STUDY OF MARKETING STRATEGIES &SALES PROMOTION OF MARUTI

SUZUKI
 INDEX

1. Introduction to Maruti Udyog Ltd.

2. Maruti profile

3. History of the company

4. Indian automobile industry

5. Structure

6. Key personnel

7. Brands & Models

8. Brand Hierarchy of the Company

9. Industrial relations of Maruti

10. Marketing Strategies of Maruti Suzuki Ltd.

11. Sales promotion of Maruti

12. Objective of the study

13. Literature Review

14. Research Methodology

15. Interpretation of result

16. Conclusion

17. Recommendation

18. Bibliography

19. Questionnaire
 INTRODUCTION
MARUTI UDYOG LIMITED

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 perannum, 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 Wagon R,
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 entiregeneration 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 2009 India Customer
Satisfaction Index (CSI) Study. The company's service businesses including sale and
purchase of pre owned cars (True Value), lease and fleet management service for
corporate (N2N), Maruti Insurance and Maruti Finance are now fully operational..
These initiatives, besides providing total mobility

When it comes to Indian auto industry, the first brand that comes to Indian customer
mind is Maruti. In our paper we are attempting to identify the future of Maruti Udyog
Ltd which is currently the market leader. The main questions we will be addressing are,

• Can it sustain its market share

• Will their be a decline in profits
• What can it do to keep its growth rate?
• How can it compete in the highly competitive small car segment
• What are its strategic alternatives
We will analyze the competitors briefly concentrating more on TATA motors, one of
the fast growing Indian auto manufacturer. Maruti 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 PROFILE

Maruti Suzuki is India and Nepal's leading automobile manufacturer 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 BJP-led government held an initial public offering of
25% of the company in June 2003. As of 10 May 2007, the government of India sold its
complete share to Indian financial institutions and no longer has any stake in Maruti
Udyog.

Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in February 1981, though the actual
production commenced in 1983 with the Maruti 800, based on the Suzuki Alto car
which at the time was the only modern car available in India, its only competitors- the
Hindustan Ambassador and Premier Padmini were both around 25 years out of date at
that point. Models similar to Maruti Suzuki (but not manufactured by Maruti Udyog)
are sold by Suzuki Motor Corporation and manufactured in Pakistan and other South
Asian countries.

The company exports more than 50,000 cars annually and has an extremely large
domestic market in India selling over 730,000 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 Suzuki Alto
tops the sales charts but Maruti Suzuki's Swift has taken over this titles by 19000
models in April 2012. 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. Its
manufacturing facilities are located at two facilities Gurgaon and Manesar south of
Delhi. Maruti Suzuki’s Gurgaon facility has an installed capacity of 900,000 units per
annum. The Manesar facilities, launched in February 2007 comprise a vehicle assembly
plant with a capacity of 550,000 units per year and a Diesel Engine plant with an annual
capacity of 100,000 engines and transmissions. Manesar and Gurgaon facilities have a
combined capability to produce over 14,50,000 units annually. More than half the cars
sold in India are Maruti Suzuki cars. The company is a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor
Corporation, Japan, which owns 54.2 per cent of Maruti Suzuki. The rest is owned by
public and financial institutions. It is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and
National Stock Exchange of India.

During 2007-08, Maruti Suzuki sold 764,842 cars, of which 53,024 were exported. In
all, over six million Maruti Suzuki cars are on Indian roads since the first car was rolled
out on 14 December 1983. Maruti Suzuki offers 15 models, Maruti 800, Alto, Wagon
R, Estilo, A-star, Ritz, Swift, Swift DZire, SX4, Omni, Eeco, Gypsy, Grand Vitara,
Kizashi and the newly launched Ertiga. Swift, Swift DZire, A-star and SX4 are
manufactured in Manesar, Grand Vitara and Kizashi are imported from Japan as
completely built units(CBU), remaining all models are manufactured in Maruti Suzuki's
Gurgaon Plant. The company is believed to be moving towards introduction of a new
version of Maruti 800 by November 2012, which will be more fuel efficient, though
slightly costlier than Alto and existing Maruti 800. 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. Nearly 75,000 people are employed
directly by Maruti Suzuki and its partners
 HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
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. Maruti’s are sold in India and various several other countries, depending upon
export orders. Cars similar to Maruti’s (but not manufactured by Maruti Udyog) are
sold by Suzuki in Pakistan and other South Asian countries.
Around 1970, Sanjay Gandhi, political advisor and younger son to the then Prime
Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, envisioned the manufacture of an indigenous, cost-
effective, low maintenance compact car for the Indian middle-class. Indira Gandhi's
cabinet passed a unanimous resolution for the development and production of a
"People's Car". Sanjay Gandhi's company was christened Maruti Limited. The name of
the car was chosen as "Maruti", after a Hindu deity named Marut.
At that time Hindustan Motors' Ambassador was the chief car, and the company had
come out with a new entrant, the Premier Padmini which was slowly gaining a part of
the market share dominated by the Ambassador. For the next ten years, the Indian car
market had stagnated at a volume of 30,000 to 40,000 cars for the decade ending 1983.
Sanjay Gandhi was awarded the exclusive contract and licence to design, develop and
manufacture the "People's Car". This exclusive rights of production generated some
criticism in certain quarters, which was directly targeted at Indira Gandhi. Over the next
few years, the company was sidelined due to the Bangladesh Liberation War and
emergency. In the early days under the powerful patronage of Sanjay Gandhi, the
company was provided with free land, tax breaks and funds. Till the end of 1970s, the
company had not started the production and a prototype test model was met with
criticism and skepticism. The company went into liquidation in 1977. The media
perceived it to be another area of growing corruption. [4] Unfortunately, Maruti started
to fly only after the death of Sanjay Gandhi, when Suzuki Motors joined the
Government of India as a joint venture partner with 50% share..After his death, Indira
Gandhi decided that the project should not be allowed to die. Maruti entered into this
collaboration with Suzuki Motors, The collaboration heralded a revolution in the Indian
car industry by producing the Maruti 800. The car went on sale on December 14, 1983.
It created a record by taking 13 months time to go from design to rolling out cars from a
production line. By the year 1993 the company had sold up to 1,96,820 cars, mostly by
selling its chief product the Maruti 800s. By March 1994, it produced one million
vehicles, becoming the first Indian company to cross this milestone. It reached the two
million mark in October, 1997 and rolled out its 4 millionth vehicle, an Alto-LX, on
April 19, 2003.
CAR MANUFACTURERS IN INDIA

The reason behind the immense growth of the India Car Industry can be attributed to
the availability of car loans, affordable rates of interest, smooth repayment facilities and
the deductions offered to the customers by the retailers.
The constant changes in the existing car models with regard to design, innovation,
technology, and colors, have led to a fiercely competitive market. Now that technology
and innovation are not alien concepts for Indian car makers, Indian cars are becoming
increasingly sleek, stylish, and luxurious.

Major players in the Indian Car Industry:

Fierce competition among the major car players can be witnessed in the Indian Car
industry. The India car industry is being dominated by the following major players:

 HINDUSTAN MOTORS

 MARUTI UDYOG

 FIAT INDIA PRIVATE LTD

 FORD INDIA LTD

 GENERAL MOTORS INDIA

 HONDA SIEL CARS INDIA LTD

 HYUNDAI MOTORS INDIA LTD

  TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR MOTOR LTD

 SKODA AUTO INDIA PRIVATE LTD

 AUDI AG

 BMW

 CHEVROLET

 FORCE MOTORS

 NISSAN MOTOR CO. LTD

 TATA MOTORS

CAR SEGMENTATION
With the expansion of Indian Automotive market over a period of time the
segmentation of car models came in to existence based on cars defining characteristics
namely:
 Size
 Performance
 Price
However with continuing growth of market SIAM( Society of Indian Automotive
Manufacturers) implemented the segmentation of cars on the basis of length of the cars.

CAR SEGMENTATION AS PER SIAM

MINI (A1) SEGMENT

A1 ( Mini- Upto 3400mm): Maruti 800

The segment grew very fast in the initial years of expansion of automotive industry in
India.
The segment started shrinking when new segments came into existence and is
continuously on decline.
COMPACT (A2) SEGMENT
A2 (compact- 3401 to 4000 mm): Santro, i10, Getz Prime, WagonR, Alto, Palio Stile,
Indica, Zen Estilo, Aveo U-VA, Spark, Ford Fusion Diesel, Swift
The A2 segment is growing continuously and accounts for 67.8% of the total car market
today. There are more than 50 lakhs of A1 segments users who can be upgraded to A2
segment.

THE MID-SIZE (A3) SEGMENT

A3 ( Mid- Size- 4001 to 4500mm): Esteem,SX4,Accent, Siena, Indigo, Ikon, City,
Lancer, Cedia, Fiesta, Aveo, Verna, Logan and Ambassdor.
A3 segment has started growing now and is expected to spend rapidly in future.
Within A3 segment upper A3 segment has started growing now.

EXECUTIVE (A4) SEGMENT

A4 (Executive-4501 to 4700mm): Elantra, Octavia, Laura, Mercedes C-class, Corolla,

Civic, Optra Magnum.

PREMIUM (A5) SEGMENT

A5 (Premium-4701 to 5000mm): Sonata, Teana, Accord, Camry, E-class.

LUXURY (A6) SEGMENT

A6 (Luxury-5001mm and above): S-class

C (VAN TYPE): Omni, Versa.

B2 (Passenger Carrier): Tavera, Sumo, Innova.

SUV’s: Tucson, CRV, Endeavour, Grand Vitara, X-Trail, Montero, Safari, Pajero.

CHANGES IN CAR INDUSTRY IN INDIA

The latest developments in the car market in India

In Nashik, a car manufacture plant has been established as a result of a joint venture of
Renault and Mahindra & Mahindra to manufacture a comparatively cheap cars (at US$
9,700), mainly targeting the Indian middle classes, the youth, and the affluent classes in
rural India. Tata Motors has plans to launch a luxury car with an engine of 33
horsepower.

Technical advancements in the Indian Car Industry

The latest technical advancements in the car market in India include the following
features
 Power Steering
 Radial Tires
 Anti-lock Breaking Systems
 Tip-tronic Transmission

The varied car markets in India

The market for small cars now occupies a substantial share of 70% out of the annual
production of 1 million cars in India. MarutiUdyog, with its legendary Maruti -800 is
the leader in the small car market.
 Getz Prime by Hyundai Motor Co.
 Tata Magic by Tata Motors Tata Magic
 Palio Stile byFiat India Pvt. Ltd

Mid-sized cars are normally cars ranging from Rs. 3-8 lakh and generally meant to be 4
seaters. The mid-sized car section has recently moved beyond the 1 lakh target. The
recent launches in the mid-size car market in India are:

 1.4 SXI Duratorq by Ford Motor Co.

 Indigo XL by Tata Motors
LEADING PLAYERS AND SEGMENTS IN WHICH THEY OPERATE

Manufacturer Segments

Ashok Leyland LCVs, M&HCVs, Buses

Bajaj Auto Two and Three Wheelers

BMW India Cars and MUVs

Eicher Motors LCVs, M&HCVs, Buses

Fiat India Cars

Ford India Cars and MUVs

Hero Honda Motors Two Wheelers

Honda Two Wheelers, Cars and MUVs

Hyundai Motors Cars and MUVs

Kinetic Motor Two Wheelers

Maruti Suzuki Cars, MUVs

Reva Electric Car Co. Electric Cars

Royal Enfield Motors Two Wheelers

Skoda Auto India Cars

Suzuki Motorcycles Two Wheelers

Tata Motors Cars, MUVs, LCVs, M&HCVs, Buses

TVS Motor Co. Two Wheelers

Yamaha Motor India Two Wheelers

 GLOBAL SCENARIO:
Car industry is one of the largest industries in the world, there are many players in
world manufacturing cars, among those are (a) General motors, Ford in USA (b)
Daimler Chrysler, Fiat, Lexus, Volkswagen, Renault, etc. in Europe (c) Toyota, Nissan,
Honda, Hyundai and Suzuki, etc. in Asia. Global market for cars forecast to increase by
3.8% to 50.7 m units in 2007 - an increase of almost 1.9 m units. Biggest contribution
has to come from developing Asia (excludes Japan) and the growth of that region,
especially China. Contribution of the Pacific Rim countries to the growing world
market is, by 2009, almost an additional five million units.

INDIAN SCENARIO:
The PAL entered the Indian market in mid 90 with Premier car, then Maruti started
capturing the Indian market with help of maruti 800 .The car industry in general has
grown at a CAGR of 13.5% p.a over the last 5 years, presently, India is 11th largest
passenger car market in the world and is expected to be the 7th largest market by 2016.
The Car industry has emerged as a key contributor to the Indian economy; currently
India has low car penetration with 3 cars in 1000 individuals. India is the fourth-largest
car market in Asia. Passenger cars come in great variety, starting from 2-seater electric
car REVA to 5-seater compact cars like Zen, Santro, Indica, etc. They come in all
ranges– economical and luxurious. The production, sales, export figures of Indian car
industry (units/annum) of last 5 yrs are given in Annexure 1 and sales, export figures (
revenue wise) and growth trend for last 5 yrs are given in Annexure 2.

The current market scenario is given below:

 Passenger car sales grew by 10.84% and crossed the 1 million mark in 2006-07
and record sales of 1,076,408 vehicles.
 Utility vehicles sales grew by almost 12.2% in April-May 2007 compared to the
same period last year. Various manufacturers have entered this category and this
segment is expected to grow at 20% by 2010.
Product categorization
MARKET DRIVERS IN INDIA
 Increase in disposable incomes.
 Rise in aspiration levels.
 Lowering interest rates.
 Wide variety and easy availability of financing options.
 High sensitivity to fuel prices.
 Lack of urban & rural public transportation infrastructure
 Flourishing service sector
 Growing working population
 Fast paced urbanization to rise from 28% to 40% by 2020
 Middle class expanding by 30 - 40 million every year
KEY TRENDS
 Market evolution from Mini cars to Hatchbacks to Compact Sedans now evident.
 Increase in customer emphasis on aesthetics and comfort.
 Shrinking product life-cycles.
Government Policies and regulations
 In 2002, the Indian government formulated an auto policy that aimed at promoting
integrated, phased, enduring and self-sustained growth of the Indian automotive
industry
 Allows automatic approval for foreign equity investment upto 100%
in the automotive sector and does not lay down any minimum investment criteria.
 Lays emphasis on R & D activities carried out by companies in India.
 Weighted tax deduction of upto 150% for in-house research and R & D activities
 AWARD AND ACCOLADES

 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

 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
 Maruti bagged the "Manufacturer of the year" award from Autocar-CNBC (2nd
time in a row)-Feb 09.
 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 Busines
Today - Sep '04 2009
 Maruti Suzuki was No. 1 in Customer satisfaction, No. 1 in Sales Satisfaction
No.1 in Product Quality (Esteem and Alto) and No. 1in 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.
 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.
 STRUCTURE

Ownership MUL India's leading automobile manufacturers and the market leader in
the car segment, both in terms of volume of vehicles sold and revenue earned is a public
sector initiative. 18.28% of the company is 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 of 2003.

Main divisions(brand equity)

Ownership

Govern
others Government
ment
IPO Suzuki

IPO

others
Suzuki

The major services offered are,

Sales of Automobiles

Authorized Service Stations: Maruti is one of the companies in India which has
unparalleled service network. To ensure the vehicles sold by them are serviced properly
Maruti had 1545 listed Authorized service stations and 30 Express Service Stations on
30 highways across India. Service is a major revenue generator of the company. Most
of the service stations are managed on franchise basis, where Maruti trains the local
staff. Other automobile companies have not been able to match this benchmark set by
Maruti. The Express Service stations help many stranded vehicles on the highways by
sending across their repair man to the vehicle.
Maruti Insurance : Launched in 2002 Maruti 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 2009 they were able to sell
more than two million insurance policies since its inception.

Maruti Finance: To promote its bottom line growth, Maruti launched Maruti Finance
in January 2002. Prior to the start of this service Maruti had started two joint ventures
Citicorp Maruti and Maruti Countrywide with Citi Group and GE Countrywide
respectively to assist its client in securing loan. Maruti tied up with ABN Amro Bank,
HDFC Bank, ICICI Limited, Kotak Mahindra, Standard Chartered Bank, and Sundaram
to start this venture including its strategic parnters in car finance. Again the company
entered into a strategic partnership with SBI in March 2003. Since March 2003, Maruti
has sold over 12,000 vehicles through SBI-Maruti Finance. SBI-Maruti Finance is
currently available in 166 cities across

Maruti TrueValue Maruti True Value is a service offered by Maruti Udyog to its
customers. It is a market place for used Maruti Vehicles. one can Buy, Sell or Exchange
used Maruti Vehicles with the help of this service in India.

Maruti Driving School: As part of its corporate social responsibility Maruti Udyog
launched the Maruti Driving School in Delhi. Later the services were extended to other
citites 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.
 KEY PERSONNEL

Initially R.C.Bhargava, was the managing director of the company since the inception
of the joint venture. Joining in 1982 he held several key positions in the company
before heading the company as Managing Director. Currently he is on the Board of
Directors. After completing his five year tenure, Mr. Bhargava later assumed the office
of Part-Time Chairman. The Government nominated Mr. S.S.L.N. Bhaskarudu as the
Manging Director on August 27, 1997. Mr. Bhaskarudu had joined Maruti in 1983 after
spending 21 years in the Public sector undertaking Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited as
General Manager. Later in 1987 he was promoted as Chief General Manager, 1998 as
Director, Productions and Projects, 1989 Director, Materials and in 1993 as Joint
Managing Director.

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
 40,00,000 vehicles produced by April, 2003
 45,00,000 vehicles produced by April, 2007-2008
 59,00,000 vehicles produced by April, 2008-2009
 65,00,000 vehicles produced by April, 2011-202
 76,00,000 vehicles produced by April, 2016-2017
 BRANDS AND MODELS

Till recently whenever we think of Maruti we think of it as 800 due to the huge sales it
achieved. It was like a symbol of luxury for the middle class. Nowsituations are
changing and people are looking at Maruti stable for the wide range of products they are
offering. The various models and brands that are sold by Maruti in the order of their
launch are,

• Maruti 800: Launched 1983. India’s largest selling car till 2004.
• Maruti Omni: Launched 1984.
• Maruti Gypsy: Launched 1985.
• Maruti 1000: Launched 1990
• Maruti Zen: Launched 1993.Modified 2003.Production to be halted 2006 New
generation Zen (First generation MR Wagon in Japan) to be introduced 2006
• Maruti Esteem: Launched 1994
• Maruti Wagon- R: Launched 1999 Modified 2006
• MarutiBaleno : Launched 1999
• Maruti Alto: Launched 2000. Currently the largest selling car in India
• Maruti Grand Vitara: Launched 2003
• Maruti Grand Vitara XL-7
• Maruti Versa: Launched 2004
• Maruti Swift: Launched 2005
BRAND HIERARCHY OF THE COMPANY
Maruti Suzuki is outsourcing its design and development activities to India. They are
looking towards India as their design hub. Among the company's product development
challenges, the need for shorter cycle times is always at the top. Management wants to
be able to launch new models faster and reduce the time required for minor changes and
development of product variants. Another challenge is co-development. Maruti's goal is
to collaborate closely with its global teams and suppliers on the development of new
platforms and product freshening. Other challenges include streamlining the process of
vehicle localization and enhancing quality and reliability.

These challenges pointed directly to a product lifecycle management (PLM) solution

with capabilities for information management, process management, knowledge capture
and support for global collaboration; a PLM solution directly addressing Maruti's
business challenges. For example, PLM's information management capabilities address
the issue of the many platforms, local variants and export destinations. Process
management permits concurrent development and faster change management and
provides a platform for other process improvements - for faster vehicle development.
Knowledge capture increases innovation and also reduces costs by increasing part re-
use. PLM's collaboration capabilities permit global development by ensuring fast and
accurate dissemination of product information. For this Maruti uses one of the leading
PLM software package by UGS.

At Maruti, styling is a cross-discipline function that requires designers, engineers and

model makers to pool their resources in a multitude of activities that have to be
performed in order to transform creative ideas into finished products. These styling-
related activities include storyboarding, conceptualizing, rendering, tape drawing,
model making, feasibility analysis, CAD data generation and Class-A surfacing. In
addition, Maruti designs new accessories and adds value to its products’ interiors and
exteriors by designing/developing fabrics, colors and graphics. Some of the most recent
examples of Maruti styling are seen in change programs for the Zen, Wagon R and
Esteem product lines. Other Maruti styling efforts are in various stages of development.
Maruti used to employ a variety of software for its styling programs, including SCAD
(Suzuki CAD), Alias, Unigraphics and Catia. However, today Maruti’s styling and
engineering functions are doing almost all their work in UGS’ NX solutions.

Markets

Maruti has a strong domestic market presence in India. It has a market share of 47% in
the domestic market. The current market share of Indian car industry is given below,
Maruti Exports Limited is the subsidary of MarutiUdyog Limited with its major focus
on exports and it does not operate in the domestic Indian market. The first commercial
consignments of 480 cars were sent to Hungary. By sending a consignment of 571 cars
to the same country Maruti crossed the benchmark of 3, 00,000 cars. Since its inception
export was one of the aspects government was keen to encourage. Angola, Benin,
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Europe, Kenya, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Chile, Costa Rica and
El Salvador are some of the markets served by Maruti Exports.

Maruti also has markets in other countries depending on export demand. Suzuki is
selling cars similar to Maruti in Pakistan and South Asian countries. They have a major
non European market which grew 78% in 05- 06. Loss of sales in Europe is due to
stoppage of Alto which accounted for 80% of their exports and introduction of Swift.
Algeria has emerged as Maruti's largest overseas market with sales growing from a few
hundred in FY02 to over 6,500 (FY06). The company says it may cross 9,800 this year.

Maruti is quite bullish on markets like, Chile, Morocco, Egypt and Sudan apart from the
neighbouring countries. The auto major expects its exports to Chile and Morocco to go
above 5,900 and 2,300, respectively, this year. Its volumes from there have moved from
under 700 in FY02 to 3,115 (FY06) and exports to Sudan was nil two years back. "In
Egypt, our numbers are estimated to grow to over 2,000 and 2,700 this year," according
to MrKhattar. In FY07 it was under 200 few years back.

Meanwhile, Maruti is also reporting a high on current year exports to the neighboring
countries is on a high too. The company expects to export 9,200 units to Sri Lanka this
year, a growth of over 50%, 1,200 units to Nepal, over 1,175 to Bhutan and 700 to
Bangladesh. Maruti, which saw exports dip by 29% last fiscal, also plans to launch a
new export model during '08-09 ,which will target the European market. The company
targets to export 1, 00,000 units of the model annually.

Overall passenger car market registered 24.86% growth

Sales of compact cars jumped by 31.2%

Mid-size car segment grew slower at 14.7%.

The Government's small car policy seems to be yielding results, with the share of
compact cars increasing to 68.25 per cent in the April-July 2006 period compared with
64.9 per cent in the same period last year. Not surprisingly, compact cars emerged as
the main driver of passenger car growth in the period. While the overall passenger car
market increased by 24.86 per cent to 3,24,671 units, sales of compact cars jumped by
31.2 per cent to 2,21,598 units in the April-July 2006 period. In fact, all the three major
carmakers (MarutiUdyog, Hyundai Motor, and Tata Motors) saw a sizeable jump in
their compact car sales in the period.

FURTHER INFORMATION: TIMELINE OF MARUTI SUZUKI

JOINT VENTURE RELATED ISSUES

Relationship between the Government of India, under the United Front (India) coalition
and Suzuki Motor Corporation over the joint venture was a point of heated debate in the
Indian media till Suzuki Motor Corporation gained the controlling stake. This highly
profitable joint venture that had a near monopolistic trade in the Indian
automobilemarket and the nature of the partnership built up till then was the underlying
reason for most issues. The success of the joint venture led Suzuki to increase its equity
from 26% to 40% in 1987, and further to 50% in 1992. In 1982 both the venture
partners had entered into an agreement to nominate their candidate for the post of
Managing Director and every Managing Director will have a tenure of five years
R.C. Bhargava was the initial managing director of the company since the inception of
the joint venture. Till today he is regarded as instrumental for the success of Maruti
Suzuki. Joining in 1982 he held several key positions in the company before heading
the company as Managing Director. Currently he is on the Board of Directors.[12] After
completing his five year tenure, Mr. Bhargava later assumed the office of Part-Time
Chairman. The Government nominated Mr. S.S.L.N. Bhaskarudu as the Managing
Director on 27 August 1997. Mr. Bhaskarudu had joined Maruti Suzuki in 1983 after
spending 21 years in the Public sector undertaking Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited as
General Manager. In 1987 he was promoted as Chief General Manager. In 1988 he was
named Director, Productions and Projects..

Suzuki Motor Corporation didn't attend the Annual General Meeting of the Board with
the reason of it being called on a short notice.[13] Later Suzuki Motor Corporation went
on record to state that Bhaskarudu was "incompetent" and wanted someone else.
However, the Ministry of Industries, Government of India refuted the charges. Media
stated from the Maruti Suzuki sources that Bhaskarudu was interested to indigenise
most of components for the models including gear boxes especially for Maruti 800.
Suzuki also felt that Bhaskarudu was a proxy for the Government and would not let it
increase its stake in the venture If Maruti Suzuki would have been able to indigenise
gear boxes then Maruti Suzuki would have been able to manufacture all the models
without the technical assistance from Suzuki. Till today the issue of localization of gear
boxes is highlighted in the press.

1) Maruti Suzuki A-star: India is an important market for Suzuki which outsold Japan
in the first half of 2007. Recently Suzuki hinted its desire to holding the 50% market
share in indian passenger car industry for eternal. It seems that suzuki is trying hard to
make this true. “Our next world car will be made in India,” Chairman Osamu Suzuki
told in New Delhi today(October 11th). After swift, Maruti has worked closely with
Suzuki Motors to build a car, called as A-star, this hatchback will be the fifth global car
for Suzuki but first to be produced in India. Swift sedan, splash hatchback and the new
car A-Star will be the part of Maruti Suzuki’s ongoing efforts to protect its market share
in India, which stood at 54 percent in 2006.

2) Few firsts: Maruti Suzuki’s A-star concept will be debuted at the forthcoming Delhi
Auto expo and then it will be showcased in rest of international shows. For european
market, A-star would be the Suzuki’s new Alto which is scheduled to debut at Geneva
Motor show in March. For the first time, Maruti engineers in India have contributed to
one of the Suzuki’s global project right from its inception.The production model that
inherits some of the design themes of the Concept A-Star will be manufactured at
Maruti Suzuki India’s plant. Like the already-launched Suzuki world strategic
models(swift, SX4, new vitara and splash.

3) Maruti Suzuki A-star: It has almost become a rule for modern hatchbacks to feature
low slung grille, A-star complies to that. Number plate will sit on the broad strip. Large
front bumper and spruced up fenders gives a sporty chracter to this hatchback. The eye
shaped headlamps is clearly a ‘wow’ factor. The size and front of A-star remind us the
old Chevrolet Matiz, albeit with a more muscular and sporting than its competitors.

4) Maruti Suzuki A-star: A-star will have a newly developed euro 5-compliant 1.0-litre
aluminium petrol engine with CO2 emissions lower than those of European competitors
(lower than 109g/km). The engine and the manual transmission for the A-star will be
manufactured by Suzuki Powertrain India. Suzuki would consider making a version
with a small diesel engine from its powertrain unit in India.

5) Maruti Suzuki A-star: A-star, a five door hatchback woould fit into the A – segment
(currently alto is the market leader of this segment). A-star is expected to be priced
around the 3 lakh range($7500). Are u lured by A-star’s proportion & its dynamic lines
and interested in getting one? if numbers are to be believed

you dream of booking a A-star won’t be easy, it might be one of the toughest you have
ever come across. Maruti will sell only 50000 A-star a year (atleast initially) though it
will produce 2lakh A-star’s a year. The number of Swift being sold by maruti suzuki
every month is in the range of 6000 to 7,000 units . Production of A-star will begin by
october 2008. Regarding the launch, Maruti Suzuki will export the A-star first to
Europe (from December 2008) and later it will be launched in india. Apart from the A-
star, Suzuki will also produce a new platform(Model N) in India in alliance with
Maruti.Limited is sprucing up to launch a new sedan in India. The new model will be
titled "Maruti Kizashi" and is likely to be launched by 2010.

Maruti Kizashi is still in the concept stage in India. Maruti Suzuki Kizashi was first
unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2007 and later at the 9th Auto Expo in New
Delhi in 2008. Maruti Kizashi will be priced at Rs. 10 lakh and therefore will be a
premium car with luxury features.

Maruti Kizashi comes with an outstanding aero-dynamic design with front view
featuring a completely stylish look. There is a new innovative tapering headlights and
classic front design that is unseen so far in Maruti small car models in India. This new
upcoming model can rightfully be attributed as a cross-over sports sedan.

Maruti has very recently launched yet another small car model, Maruti Ritz, in India
but it is yet to make its impact in the Indian market. Maruti Suzuki India Limited;
India's largest car manufacturer that sells nearly every second car in India is
contemplating an expansion of its product portfolio; especially in the sedan segment. As
of now, Maruti Swift and Swift DZire attribute to a majority of its sales.

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said "My
concern is about the quality of our growth. Although we achieved good overall national
numbers, the region-wise and model-wise performance was not uniform. We relied
mostly on Dzire and Swift to power our growth."
 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Since its founding in 1983, MarutiUdyog Limited experienced few problems with its
labour force. The Indian labour it hired readily accepted Japanese work culture and the
modern manufacturing process. In 1997, there was a change in ownership, and Maruti
became predominantly government controlled. Shortly thereafter, conflict between the
United Front Government and Suzuki started. Labour unrest started under management
of Indian central government. In 2000, a major industrial relations issue began and
employees of Maruti went on an indefinite strike, demanding among other things, major
revisions to their wages, incentives and pensions.

Employees used slowdown in October 2000, to press a revision to their incentive-linked

pay. In parallel, after elections and a new central government led by NDA alliance,
India pursued a disinvestments policy. Along with many other government owned
companies, the new administration proposed to sell part of its stake in Maruti Suzuki in
a public offering. The worker's union opposed this sell-off plan on the grounds that the
company will lose a major business advantage of being subsidised by the Government,
and the union has better protection while the company remains in control of the
government.

The standoff between the union and the management continued through 2001. The
management refused union demands citing increased competition and lower margins.
The central government prevailed and privatized Maruti in 2002. Suzuki became the
majority owner of Maruti Udyog Limited.

MANESAR VIOLENCE JULY 2012

On 18th July 2012, Maruti'sManesar plant was hit by violence as workers at one of its
auto factories attacked supervisors and started a fire that killed a company official and
injured 100 managers, including two Japanese expatriates. The violent mob also injured
9 policemen.[21][22] The company's General Manager of Human Resources had both
arms and legs broken by his attackers, unable to leave the building that was set ablaze,
and was charred to death. The incident is the worst-ever for Suzuki since the company
began operations in India in 1983.

Since April 2012, the Manesar union had demanded a five-fold increase in basic salary,
a monthly conveyance allowance of 10,000, a laundry allowance of 3,000, a gift with
every new car launch, and a house for every worker who wants one or cheaper home
loans for those who want to build their own houses. In addition to this compensation
and normal weekend/holidays, the union demanded the current 4 paid weeks of vacation
be increased to 7 weeks, plus each worker have 40 days allowance of sick and casual
leave - for a total of 75 days. Initial reports claimed wage dispute and a union
spokesman alleged the incident may be caste-related. According to the Maruti Suzuki
Workers Union a supervisor had abused and made discriminatory comments to a low-
caste worker. These claims were denied by the company and the police. The supervisor
alleged was found to belong to a tribal heritage and outside of Hindu caste system;
further, the numerous workers involved in violence were not affiliated with caste either.
Maruti said the unrest began, not over wage discussions, but after the workers' union
demanded the reinstatement of a worker who had been suspended for beating a
supervisor. The workers claim harsh working conditions and extensive hiring of low-
paid contract workers which are paid about $126 a month, about half the minimum
wage of permanent employees.

India Today claimed that its interviews of witnesses present at the plant confirms the
dispute was over the suspended worker. The management insisted that they must wait
for completion of inquiry underway before they can take any action on the employee
suspended for beating up his supervisor. The management was then told, "you will be
beaten up after we get a signal." Thereafter, the workers broke up into groups, went on
to set the shop floor as well as all offices afire. They searched for management officials
and proceeded with a barbaric beating of the officials at the site with iron rods.
.Shinzo Nakanishi, managing director and chief executive of Maruti Suzuki India, said
this kind of violence has never happened in Suzuki Motor Corp's entire global
operations spread across Hungary, Indonesia, Spain, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia,
China and the Philippines. Mr. Nakanishi went to each victim apologising for the
miseries inflicted on them by fellow workers, and in press interview requested the
central and Haryana state governments to help stop such ghastly violence by legislating
decisive rules to restore corporate confidence amid emergence of this new 'militant
workforce' in Indian factories. He announced, "we are going to de-recogniseMaruti
Suzuki Workers’ Union and dismiss all workers named in connection with the incident.
We will not compromise at all in such instances of barbaric, unprovoked violence." He
also announced Maruti plans to continue manufacturing in Manesar, that Gujarat was an
expansion opportunity and not an alternative to Manesar.Labour disputes are endemic
in the auto industry of India and have affected other manufacturers. India has strict
labour laws, but their Manesar violence adds to India's recent incidents of labour
disputes turning to violence. Analysts claim recent incidents like Manesar violence
suggest a need for urgent reform of archaic Indian labour laws, the rigid rules on hiring
and layoffs, which harm the formal sector and discourage investment in India.
Government mandated procedures for labour dispute resolution are currently very slow,
with tens of thousands of cases pending for years. The government of India is being
asked to recognise that incidents such as Manesar violence indicate a structural sickness
which must be solved nationally.

MANUFACTURING FACILITIES

Maruti Suzuki has two manufacturing facilities in India. Both manufacturing facilities
have a combined production capacity of 14,50,000 vehicles annually. During a recent
meeting of the Gujarat chief minister with Suzuki Motor Corp chairman & CEO Osamu
Suzuki,the Chairman had said that the work on car manufacturing plant at Mandal near
Ahmedabad would be started soon.
GURGAON MANUFACTURING FACILITY
The Gurgaon Manufacturing Facility has three fully integrated manufacturing plants
and is spread over 300 acres (1.2 km2). All three plants have an installed capacity of
350,000 vehicles annually but productivity improvements have enabled it to
manufacture 900,000 vehicles annually. The Gurgaon facilities also manufacture
240,000 K-Series engines annually. The entire facility is equipped with more than 150
robots, out of which 71 have been developed in-house. The Gurgaon Facilities
manufactures the 800, Alto, WagonR, Estilo, Omni, Gypsy, Ertiga and Eeco.

MANESAR MANUFACTURING FACILITY

The Manesar Manufacturing Plant was inaugurated in February 2007 and is spread over
600 acres (2.4 km2). Initially it had a production capacity of 100,000 vehicles annually
but this was increased to 300,000 vehicles annually in October 2008. The production
capacity was further increased by 250,000 vehicles taking total production capacity to
550,000 vehicles annually. The Manesar Plant produces the A-star, Swift, Swift DZire,
SX4 and Ritz.

Government Notice to Pay Rs 235 Crore for Manesar Plant Land allotment
On June 25 2012, Haryana State Industries and Infrastructure Development Corporation
demanded Maruti Suzuki to pay an additional Rs 235 crore for enhanced land
acquisition for its Haryana plant expansion. The agency reminded Maruti that failure to
pay the amount would lead to further proceedings and vacating the enhanced land
acquisition.

Finance and service network

As of 31 March 2011 Maruti Suzuki has 933 dealerships across 666 towns and cities in
all states and union territories of India. It has 2,946 service stations (inclusive of dealer
workshops and MarutiAuthorised Service Stations) in 1,395 towns and cities throughout
India.[45] It has 30 Express Service Stations on 30 National Highways across 1,314 cities
in 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 it

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.[50]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 [51] 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.

Citicorp Maruti Finance Limited is a joint venture between Citicorp Finance India and
MarutiUdyog 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%.[53] 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.
 MARUTITRUEVALUE

Main Article: Maruti True Value

Maruti True service offered by Maruti Suzuki to its customers. It is a market place for
used Maruti Suzuki Vehicles. One can buy, sell or exchange used Maruti Suzuki
vehicles with the help of this service in India. As of 31 March 2010 there are 341
Maruti True Value outlets.

N2N Fleet Management

N2N is the short form of End to End Fleet Management and provides lease and fleet
management solution to corporates. Clients who have signed up of this service include
Gas Authority of India Ltd, DuPont, Reckitt Benckiser, Sona Steering, Doordarshan,
Singer India, National Stock Exchange and Transworld. This fleet management service
include end-to-end solutions across the vehicle's life, which includes Leasing,
Maintenance, Convenience services and Remarketing.[54]

Accessories

Many of the auto component companies other than Maruti Suzuki started to offer
components and accessories that were compatible. 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.
 MARKETING STRATEGIES OF MARUTI

SUZUKI LIMITED

1. INTRODUCTION: At the heart of any business strategy is a marketing strategy.

Marketing strategy is defined by Prophet's David Aaker as a process that can allow
an organization to concentrate its resources on the optimal opportunities with the
goals of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage.
Marketing strategies includes all basic and longterm activities in the field of
marketing that deal with the analysis of the strategic initial situation of a company
and the formulation, evaluation and selection of market-oriented strategies and
therefore contribute to the goals of the company and its marketing objectives.

2. MARKETING STRATEGY OF MARUTI SUZUKI: Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. is

a leading manufacturer of four-wheelers in India. Born in 1983 with the mission
tomotorise India, Maruti was a joint venture between Government of India and
Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan. It quickly grew into the largest compact car
making company of India and re mained so till 2004. The company started with
Suzuki holding the minor stakes of the company while Government of India
holding the major stakes. As of present, Government of India has disinvested its
stakes in the company completely, and handed over the management of company to
Suzuki Motor Corporation. Today, Maruti and its partners employ more than
75,000 employees. Its manufacturing facilities are located at two locations, Gurgaon
and Manesar, both south of New Delhi.

3. PRODUCT STRATEGY: Product is anything that can satisfy human needs and
wants. The product is a combination of tangible and intangible aspects of the
products offered by the manufacturer to the customers. It can be defined as a bundle
of satisfactions and dissatisfactions offered by company to the customers at a point
of time. The product strategy of Maruti is that its focus is on catering the needs of
almost all the segments. Maruti Suzuki offers 16 brands consisting of Maruti 800,
Maruti Omni, Maruti Alto, Maruti Versa, Maruti Gypsy, Maruti A Star, Maruti
 Wagon R, Maruti Zen Estilo, Maruti Swift, Maruti SX4, Maruti Kizashi, Maruti
Eeco, Maruti Ertiga, Maruti Grand Vitara and 150 variants spanning across all
segments. Thus company creates products that are unique and valued and it is
attaining advantage either through differentiation via new features, improved
performance, after sales service or through cost leadership.

4. PRICING STRATEGY: The price is the amount a customer pays for the product.
It is fixed after considering various factors such as market share, competition,
material costs, product identity and the customer's perceived value of the product.
The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the
same product.The price decision is very sensitive and for that special care is to be
taken to get the competitive edge. There are various factors to determine a price of a
car, such as market condition, cost incurred to build a car, profit by company, dealer
profit. The company’s pricing strategies are such that every customer can own a car
or upgrade to another one of his or her choice. The company offered a different
model at a price difference of around 10,000. It follows a price-point-strategy
wherein they have products available in almost all possible price points.

5. DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY: Distribution strategy of a firm is a plan created by

the management of a manufacturing business that specifies how the firm wishes to
transfer its products to intermediaries, retailers and end consumers.Maruti Suzuki
has two manufacturing facilities in India. Both manufacturing facilities have a
combined production capacity of 14,50,000vehicles annually. It has the largest
distribution &Service network comprising of over 400 sales showrooms, over 600
dealer workshops, and 1900 Authorized Service. Stations spanning across over
1190 cities unparalleled in the country. It has 30 Express Service Stations on 30
National Highways across 1,314 cities in India. Most of the service stations are
managed on franchise basis where Maruti trains the local staff. To increase their
reach to rural India, where setting up a complete dealership was very difficult, they
opened extension counters which are operated by some dealer in the city thereby
 ensuring increased customer touch points without risking the viability of the
dealers.

6. PROMOTION STRATEGY: The promotion includes all communications a

marketer used in the market for his products and services to create awareness, to
persuade the customers, to buy and retain in future also. For improvement in the
position of sales or progress of business this method is used. The message is given
to target group regarding the features and benefits of the products or services.
Without communication, the features, benefits and schemes would not be known to
the customers.

SALES PROMOTION OF MARUTI

For the auto sector ,a rebound in consumer sentiment visible over the last couple of
months has a silver lining first time buyers.The country’s top two car makers Maruti
Suzuki India and Hyundai Motors are both seeing sales being driven by those buying
their first car ,which Maruti’s percentage of first time buyers up sharply from 39 percent
in the first quarter of last year to 43 percent during April June this fiscal.Sales of Maruti
entry’s level cars saw considerable movement,with the Alto sales picking up sharply
since April and the Wagon R posting on all time high sales of 17000 units in June.

MANUFACTURING MARKETS

Maruti has a strong domestic market presence in India. It has a market share of 47% in
the domestic market. The current market share of Indian car industry is given below,
Maruti Exports Limited is the subsidary of Maruti Udyog Limited with its major focus
on exports and it does not operate in the domestic Indian market. The first commercial
consignments of 480 cars were sent to Hungary. By sending a consignment of 571 cars
to the same country Maruti crossed the benchmark of 3, 00,000 cars. Since its inception
export was one of the aspects government was keen to encourage. Angola, Benin,
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Europe, Kenya, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Chile, Costa Rica and
El Salvador are some of the markets served by Maruti Exports.
Maruti also has markets in other countries depending on export demand. Suzuki is
selling cars similar to Maruti in Pakistan and South Asian countries. They have a major
non European market which grew 78% in 09- 06. Loss of sales in Europe is due to
stoppage of Alto which accounted for 80% of their exports and introduction of Swift.
Algeria has emerged as Maruti's largest overseas market with sales growing from a few
hundred in FY02 to over 6,500 (FY06). The company says it may cross 9,800 this year.

Maruti is quite bullish on markets like, Chile, Morocco, Egypt and Sudan apart from the
neighbouring countries. The auto major expects its exports to Chile and Morocco to go
above 5,900 and 2,300, respectively, this year. Its volumes from there have moved from
under 700 in FY02 to 3,115 (FY06) and exports to Sudan was nil two years back. "In
Egypt, our numbers are estimated to grow to over 2,000 and 2,700 this year," according
to Mr Khattar. In FY07 it was under 200 few years back.

Meanwhile, Maruti is also reporting a high on current year exports to the neighboring
countries is on a high too. The company expects to export 9,200 units to Sri Lanka this
year, a growth of over 50%, 1,200 units to Nepal, over 1,175 to Bhutan and 700 to
Bangladesh. Maruti, which saw exports dip by 29% last fiscal, also plans to launch a
new export model during '08-09 , which will target the European market. The company
targets to export 1, 00,000 units of the model annually.

Overall passenger car market registered 24.86% growth

Sales of compact cars jumped by 31.2%

Mid-size car segment grew slower at 14.7%.

Not surprisingly, compact cars emerged as the main driver of passenger car growth in
the period. While the overall passenger car market increased by 24.86 per cent to
3,24,671 units, sales of compact cars jumped by 31.2 per cent to 2,21,598 units in the
April-July 2006 period. In fact, all the three major carmakers (Maruti Udyog, Hyundai
Motor, and Tata Motors) saw a sizeable jump in their compact car sales in the period.
 TARGETING

Maruti was introduced targeting the middle class. Maruti’s positioning was as a value
for customer product. Its target segments are well depicted in its Product Pyramid profit
model. In product pyramid model the distinct customer segments were identified and
targeted based on a variety of factors. These factors among many include, style, color,
price preference, features etc. The base of the pyramid is occupied by low price, high
volume products like 800 where margins are slim. The apex of the pyramid is occupied
by high priced, low volume products like Baleno. Although profits were concentrated
near the top, base played a crucial role as it acted as a barrier to entry for the
competitors and also insulated the profitable area near the top.

PARTNERSHIPS

Pressure started mounting on Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi to share the details of
the progress on the Maruti Project after its kickoff. Since country's resources were made
available by mother to her son's pet project. Initial rounds of discussion were held with
the giants of the automobile industry in Japan including Toyota, Nissan and Honda.
Suzuki Motor Corporation was at that time a small player in the four wheeler
automobile sector and had major share in the two wheeler segment. Suzuki's bid was
considered negligible. In in the initial rounds of discussion the giants had their bosses
present and in the later rounds related to the technical discussions executives of these
automobile giants were present. Osamu Suzuki, Chairman and CEO of the company
ensured that he was present in all the rounds of discussion Relationship between the
Government of India, under the United Front (India) coalition and Suzuki Motor
Corporation over the joint venture was a point of heated debate in the Indian media till
Suzuki Motor Corporation gained the controlling stake. The success of the joint venture
led Suzuki to increase its equity from 26% to 40% in 1987 and further to 50% in 1992.
In 1982 both the venture partners had entered into an agreement to nominate their
candidate for the post of Managing Director and every Managing Director will have
tenure of five years.
 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

 To get overview of sales scenario of the automobile industry

 To know how much customers are satisfied with the services provided to them by
Maruti and Maruti wagon R Bareilly.
 To give suggestions for improvements on the points where they are lacking on
the basis of feedback from the customer.
 To know what type of strategies are used in maruti with satisfied customer.

These objectives were achieved by following a well thought out plan and defining the
problem for each objectives separately.
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research objective. It may be

understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically.

In it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by researcher in studying his
research objective along with logic behind it. It is necessary for the researcher to know
not only the research methods/ techniques but also the methodology. Researcher not
only need to know how to apply particular research technique, but also need to know
which of these methods or techniques are relevant and which are not and what would
they mean and indicate and why. All this means that it is necessary for the researcher to
design his methodology for his objective under study as the same may differ objective
to objective.

Thus when we talk of research methodology we not only talk of the research method
but also consider the logic behind the methods we use in the context of a research study
and explain why we are using a particular method or techniques and so that research
results are capable of being evaluated.

SOURCES OF DATA COLLECTION

PRIMARY:

For my survey primary data have been used as a questionnaire to collect the
data.

SECONDARY :

The secondary date has been collected from the following modes:

● Magazines

● Data through internet sources

RESEARCH DESIGN

Research Design is the arrangement for conditioned for data collection & analysis of
data in a manner that aims to combined relevance to research purpose with economy in
procedure.

A research design is a master plan or model for the conduct of formal investigation. It is
blue print that is followed in completing study.

RESEARCH PLAN

Type of study:

For completing my study I have gone for sample study because looking at the size of

population & the time limitation it was not convenient for me to cover entire

population. Hence I have gone for sample study rather than census study.

SAMPLING PLAN

A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. It
refers to the technique or the procedure that researcher would adopt in selecting items
from sample. Sampling plan may as well lay down the member of items to be inched in
the sample i.e. the size of sample. Sampling plan is determined before data are
collected. The survey was made in Bareilly region.

SAMPLE SIZE WAS 100

 FINDINGS

 To find out the totak sake senario of auto mobile industry

 To knwn how much customer are satisfied with maruti suzuki products

 To find out cusomer are satisfied with preservice and pot service of maruti
 INTERPRETATION OF RESULT

 I have found in my study that most of the respondents who like to go for MARUTI.
 Most of the respondents who belongs to the Private Sector or Govt. Sector having
greater acceptancy level for “MARUTI” in Bareilly city and they would also like to
go for “MARUTI”.
 I have found that all the respondents of Bareilly City which covered under my
study are well aware about MARUTI ALTO.
 In my study I have found that above 90% of respondents like the MARUTI”s
“ALTO” car. Those respondents who would not like to go for “ALTO” , they are
also like the MARUTI”s “800” for various reason like affordability, brand name,
shape/design this shows the preference of the respondents in Bareilly city.
 CONCLUSION

During my study I done a project on perception of people on “ALTO” in Bareilly city.

I had learn a lot and get opportunity to know what consumer actually thinks and what
they perceive about MARUTI “ALTO” because I had done field work and I was in
between the people only. I gain a practical knowledge which I haven’t get any where.

The Maruti Suzuki has a huge market and has left no stone unturned to satisfy the
customers. It has models in every segment of the automobile market. Maruti Suzuki
stands for value as much as it stands for performance.

In spite of rising input costs, the company tries their best to keep prices down. Their
running costs and resale values are unbeatable too. Competitive strategy of this
company facilitated healthy profit and customer satisfaction and its recognition as a
company which stands for environmental concerns.
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Reception is the first point where customer will get the first impression about Hyundai
showroom and there need to be some improvements at reception as customers are not
properly attended over there.

Maruti showroom at Bareilly should arrange more space for display

Customers are not satisfied with the after sales services so there should be some
improvements in order to engage more customers.

By improving their rest of the services they can convert their unsatisfied customers into
satisfied customer
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS :

1. Philip kotler & hiller (2008) marketing management 8th edition: pearson

2. Berman , Berry and Joel r Evans(Oct-1997)Retail management: A strategic

approach 8th edition Englewood cliffs NJ

3. Art kleiner George Roth,” How to Make experience your company’s best
teacher” Harward business review.

4. Boris Groysberg, Aashish Nanda ,and Nitin Nuhria ( may2004) “the risky
business of hiring stars “, Harward business review .

MAGAZINES
 OUTLOOK BUSINESS (9TH FEB, 2008)
 BUSINESS STANDART (18TH FEB, 2008)
 4P’S OF BUSINESS AND MARKETING (28TH MARCH, 2008)

INTERNET :

 www.tatamotors.com

 www.google.com
 Questionnaire

PERSONAL DETAIL

Name:____________________________________________________________

Address : _________________________________________________________

Contact No.: ______________________________________________________

Q1- Are you aware of Maruti “ALTO” car ?

a) Yes

b) No

Q2-Do You like the distribution channel of maruti?

a) Yes

b) No

Q3- Do you plan to buy a “ALTO” in the next 1 to 2 year ?

a) Yes

b) No

c) Can’t say

d) Q4- What do you think of it’s mileage of 21KM/Litre ?

a) Very Good & reason to buy

b) Not enough

c) Good enough for small town

Q5-Would you like to buy a second hand car instead of “ALTO” ?

a) Yes

b) No

Q6-Why do you prefer a ALTO to a second hand car ?

a) It’s new

b) Mileage

Q7- Do you believe that “ALTO”is a dream car of yours ?

a) Yes

b) No

Q8-Have you heard about MARUTI

a) Yes

b) No

Q9-Which brand do you prefer?

a) MARUTI

b) TATA

c) ANY OTHER

Q10-Do offers like free gifts, discounts affect your buying decision?

a) Yes

b) No
Q11-Are you satisfied with sales service of Maruti Alto?

a) Yes

b) No

Q12-Which brand’s pricing policy is more attractive and lucrative according to you?

a) MARUTI

b) TATA

c) ANY OTHER

Q13-Are you satisfied with the exchange scheme?

a) Yes

b) No

Q14-Are you satisfied with the products offered by the brand?

a) Yes

b) No