   segment for the 2nd time in a row, Esteem number one in its

segment for

   the 3rd year in a row, Swift number one in the premium compact

segment

 WagonR and Esteem top their segments in the JD Power APEAL

study

 TNS ranks Maruti 4th in the Corporate Reputation Strength (CSR)

study

    (#1 in Auto sector)-Feb 05

 Maruti bagged the "Manufacturer of the year" award from Autocar-

CNBC

    ( 2nd time in a row)-Feb 05

First Indian car manufacturer to reach 5 million vehicles sales

 Business World ranks Maruti among top five most respected

companies in

    India-Oct 04

 Maruti ranked among top ten (Rank7) greenest companies in India

by

     Business Today - Sep '04

 

 

 2004

 

Maruti Suzuki was No. 1 in Customer atisfaction, No. 1 in Sales

Satisfaction No.1 in Product Quality (Esteem and Alto) and No. 1 in

Product Appeal (Esteem and Wagon R)

No. 1 in Total Customer Satisfaction (Maruti 800, Zen and Alto)

  Business World ranked us among the country's five most respected

companies

32

 Business World ranked us the country's most respected automobile

company

  Voted Manufacturer of the year by CNBC

 Voted one of India's Greenest Companies by Business Today-AC

Nielson ORG-MARG

     

  2003

 Maruti 800, Maruti Zen and Maruti Esteem make it to the top 10

automotive brands in "Most Trusted Brand survey 2003"

J D Power ranked 3 models of Maruti on top: Wagonr, Zen and

Esteem

  Maruti 800 and Wagonr top in NFO Total Customer Satisfaction

Study 2003.

  MUL tops in J D Power CSI (2001) for 4th time in a row

      

  2001

 MUL tops in J D Power CSI (2001) for 2nd time in a row: another

international first

   

  2000

 Maruti bags JD Power CSI - 1st rank; unique achievement by market

leader anywhere in the world

   

 

 1999

MSM launched as model workshop in India; achieves highest CSI

rating.

 Central Board of Excise & Customs awards Maruti with "Samman

Patra", for contribution to exchequer and being an ideal tax assessee

   

  1998

  CII's Business Excellence Award

33

   

  1996

Maruti wins INSSAN award for "Excellence in Suggestion Scheme"

  Awarded the Star Trading House status by Ministry of Commerce

   

  1994-95

 Engineering Exports Promotion Council's award for export

performance

   

  1994

 Best Canteen award among Haryana Industries as part of employee

welfare

   

  1992-93

 Engineering Exports Promotion Council's award for export

performance

   

  1991-92

 Engineering Exports Promotion Council's award for export

performance

MARUTI CULTURE

Their employees are their greatest strength and asset. It is this underlying philosophy that has

moulded their workforce into a team with common goals and objectives. Their Employee-

Management relationship is therefore characterized by:

Participative Management.

Team work & Kaizen.

Communication and information sharing.

34

Open office culture for easy accessibility

To implement this philosophy, they have taken several measures like a flat organizational

structure. There are only three levels of responsibilities ranging from the Board Of Directors,

Division Heads to Department Heads. Other visible features of this philosophy are an open

office, common uniforms (at all levels), and a common canteen for all.

This structure ensures better communication and speedy decision making processes. It also

creates an environment that builds trust, transparency and a sense of belonging amongst

employees.

For Investors:

Maruti Udyog Limited, a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan, has been the leader

of the Indian car market for about two decades. Its manufacturing plant, located some 25 km

south of New Delhi in Gurgaon, has an installed capacity of 3,50,000 units per annum, with a

capability to produce about half a million vehicles.

The company has a portfolio of 11 brands, including Maruti 800, Omni, premium small car Zen,

international brands Alto and WagonR, off-roader Gypsy, mid size Esteem, luxury car Baleno,

the MPV, Versa, Swift and Luxury SUV Grand Vitara XL7.

In recent years, Maruti has made major strides towards its goal of becoming Suzuki Motor

Corporation's R and D hub for Asia. It has introduced upgraded versions of WagonR Zen and

Esteem, completely designed and styled in-house.

Maruti's contribution as the engine of growth of the Indian auto industry, indeed its impact on

the lifestyle and psyche of an entire generation of Indian middle class, is widely acknowledged.

Its emotional connect with the customer continues.

Maruti tops customer satisfaction again for sixth year in a row according to the J.D. Power Asia

Pacific 2005 India Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) Study.

The company has also ranked highest in India Sales Satisfaction Study.

The company's quality systems and practices have been rated as a "benchmark for the

automotive industry world-wide" by A V Belgium, global auditors for International Organisation

for Standardisation.

35

In keeping with its leadership position, Maruti supports safe driving and traffic management

through mass media messages and a state-of-the art driving training and research institute that it

manages for the Delhi Government.

The company's service businesses including sale and purchase of pre owned cars (TrueValue),

lease and fleet management service for corporates (N2N), Maruti Insurance and Maruti Finance

are now fully operational.. These initiatives, besides providing total mobility solutions to

customers in a convenient and transparent manner, have helped improve economic viability of

The company's dealerships.

The company is listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.

MUL is a Board-managed company. Currently the directors on the Board are:

Mr Shinzo Nakanishi, Chairman

Mr Jagdish Khattar, Managing Director

Mr Hirofumi Nagao, Joint Managing Director

Mr Shinichi Takeuchi, Joint Managing Director

Mr Kinji Saito, Director (Marketing and Sales)

Mr Osamu Suzuki, Director

Mr R C Bhargava, Director

Mr S V Bhave, Director

Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Director

36

TARGET MARKETING

Target Marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your

marketing efforts on one or a few key segments.

The beauty of target marketing is that it makes the promotion, pricing and distribution of your

products and/or services easier and more cost-effective. Target marketing is the selection of

customers you wish to service. The decisions involved in it are

Which segments to target

How many products to offer

Which products to offer in which segments

There are three steps to targeting:

Market segmentation

Target choice

Product positioning

One of the first things you need to do is to refine your product or service so that you are NOT

trying to be 'all things to all people’.

Next, you need to understand that people purchase products or services for three basic reasons:

To satisfy basic needs.

To solve problems.

To make themselves feel good.

The next step in creating an effective marketing strategy is to zero in on your target market.

Target marketing is one of corporate America's most effective business strategies. The idea is to

increase sales by first identifying, and then targeting smaller, yet more profitable customer

groups within the total market.

37

Four Ways to Identify Target Markets

1. Geographic: The location, size of the area, density, and climate zone of your customers.

2. Demographics: The age, gender, income, family composition and size, occupation, and

education of your customers.

3. Psychographics: The general personality, behavior, life-style, rate of use, repetition of

need, benefits sought, and loyalty characteristics of your customers.

4. Behaviors: The needs they seek to fulfill, the level of knowledge, information sources,

attitude, use or response to a product of your customers.

One of the best ways to identify your target market is to look at your existing customer base.

Who are your ideal clients? What do they have in common? If you do not have an existing

customer base, or if you are targeting a completely new audience, speculate on who they might

be, based on their needs and the benefits they will receive. Investigate competitors or similar

businesses in other markets to gain insight.

TARGET MARKETING

Who are your best customers? Where should you direct your marketing activities?

Where and how should you allocate your advertising and promotional efforts?

Target Marketing, provides Focus for your business. It helps to establish critical Operational

goals and defines what must be done to achieve them

What Customers Want

Marketing is more than an activity, it is an attitude

Instead of trying to get customers to buy what the firm likes to make, or happens to have

on hand, the marketing oriented firm tries to produce or sell what its customers want

which can be sold at a profit.

Do not simply throw out everything that you now have and replace goods or production

machinery with completely new items.

38

However, as you analyze your market and customer profiles, and so gain an

understanding of their wants, desires, and perceived needs, you can begin to

reorient your business over time to take best advantage of these new insights.

Consider both the short term and long-term implications of developing and

implementing the right Target Marketing strategy for your business.

Customer Attitudes For a long time, people have believed that advertising can be used to change people's

minds about what they want. This is an incredibly difficult process at best, and an

extremely expensive one. Because of these two factors, it is a process that smaller firms

simply cannot afford to pursue. Instead, it is much more productive for any size firm to

tune in to target customer attitudes as they currently exist. Once they have identified the

actual prevailing attitudes, they can begin to organize company resources needed to

constructively address and satisfy these attitudes the key question is,

"What are the existing customer attitudes?"

With this as an objective, developing an understanding of existing customer attitudes becomes

essential, and their identification becomes an important part of the marketing process. Once

these customer attitudes, needs or preferences are identified, the entire firm can then organize

itself to satisfy these needs as completely and efficiently as possible.

Target Marketing 39

Comparison of Automobile And Consumer Durable At Dealership Level

S.No Attributes Automobile Consumer Durables

1 Turnover High Low

2 Margin 8%-12% 2%-4%

3Penetration Level

More in small or large towns or cities

More in Rural areas or in cities also

4

Training of Sales Executives

Executives get Training after every specific period As such no training

5 Supply-Chain Co->Dealer->CustomerCo->Distributor->Dealer >Customer

6Discount Margin Cartel

Depends on Dealer To Dealer

7 CSR Proper well organized

Only Sales man is there to serve the customer

8 ASSCustomer get 3free service

Customer have to go at manufactured level

9Brand Association

Customer first choice is more pertinent

Customer can change his or her choice

10 Payment Instantaneous Payment

More focus on Finance & Installment

11Post-Sales Follow UP More Very Less

40

12Buying Procedure

Customer can wait for new model Instant buying

13 Database Large Few

14Brand Transition Single-Tier Multi-Tier

15 Advertisement

Parent Company & dealer both give advertisement

Only from Parent Company

16Loyality Programs Yes No

17

Customer Satisfaction Index

Well- Defined & Organized None

18 Promotion Free Service Camps None

19Customer Retention More Very Less

20 Maintenance

Only free service which customer can extend upto 4 years(first 2yr are free)

Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC)

CAR MARKET CLASSIFICATION

41

It is necessary to understand the Indian car market classification and the segments in which MUL operates.There are two principal systems of classification in the Indian passenger car industry:A. Price Based Classification

Price based classification is the widely accepted classification basis in the Indian passenger car industry.The different price segments used by Maruti were as follows:1. Segment A – cars priced lower than Rs. 300,0002. Segment B – cars priced between Rs. 300,000 and Rs. 500,0003. Segment C – cars priced between Rs. 500,000 and Rs. 1,000,0004. Segment D – cars priced between Rs. 1,000,000 and Rs. 2,500,0005. Segment E – cars priced above Rs. 2,500,000 B. Length & weight Based Classification:

In April 2002, SIAM introduced a new segmentation of cars on the basis of the length of the cars, in order to establish a uniform industry standard. The new segmentation of passenger vehicles is as follows:1. Passenger cars• Segment A1 (Mini) – cars having a length up to 3,400mm• Segment A2 (Compact) – cars having a length of 3,401- 4,000mm• Segment A3 (Mid-size) – cars having a length of 4,001- 4,500mm• Segment A4 (Executive)– cars having a length of 4,501- 4,700mm• Segment A5 (Premium) – cars having a length of 4,701- 5,000mm• Segment A6 (Luxury) – cars having a length of more than 5,000mm

3. Utility vehicles

• Weight up to 3.5 tonnesa) Seating capacity not exceeding 7 (including driver)b) Seating capacity between 7 and 9 (including driver)• Weight up to 5 tonnesa) Seating capacity not exceeding 13 (including driver)• Multi-purpose vehicles (Weight up to 3.5 tonnes).

42

Maruti’s Offering and Competitors in Different Segments:

Manufacturer Name of theModel

Segment as perlength-basedclassification

Segment as perprice-basedclassification

1. Daimler Chrysler India Pvt. Ltd.

C ClassA6: Luxury

A4: Executive

E `

E 250 A5: Premium E

S Class S Class E

2. Fiat India Automobiles Pvt. Ltd.

Fiat Palio A2: Compact B

Fiat Siena A3: Mid-size C

Fiat Uno A2: Compact BPalio Adventure

A3: Mid-size C

3. Ford India Ltd.

Escort A3: Mid-size CIkon A3: Mid-size CMondeo A5: Premium D

4. General Motors India Ltd.

Opel Astra A3: Mid-size COpel Corsa A3: Mid-size COpel Swing A3: Mid-size C

5. Hindustan Motors

Ambassador A3: Mid-size BContessa A4:

ExecutiveC

Lancer A3: Mid-size C6. Honda SIEL

Cars India Ltd.

Accord A5: Premium DCity A3: Mid-size C

7. Hyundai Motor Company Ltd.

Accent A3: Mid-size C

Santro A2: Compact B

Sonata A5: Premium D

Maruti Udyog Ltd.

Maruti 1000 A3: Mid-size CMaruti 800 A1: Mini AMaruti Swift A2 : Mid sizeAlto A2: Compact B

43

8. Baleno A3: Mid-size CEsteem A3: Mid-size CWagonR A2: Compact B

Zen A2: Compact B

Versa Utility vehicles

C

Omni Utility vehicles

A

9. PAL-Peugeot Ltd.

118NE A3: Mid-size B

10. Tata Engineering & LocomotiveCompany Ltd

Indica A2: Compact B

SECTOR OUTLOOK

Between fiscal 2002 and fiscal 2007, the entire Indian passenger car market had a growth of approximately 9.5%, largely as a result of increasing demand for segment B cars .Segment A

This is the entry-level and the most price sensitive segment. Maruti is the sole manufacturer in this segment since fiscal 2000. Models like Maruti 800 are the ruler in this segment anybody who is economic wants to buy this model so during the period of 2000-05 this was the hot selling product from Maruti. Segment B

This segment is shining with a growth of approximately 57.6% of the Indian passenger car market. Due to the present low per capita income in India, the price and cost of ownership of cars are significant factors that

44

affect demand for cars in this segment. Alto, Zen , Swift, Wagon-R , Gypsy etc are the models that anyone can find them in any corner of this country. This segment comprise of 69% from the whole sale of Maruti Suzuki. This segment is always focused by Maruti and it is still improving this segment.

Segment C, D, and E

There are 11 manufacturers with approximately 20 models in these segments. These segments typically have low sales volumes; therefore, high growth rates of 11%, 19% and 35%, respectively . But in this segment Maruti has lesser number of product . SX4 , Dzire and Grand Vitara is the few models in this segment. New model launches, growth in per capita income levels, high aspirations and status associated with larger cars, are the key factors affecting demand for cars in these segments. Maruti has to improve this segment to fight with others.

THE PRE-OWNED CAR MARKET

The size of the pre-owned car market in India has been estimated to be more then the size of the new car market. The A and B segments account for between 70 and 80% of the total sales volumes in the pre-owned passenger car market in India. The proportion of pre-owned cars from segment B is increasing and is expected to form the largest portion of the pre owned passenger car market. Mid-size and large cars are less popular in the pre-owned passenger car market. Here also Maruti Suzuki started its own market known as TRUE VALUE. Here the company sell all kind of cars without altering their specification,

45

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MODELS OF MARUTI AND ITS COMPITATORS IN DIFFERENT SEGMENTS

MARUTI TATA HYUNDAI HONDA GM TOYOTA FORD SKODA

A M-800

OMNI

INDIC

A ------------- -----------

SPARK

------------ ----------------- -----------

B GYPSI

ZEN

WAGON

ALTO

SWIFT

INDIG

O

SANTRO

GETZ ------------

AVEO-UAV

-------------

IKON

------------

C SX4

DZIRE

SAFA

RI

SOM

O

ACCENT

VERNA

CITY AVEO

OPTRA

TRAVERA

INNOVA

COROLLA

FIESTA

FUSION

FABIA

D VITRA -------- CIVIC

CRV

CAPTIVE CAMRY

ALTIS

ENDEAVOUR OCTAVI

A

E---------- ---------

SONATA

TUCSON

ACCORD PRADO LAURA

SUPERB

This table shows that the Maruti Suzuki has larger number of variety in the segment A&B so the sales must be good in this segments. But it is lacking behind its competitors in

segment C,D & E

46

THE PLAYERS IN THE INDIAN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

Hyundai Motor India Ltd

Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai Motor

Company, South Korea and is the second largest and the fastest growing car manufacturer in

India. HMIL presently markets 31 variants of passenger cars in six segments. The Santro in the

B segment, Getz in the B+ segment, the Accent in the C segment, the Elantra in the D segment,

the Sonata Embera in the E segment and the Tucson and Terracan in the SUV segment.

The company recorded combined sales of 252,851 during calendar year 2005 with a growth of

17.26% over year 2004. HMIL is India's fastest growing car company having rolled-out over

970,000 cars in just over 80 months since its inception and is the largest exporter of passenger

cars with exports of over Rs. 1,800 crores. HMIL has recorded a growth of 27.2% in exports

over the year 2004.

HMIL’s fully integrated state-of-the-art manufacturing plant near Chennai boasts some of the

most advanced production, quality and testing capabilities in the country. In continuation of its

investment in providing the Indian customer global technology, HMIL has announced plans for

its second plant, which will produce 300,000 units per annum, raising HMIL’s total production

capacity to 600,000 per annum by 2007. The plant will be built on a 2.1 million square meter site

adjacent to the existing facility .HMIL is investing to expand capacity in line with its positioning

as HMC’s global export hub for compact cars. Apart from expansion of production capacity,

HMIL plans to expand its dealer network, which will be increased from 157 to 200 this year.

47

And with the company’s greater focus on the quality of its after-sales service, HMIL’s service

network will be expanded to over 1,000 in 2006.

The year 2005 has been a significant year for Hyundai Motor India. It achieved a significant

milestone by rolling out the fastest “200,000th” export car. HMIL exports to around 60 countries

globally and recently made a foray into the highly competitive UK market by exporting its first

shipment.Propelled by the strong performance in year 2005, Hyundai Motor India is on the

threshold of yet another grand milestone of rolling out its ‘One millionth’ car which is expected

soon.

Tata Motors

Tata Motors is one of the largest companies in the Tata Group with a total income of US$ 2.35

billion. More than 3 million Tata vehicles ply on Indian roads making Tata a dominant force in

the Indian automobile industry.

Tata Motors is India's only fully integrated automobile manufacturer with a portfolio that covers

trucks, buses, utility vehicles and passenger cars. It would be no exaggeration to say that Tata

Motors provides the wheels for India's growth.

Tata Motors has the unique distinction of giving India its first and only indigenously built

passenger car - The Tata Indica and the premium feature sedan - The Tata Indigo. The Indica,

launched in 1998, reached the 2,50,000 sales mark within 52 months of launch.

Tata Motors owes its leading position in the Indian automobile industry to its strong focus on

indigenisation. This focus has driven the Company to set up world-class manufacturing units

with state-of-the-art technology. Every stage of product evolution-design, development,

manufacturing, assembly and quality control, is carried out meticulously. Their manufacturing

plants are situated at Jamshedpur in the East, Pune in the West and Lucknow in the North.

Ford India Limited

48

The Ford Motor Company has a rich legacy of translating better motoring ideas to the roads. It

has manufactured notable brands such as the Ford, Lincoln, Mercury and the Jaguar. It is among

the top five industrial corporations in the world and is available in more than 200 countries

around the world.

Ford has entered the Indian market through a tie - up with Mahindra Motors to manufacture the

Ford Escort. A project that has been set up with a investment of Rs.1700 crore. Ford India

Limited is a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company, currently Ford has a 78% stake, which is going

up to 92% soon. The Maraimalai Nagar Plant of Ford India Limited, located roughly 45k.m.from

Chennai, provides employment to over 20000 people.The plant has the capacity to manufacture

1,00,000 vehicles per annum, equipped with state-of-the-art vehicle manufacturing technology

from Ford.

Presently offering seven different models, Ford India Limited (FIL) is catching up fast with the

Indian consumer. This is secured through a quality check program based on the principles of

NOVA - C (New Overall Vehicle Audit - Customer) wherein daily random checks are conducted

from a customer's point of view. To be doubly sure, routine calls are made to dealerships to

check the quality of cars delivered to them.

At Mahindra's dealerships are present trained professionals who provide the best levels of

service in India. Its intensive manpower training, advanced service equipment and dedicated

consumer satisfaction are the are its plus points which is being followed by the entire industry.

Acknowledgement has come in the form of the J D power 1997 India Initial Quality and

Customer Satisfaction Awards. These internationally acclaimed and recognized awards voted the

Ford Escort as the Best Quality car and the Mahindra Ford and its dealerships were rated the

highest in Customer Satisfaction. This is an honour as it its only the second time in automotive

history that the same brand/manufacturer has received both the awards in the same year.

General Motors India

General Motors India, incorporated in 1994 as a 50-50 joint venture company with the C.K.

Birla Group of Companies, became a fully owned subsidiary of GM in 1999 when GMOC

bought the remaining shares. The company was restructured in 1999 and was converted from a

Public Limited company to a Private Limited company. GM APH LLC currently holds 86 49

percent of voting shares, and Holden (Australia) holds 14 percent. The SPO business was

integrated with the main business in the same company in 2000.

In India, GM strengthened its presence with new product launches Chevrolet Optra in 2003 and

Chevrolet Tavera (Multi Utility Vehicle) in 2004. Similarly in 2004, GM India is expected to

register a growth of 90% over 2003. With sales volume going up, the market share of GM India

has gone to nearly 2%. The sales volume in 2003 was 15,155 units while 2004 figure is expected

to be around 27,000 units. In 2004, the company sold a total of 26,166 cars as against 15,155

cars in 2003 registering a growth of 73% while overall passenger car growth during the year was

only around 23-24%. These included 9191 Chevy Optras in Entry 'D' Luxury sedan segment,

8369 Opel Corsas and 8417 units of the new generation premium multi-utility vehicle (MUV)

Chevrolet Tavera.

The existing GM India plant was originally built by Hindustan Motors. In 1994, GM India

entered into a 50% Joint Venture partnership with Hindustan Motors and modernized the

45,000-square-meter plant near Halol, 45 kilometers northwest of Vadodara, in the western state

of Gujarat. In February, 1999, GM bought the holdings of Hindutan Motors and GM India

became a 100% subsidiary of General Motors Corporation of USA. The plant produces the Opel

Corsa, Corsa Sail, Chevrolet Optra, and Chevrolet Tavera. The Chevrolet Forester and Opel

Vectra are sold as CBUs (Completely Built in Units) and as imported from Japan and Germany

respectively.

Toyota Motor Corporation is the third largest automaker in the world. They have 34 dealers in

India and in Delhi they have 2 dealers, first one is ‘South Delhi Toyota’ and second one is in

Moti Nagar in which I have visited during my survey. Dealer in Moti Nagar which is “Galaxy

Toyota” have predetermined mission that-Customer comes first and everything they do is to

meet their customer needs, basically they work for creating a lifetime customer.

They work by dividing their work like in one showroom they have separate teams for every

product like relating to Corolla it comprises of 7 or 8 executives who handle all the work

weather it is of sale or any enquiry or telemarketing call that team must have some specific target

to achieve. They reach to the customers either by distributing Leaflets, Brochures to the

customers. They collect customer database from Directory (Yellow Pages) or through customer

references even they solve customers query online and give information through e-mails. 50

Recently they organized one drawing competition between the kids of their existing customers

just to interact with the customer and build loyalty of their company products. They judge their

customer satisfaction by analyzing that repeat buyers are more or not & moreover they have

customer feedback form in which they can analyze customers background and can forecast

customer future demands. They target only high profile customers.

They build customer loyalty by giving happy calls to the customer after sale of every 1,3,7

month. They provide Periodic maintenance schedule, which will ensure that vehicle, is kept in

best able-bodied at all times. The maintenance schedule may include periodic inspection,

adjustment and lubrication that will keep vehicle in the safest and most efficient condition, they

provide one booklet in which they give simple and useful tips for maintenance of the car. They

offer good schemes like providing free Test Drive worth Rs 250 petrol at the time of sale of any

car. They do road shows to attract customers. To promote their product they organize exchange

mela, events, various cash discounts like currently they are running one discount scheme on

purchase of any of their car (Innova, Toyota) they are giving free accessories worth Rs15000.

They provide 4 free services after sale and with full clean diesel.

All employees of Galaxy Toyota shall consider how they should act and how they might change

their ways to benefit the company. They launch one “Co Branded Credit Card” to provide

additional benefits and services to the Toyota customers. This Credit Card will give Toyota

customers a better payment flexibility and convenience, like Customer gets free service voucher

with the card, Special Invite to co-sponsored events, Personal accident insurance coverage: Up to

20 lakhs etc. They have one Guest Book in which they store valuable comments of customers,

which they think are very important for them, which will help them to improve their service.

HONDA

Honda is one of the leading manufacturers of automobiles and power products and the largest

manufacture of motorcycles in the world. They have 20 dealers in 42 different cities around

India. In New Delhi they have 6 dealers, I have visited one of them, which is in Najafgarh Road.

They do surveys to know customers need. They target either existing or their perspective

customers by giving advertisement in the newspaper or through there satisfied customers which

give references. They don’t believe on targeting competitor’s customers because by not doing so 51

they have such a brand reputation with good quality products, only through this they are able to

make good sales.

They display their models in 8th Auto Expo, which held in New Delhi. They are now focusing

on their new model ‘Civic’. Honda's Civic perhaps drew the maximum attention. The reason is

simple: Civic is a new car from the house of Honda. During my survey I get to know that Honda

City Model is the second largest selling car in the ‘C’ segment. They have a good superiority

with superior brand name in the country.

They prefer to have mode of communication with the customer through mail, telephone and

sometimes by letter. Customers who don’t have time even to see the model or to call the dealer

to make inquiries about their reservation they desire to solve their query online itself.

To judge customer satisfaction they some times invite their customers to have a get together, to

have interaction with customer in a minute to know that are they satisfied with their services and

what they are expecting from them in the near future. They make maximum of their sales from

the fresh customers rather than their repeat purchasers. To increase their sales they try to extort

surreptitious information from the customers and on their end they aim to ensure that the product

quality and product quantity should be available in required quantity in their dealership.

They have Feedback form in which they take feedback of the customer as well as their

salesperson because through this they are able to get the information of both the customer &

their salesperson that are they giving the full information to the customer. This Dealership even

provide technical skills and techniques to their employees that how to deal with the customer

thoughtfully every after 6 months.

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NEED FOR CRM IN AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

The global automotive industry exhibits most of the characteristics of mature industries and

closely follows their business cycles. While vehicle industry sales have been strong for the past

several years, they have started to slow recently due to the current global economic slowdown.

Deteriorating economic conditions result in a drop in consumer confidence, which quickly

impacts automotive sales due to their big-ticket status and the relative low cost of extending the

life of an existing vehicle through maintenance and repair.

The advent of the Internet as a research tool (75 to 80 percent of auto consumers research using

the Internet) has shifted power to consumers, further increasing pressure on prices. At the same

time, government regulation and consumer demands for sophisticated features have increased

development, production, and marketing costs. Regional economic fluctuations favor

consolidation among car companies, suppliers, and retailers -resulting in fewer, larger companies

that have more complete product lines targeted at existing and new markets. Consolidation has

heightened competition in all vehicle segments. Low-cost manufacturers are expanding beyond

their home markets with entry level vehicles, traditional passenger car manufacturers are

expanding into the light truck markets, and luxury manufacturers are moving down market with

passenger cars and SUVs. As a result of these product and market extensions, consumers find it

difficult to exhibit brand loyalty because vehicles have unclear brand identities, similar features,

and comparable prices. In addition, an overpopulation of dealers has resulted in local and

regional competition among same make dealers. This further reduces margins and damages the

brand images the car companies spend large amounts of money to build.

Relations between the car companies and their suppliers traditionally have been difficult. In

response to competitive pressure, suppliers have been forced by the car companies to provide

higher-quality components at constantly lower costs. The resulting decrease in margins and the

reduction in volume due to slowing sales have increased the pressure to consolidate and forced

some suppliers to the brink of bankruptcy. Dealers too have a long history of adversarial

relationships with the car companies. Independent entrepreneurs who view some of the car

companies with skepticism or serious mistrust, dealers believe that many manufacturer-

sponsored customer satisfaction programs are actually designed to force smaller dealers out of

business or to gain control of customer relationships that the retailers believe they "own." 53

These difficult relationships have prevented car companies and dealers from maximizing the

lifetime value of their combined customers. There are few incentives or efficient methods for

dealers and car companies to share critical data, resulting in ineffective management of product,

service, and household information. In addition, consumers receive conflicting marketing

communications from the two groups, which results in reduced brand value.

Key Industry Pain Points

Decreasing sales and market share - The long-term battle for market share continues to

intensify. In the mature automotive industry, where business cycles drive sales

fluctuations, market share is critical to survival. Consumers are less brand-loyal than in

the past, and every market segment has an increasing number of vehicle choices. To

increase sales and gain ground in the market share battle, companies must improve their

ability both to acquire first-time customers and to develop customer loyalty to their

current brands. To achieve these related objectives, companies must set an aggressive

goal -deliver the best customer experience in the automotive industry.

Difficult dealer relationships and a lack of dealer collaboration - As the consumer 's

primary touch point ,the dealer network is a critical component of customer-facing

operations. Therefore, the integration of the dealer network is absolutely essential to

improving the quality of the customer experience. Only with an infrastructure that

enables the effective flow of information to and from dealers can companies create a

complete view of their customers. Car companies must take the initiative in

understanding the customer 's perspective throughout the buying cycle.

Lack of multichannel capabilities - With the advent of the Internet as a research tool,

the majority of customers are accessing the automotive enterprises through several

different channels. Many times, the switch between channels happens very rapidly as a

prospect or customer can view a Web site, make a phone inquiry, and visit a retail store

within days or even hours of an initial contact. To improve customer satisfaction and

secure customer lifetime value, companies must be able to capture these multiple

interactions, provide seamless management between channels, and leverage shared

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customer information to create rewarding experiences and to develop and execute highly

targeted marketing campaigns.

Inefficient demand chain planning and high associated IT cost - Cost reduction is an

ongoing competitive requirement. Just as supply chain management must be supported

by a sophisticated information infrastructure, effective demand chain management also

requires the right supporting infrastructure, enabling car companies to fully leverage each

customer relationship through exceptional customer service, efficient lead generation and

management, and effective promotions and campaigns. In addition, global automotive

enterprises operate a wide variety of IT systems in their various business units and

functional groups. Rationalizing these systems offers significant cost savings.

Lack of effective information sharing - Car companies must integrate global operations

in order to achieve the benefits of consolidation -cost reduction, effective

communication, and true integration of core competencies. In addition, internal

alignment between business units and functional groups is required to create a unified

view of consumers, products, and services. Currently, each business unit, functional

group, and brand operates through independent systems, programs, and touch points. As

a result, there is limited synergy across the ecosystem, leading to significant

inefficiencies, lack of coordination, and most important, an inability to maximize "share

of wallet "from every customer through well-targeted marketing and cross-selling.

Synergy between traditionally independent business units such as captive finance

companies and between functional groups such as sales, service, and marketing is more

critical now than ever before. Only by sharing customer information can customer

lifetime value be maximized among different groups.

Complex data governance requirements - Global automotive enterprises have large,

complex information technology ecosystems. While customer information must be

shared within this ecosystem in order to fully maximize global operations, it must also be

protected. Proper management of customer information requires a sophisticated

capability to manage a variety of access rules and to accommodate legal restrictions that

can change very quickly. The trust required for successful collaboration between groups

in the automotive enterprise must be built by demonstrating that customer information

can be shared while observing these complex requirements.

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Difficulty managing employee relationships - In today 's fast-paced business

environment, automotive companies need to ensure that their most valuable asset -their

employees -have immediate access to the critical information, services, and applications

required to be productive. Organizations must enable employees to make better

decisions, work collaboratively, enhance customer relationships, and maximize

productive time. Global automotive enterprises must be able to enact and enforce

consistent policies across business units, instill a common corporate culture across a

geographically dispersed and diverse workforce, equip employees with effective searche

and demanding market.

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SALES NETWORK

Dealers: They offer their products to the customer through a network of 178 authorized dealers

with 243 sales outlets across 161 cities. They believe that this is the largest network of dealers

amongst car manufacturers in India. Their dealers employed more than 3,500 sales executives.

They are linked to their sales network through their secure extranet-based information network.

The sales of their spares, accessories and automobile-related services such as insurance and

finance serve as additional sources of revenue for our dealers. They believe that the availability

of these related products and services at sales outlets also helps to attract customers to the outlets

and promotes sales of their cars.

Agreements with dealers: They generally appoint a limited number of dealers for a certain

geographical territory. Their dealers provide services to customers such as pre-delivery

inspection of vehicles, sales of cars, after sales service, supply of spare parts and other services

that promote sales of cars within the territory for which they are appointed. They have the right

to sell their products and services through other dealers or intermediaries in any territory,

whether or not one of their dealers is already established in that territory. Their dealers are

required to maintain their outlets in accordance with their specifications and employ well-trained

sales staff.

Their agreements with their dealers usually have terms of five years. These agreements are

generally renewable for successive terms of three years, by mutual agreement. The agreements

typically permit termination by either the dealer or them with six months’ prior notice.

Enhancing dealer performance: Their central office in Delhi, their regional offices and their area

offices monitor and assist their dealer network. They have nine regional offices, five area offices

and 187 sales and marketing personnel. They follow the performance of their dealers and

frequently suggest improvements. In order to assist their dealers in enhancing their performance

and capabilities, they have introduced a concept of “Balanced Scorecard”. Using this tool, they

seek to measure the performance of a dealership in several areas of operations, including sales,

service, spares and accessories, financial management and management systems. They reward

dealers who perform well on the “Balanced Scorecard” with a cash payment at the end of the

fiscal year. They believe that the “Balanced Scorecard” serves as an effective incentive for

dealers to enhance their performance.

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Dealer training: They have established standard operating procedures, showroom ambience and

service quality standards for dealerships. They provide periodic training through their training

centres located at their manufacturing facility and at Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati and Pune.

They have trained more than 2,600 and 3,400 dealer sales personnel. Their subsidiary, True

Value Solutions Ltd., provides value-added services, such as manpower recruitment and training,

to their dealers.

AFTER-SALES SERVICE

Network

As on date there are 342 Maruti dealer workshops and 1,545 Maruti Authorised Service Stations,

or MASSs, covering 898 cities in India. In addition, 24-hour mobile service is offered in 38

cities under the brand “Maruti On-road Service”. They intend to extend this service to an

additional 25 cities over the next three years. As a benchmark for dealers with respect to service

quality and infrastructure facilities, they have launched service stations under the brand “Maruti

Service Masters, or MSMs, in three locations in India. They have service stations on 30

highways in India under the brand “Express Service Stations”.

To promote sales of their spare parts and the availability of high quality, reliable spare parts for

their products, they sell spares under the brand name “Maruti Genuine Parts”, or MGP. These

are distributed through their dealer network and through authorised sellers of their spare parts, to

whom they refer as stockists.

Many of their MASSs are at remote locations where they do not have dealers. In order to

increase the penetration, in terms of sales volumes, of their products in these remote areas, they

are exploring opportunities to integrate some of the MASSs into the sales process in order to

increase sales of their cars and related products and services such as spares and accessories,

insurance and financing.

Genuine Accessories

They have also entered the business of marketing car accessories under the brand name “Maruti

Genuine Accessories”, or MGA, through their dealership network. They seek to provide

58

customers with the opportunity to customize their vehicles with accessories such as music

systems, security systems, car-care products and utility products.

Warranty and Extended Warranty Program

They offer a two-year warranty on all their vehicles at the time of sale. Their dealers are required

to address any claim made by a customer, in accordance with practices and procedures

prescribed by them, under the provisions of the warranty in force at that time. The dealers

subsequently claim the warranty cost from them. They analyse warranty claims from dealers and

either claim the cost from vendors, in the case of defective components, or bear the cost

ourselves, in the case of manufacturing defects.

They offer an extended paid-warranty program marketed under the brand, “Forever Yours” for

the third and fourth year after purchase. They have entered into arrangements with insurance

companies to cover the costs of warranties offered under this program. The extended warranty

program is intended to maintain the dealer’s contact with the customer and increase the revenue

generated from sale of spares, accessories and automobile-related services. An effort is made

during the period of the extended warranty to encourage the customer to exchange his existing

Maruti car for a new Maruti car, or upgrade to a new Maruti car.

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CONCLUSION

The research work was successfully identifying the different segmentation of Maruti

Suzuki and also the sales trend. The conclusion can be drawn from this study may be:-

Maruti Suzuki is India’s one of the leading auto mobile manufactures and also

the leader of the market both in terms of volume and revenue generated.

MSL (Maruti Suzuki Limited) has segmented the market in to A, B, C, D and

Eon the basis of price and length and weight. Between fiscal year 2002 and

2007 the market of automobile grew at rate of 9.5%.

In segment A price always plays a vital role MSL was the sole manufacture

till 2000, Maruti 800 was the hot seller till 2005.

In segment B growth of automobile was 57.6% where Maruti captures a share

of 69%. Its products like alto and Zen are two role models with these

segments.

In C,D and E segment Maruti has number of competitors and has a less

growth . In this segment also MSL lack of more models than other company.

Taking the sale trend in to account MSL sold a record number of vehicle 7,

14,842 in 2007-08 including 53,024 units of export. In 2007-08 it record a

turnover of INR 145,922 million which rose to 178,603 million in 2007-08

showing a growth of 20%.

MSL has also captured 51.4% of passenger car segment while the total share

of this segment is 78%. It also captures 89% of multi –purpose vehicles. And

1.6 % in sports utility vehicle segments. So in every segment Maruti Suzuki

has shown its presence.

Hence Maruti Suzuki Limited has captured over all share of 46% in the Indian

car market.

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RECOMONDATIONS

Initially Maruti was operating in the market which was a part of closed economy

but with opening of market, the scenario has changed dramatically and at an

international juncture where both challenges and opportunity are immense.

With such immense growth Indian auto mobile sector attracts the global players,

who want to make their name a house hold name in Indian auto mobile sectors.

Hence Maruti has a tough competition from the companies like Hyundai, GM,

Honda, Telco, ford etc.

So Maruti should improve its segments like :-

1. Segment B whose maximum market share is captured by Maruti Suzuki is

facing a tough competition from players like Hyundai; it lunched its

SANTRO Xing and I10 to give more excitement in this segment. So

Maruti should improve this segment by lunching newer models with better

facilities.

2. Almost 18 years the 800 is on its last stage. So Maruti should think a

replacement of this model or should improve this model, otherwise it will

face a tough competition from the TATA NANO.

3. Over the years MSL brand value had begun to erode as it is known as the

market leader of small car segments but as the market is open now and the

purchase power of people is increased MSL should look in the segments

such as D and E. In this segment players like Honda, Toyota and Ford has

more models than Maruti. So Maruti should lunch more vehicles in this

segment.

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4. A industry where the models are given numbers of features every year

Maruti is still lacking of the features in its models such as Maruti Zen did

not changed o from its date of lunch . So Maruti should renew its models.

5. Maruti is still has problems in its mid size variants as the products like

Esteem, Versa and Baleno is no more a favorite by the customers. So MSL

should think to re lunch these products with higher features.

6. Maruti is offering the diesel variant in a less numbers of models. As this

variant is more demanded by the customer MSL should look into this

matter. It should also offer the CNG enable models to take newer market

share.

7. By taking these recommendations MSL should improve its image and

market share.

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BIBILIOGRAPHY

TITLE

Maruti Udyog

MAGAZINES

Auto World

Over Drive

Business Today

Auto India

WEB SEARCH:

www.marutisuzuki.co.in

www.google.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.yahoosearch.com

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