Maruti Suzuki

INTRODUCTION
Maruti Suzuki India Limited, formerly known as Maruti Udyog Limited, is an
Indian automobile manufacturer, based in New Delhi. It was founded in 1981 and owned by
the Government of India until 2003, when it was sold to the Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor
Corporation.[2][7] As of February 2022 Maruti Suzuki has a market share of 44.2 percent in the
Indian passenger car market
 Affiliation with Suzuki
In 1982, a license and joint venture agreement (JVA) was signed between Maruti Udyog Ltd.,
and Suzuki of Japan. At first, Maruti Suzuki was mainly an importer of cars. In India's closed
market, Maruti received the right to import 2 fully built-up Suzuki in the first two years, and
even after that, the early goal was to use only 33% indigenous parts. This upset the local
manufacturers considerably. There were some concerns that the Indian market was too small
to absorb the comparatively large production planned by Maruti Suzuki, with the government
even considering adjusting the petrol tax and lowering the excise duty in order to boost sales.
[12]
 Local production commenced in December 1983 with the introduction of the SS30/SS40
Suzuki Fronte/Alto-based Maruti 800.[13] In 1984, the Maruti Van with the same three-cylinder
engine as the 800 was released and the installed capacity of the plant in Gurgaon reached
40,000 units.
In 1985, the Suzuki SJ410-based Gypsy a 970 cc 4WD off-road vehicle, was launched. In 1986,
the original 800 was replaced by an all-new model of the 796 cc hatchback Suzuki Alto
(SS80) and the 100,000th vehicle was produced by the company. [14] In 1987, the company
started exporting to western markets, when a lot of 500 cars were sent to Hungary. By 1988,
the capacity of the Gurgaon plant was increased to 100,000 units per annum.

Market liberalization

In 1989, the Maruti 1000 was introduced and the 970 cc, three-box was India's first

contemporary sedan. By 1991, 65 percent of the components, for all vehicles produced, were
indigenized. After liberalization of the Indian economy in 1991, Suzuki increased its stake in
Maruti to 50 percent, making the company a 50-50 joint venture with the government of India
as the other stakeholder.
In 1993, the Zen, a 993 cc engined hatchback was launched and in 1994 the
1,298 cc Esteem sedan was introduced. Maruti produced its 1 millionth vehicle since the
commencement of production in 1994. Maruti's second plant was opened with annual capacity
reaching 200,000 units. Maruti launched a 24-hour emergency on-road vehicle service. In 1998,
the new Maruti 800 was released, being the first change in design since 1986. Zen D, a 1,527 cc
diesel hatchback, and Maruti's first diesel vehicle, and a redesigned Omni were introduced. In
1999, the 1.6-litre Maruti Baleno three-box sedan and Wagon R were also launched.
In 2000, Maruti became the first car company in India to launch a call center for internal and
customer services. The new Alto model was released. In 2001, Maruti True Value, selling and
buying used cars was launched. In October of the same year the Maruti Versa was launched. In
2002, Esteem Diesel was introduced. Two new subsidiaries were also started: Maruti Insurance
Distributor Services and Maruti Insurance Brokers Limited. Suzuki Motor Corporation increased
its stake in Maruti to 54.2 per cent.
In 2003, the new Suzuki Grand Vitara XL-7 was introduced while the Zen and the Wagon R were
upgraded and redesigned. The four millionth Maruti vehicle was built and they entered into a
partnership with the State Bank of India. Maruti Udyog Ltd. was listed on BSE and NSE after a
public issue, which was oversubscribed tenfold. In 2004, the Alto became India's best selling car
overtaking the Maruti 800 after nearly two decades. The five-seater Versa 5-seater, a new
variant, was created while the Esteem was re-launched. Maruti Udyog closed the financial year
2003–04 with an annual sale of 472,122 units, the highest ever since the company began
operations and the fiftieth lakh (5 millionth) car rolled out in April 2005. The 1.3-litre Suzuki
Swift five-door hatchback was introduced in 2005.[15]
In 2006 Suzuki and Maruti set up another joint venture, "Maruti Suzuki Automobiles India", to
build two new manufacturing plants, one for vehicles and one for engines. [15] Cleaner cars were
also introduced, with several new models meeting the new Bharat Stage III emission standards.
[15]
 In February 2012, Maruti Suzuki sold its ten millionth vehicle in India. [13] In July 2014 it had a
market share of more 45%.[16] In May 2015, the company produced its fifteen millionth vehicle
in India, a Swift Dzire.[17]
On 25 April 2019, Maruti Suzuki announced that it would phase out production of diesel cars by
1 April 2020, when the Bharat Stage VI emission standards come into effect. The new standards
would require a significant investment from the company to upgrade its existing diesel engines
to comply with the more stringent emission standards. Chairman R.C. Bhargava stated, "We
have taken this decision so that in 2022 we are able to meet the corporate average fuel
efficiency (CAFE) norms and higher share of CNG vehicles will help us comply with the norms. I
hope the union government's policies will help grow the market for CNG vehicles." Diesel cars
accounted for about 23 percent of Maruti Suzuki's annual sales.[18]
The company plans to launch its first electric car in the second half of 2021, the Maruti Suzuki
WagonR Electric[19] and a test mule of the same has been spotted several times recently.
PRODUCT OFFERING
MODELS
 Current model
Indian
Model introduct Dealer outlet
ion Introduct Update/
ion facelift

Hatchback

Alto 2000 2012 2019 Arena

S-Presso 2019 2019 — Arena

Celerio 2014 2021 — Arena

Wagon R 2000 2019 — Arena

Ignis 2017 2017 2019 NEXA

 Discontinued models

Model Released Discontinued

800 1983 2015

Omni 1984 2021

Gypsy E 1985 2000

Gypsy King 1985 2017

1000 1990 2000

Zen 1993 2006

Esteem 1994 2007

Baleno 1999 2006

Baleno Altura 2000 2006

Versa 2001 2010

Grand Vitara XL-7

2003 2007
(imported)
 Grand Vitara
2007 2014
(imported)

Zen Estilo 2007 2013

SX4 2007 2014

A-star 2008 2014

Swift Dzire 2008 2017

Ritz 2008 2016

Alto K10 2010 2020

Kizashi
2011 2014
(imported)

Baleno RS 2017 2020

S-Cross 2015 2022

Sales and service network

Maruti Suzuki has 2413 Arena sales outlets across 1,992 cities and 380 NEXA sales outlets
across 228 cities in India.[5] The company aims to increase its sales network to 4,000 outlets by
2020.[70] It has 4044 service stations across 1,861 cities throughout India. [71] Maruti's dealership
network is larger than that of enough known companies combined.[72] Service is a major
revenue generator of the company. Most of the service stations are managed on franchise
basis, where Maruti Suzuki trains the local staff. Also, The Express Service stations exist, sending
across their repairman to the vehicle if it is away from a normal service center.

Other Product and Services

NEXA
In 2015, Maruti Suzuki launched NEXA, a new dealership network for its premium cars which
stands for New Exclusive Automotive Experience.[75]
Maruti Suzuki currently sells the Baleno, S-Cross, XL6, Ciaz and Ignis through NEXA outlets.[76] S-
Cross was the first car to be sold through NEXA outlets. Several new models will be added to
both channels as part of the company's medium term goal of 2 million annual sales by 2020.
The company recently achieved a milestone of selling 1.5 million cars from over 350 dealerships
across the country and is the third largest automobile retail channel of India .
Maruti Insurance
Launched in 2002 Maruti Suzuki provides vehicle insurance to its customers with the help of the
National Insurance Company, Bajaj Allianz, New India Assurance and Royal Sundaram. The
service was set up the company with the inception of two subsidiaries Maruti Insurance
Distributors Services Pvt. Ltd and Maruti Insurance Brokers Pvt. Limited
This service started as a benefit or value addition to customers and was able to ramp up easily.
By December 2005 they were able to sell more than two million insurance policies since its
inception.

Maruti Finance
To promote its bottom line growth, Maruti Suzuki launched Maruti Finance in January 2002.
Prior to the start of this service Maruti Suzuki had started two joint ventures Citicorp Maruti
and Maruti Countrywide with Citi Group and GE Countrywide respectively to assist its client in
securing loan.[80] Maruti Suzuki tied up with ABN Amro Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Limited, Kotak
Mahindra, Standard Chartered Bank, and Sundaram to start this venture including its strategic
partners in car finance. Again the company entered into a strategic partnership with SBI in
March 2003[81] Since March 2003, Maruti has sold over 12,000 vehicles through SBI-Maruti
Finance. SBI-Maruti Finance is currently available in 166 cities across India. [82]
Citicorp Maruti Finance Limited is a joint venture between Citicorp Finance India and Maruti
Udyog Limited its primary business stated by the company is "hire-purchase financing of Maruti
Suzuki vehicles". Citi Finance India Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Citibank Overseas
Investment Corporation, Delaware, which in turn is a 100% wholly owned subsidiary of Citibank
 N.A. Citi Finance India Limited holds 74% of the stake and Maruti Suzuki holds the remaining
26%.[83] GE Capital, HDFC and Maruti Suzuki came together in 1995 to form Maruti Countrywide.
Maruti claims that its finance program offers most competitive interest rates to its customers,
which are lower by 0.25% to 0.5% from the market rates.[84]
Maruti TrueValue
Maruti True service offered by Maruti Suzuki to its customers. It is a marketplace for used
Maruti Suzuki Vehicles. One can buy, sell or exchange used Maruti or non-Maruti vehicles with
the help of this service in India. As of 10 August 2017 there are 1,190 outlets across 936 cities.
[85]

Maruti Accessories
Many of the auto component companies, other than Maruti Suzuki, started to offer compatible
components and accessories. This caused a serious threat and loss of revenue to Maruti Suzuki.
Maruti Suzuki started a new initiative under the brand name Maruti Genuine Accessories to
offer accessories like alloy wheels, body cover, carpets, door visors, fog lamps, stereo systems,
seat covers and other car care products. These products are sold through dealer outlets and
authorized service stations throughout India.[87]

Maruti Driving School

As part of its corporate social responsibility Maruti Suzuki launched the Maruti Driving School in
Delhi. Later the services were extended to other cities of India as well. These schools are
modelled on international standards, where learners go through classroom and practical
sessions. Many international practices like road behaviour and attitudes are also taught in these
schools. Before driving actual vehicles participants are trained on simulators. [88]
At the launch ceremony for the school Jagdish Khattar stated "We are very concerned about
mounting deaths on Indian roads. These can be brought down if government, industry and the
voluntary sector work together in an integrated manner. But we felt that Maruti should first do
something in this regard and hence this initiative of Maruti Driving Schools." [89]

Awards and recognition

The Brand Trust Report published by Trust Research Advisory, a brand
analytics company, has ranked Maruti Suzuki in the thirty seventh
position in 2013[90] and ninth position in 2019[91] among the most
trusted brands of India.
 Marketing mix of Maruti Suzuki
Maruti Suzuki is a subsidiary of a Japanese manufacturing company Suzuki. This Public Ltd
Company, also known as Maruti, deals in the manufacturing of Automobiles. It was founded in
the year 1981 and has its headquarters in New Delhi. In the year 2012, February the ten
millionth automobile of the company was sold in India. Its chief competitor are as follows-

 Tata Motors
 Ford motors
 Hyundai

Product in the Marketing mix of Maruti Suzuki

Maruti Suzuki occupies 37% share in the Indian market of passenger cars. It manufactures
various types of cars and sells them in the market. Its various cars are-

 Alto
 A-Star
 Ritz
 Swift
 Celerio
 WagonR
 DZire
 Zen
 Sx4
 Kizashi
 Omni
 Eeco
 Ertiga
 Grand Vitara

1. One of the key features of products of Maruti Suzuki is that these products are made
keeping the common man in mind. None of the products are high in price, and neither
they have features which make them pricey. However, the products are known for their
durability, service, pick up, car design and most things which you expect from a basic
car.
 2. The tertiary product of Maruti company is its service. Besides its products, Maruti also
provides services such as an on road service by its vehicle that is operated for
emergencies round the clock. The company has also opened a call center specially to
provide services to its internal members and the customers. Information centers for the
customers are open in cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Chennai

3. Another service product is annual maintenance contracts as well as service centers

which offer services to Maruti cars. Maruti service centers are present across the
country and they have the highest number of service centers in India. This makes a huge
difference in decision making when you are not in an urban area.

Place in the Marketing mix of Maruti Suzuki

In the earlier stages, the company Maruti imported all its cars. This caused dissatisfaction in the
minds of local manufacturers. In the year 1983 Maruti 800 was released in the Indian market
and local production started henceforth from the month of December in 1983. The plant in
Gurgaon managed to extend its capacity to forty thousand units. In 1987, Maruti exported its
first batch of nearly five hundred cars to Hungary. In the year, 1995 Maruti opened its second
manufacturing plant with a capacity of manufacturing 200,000 units per year.

In the year 1988, the capacity of the Gurgaon plant was extended to 100,000units per year.
Presently the Gurgaon plant has three integrated plants for manufacturing purposes and
manufactures 900,000 vehicles per year. The plant also has 150 robots and the cars that the
plant manufactures are Eeco, Gypsy, Omni, Estilo, WagonR, Alto and 800.  By the year 2004-5
Maruti had export deals with at least fifty countries all over the world. In the year 2006, Maruti
along with Suzuki decided to build two new plants for manufacturing purposes.

The manufacturing plant at Manesar was opened in the year 2007. Although its initial capacity
was 100,000 vehicles, this increased to 550,000 vehicles. By March 2014, Maruti Suzuki had
offered dealerships to nearly nine hundred and thirty three dealers in India and in six hundred
and sixty six cities and towns of the country. It has three thousand and thirteen service stations
in the name of its company that extends to nearly one thousand, four hundred and thirty six
cities and various towns. Maruti also has thirty stations for express services on thirty highways
across various cities in India.