Achieving a 50%+ market share in any market isn’t an easy task and consistently maintaining the lead when a plethora of manufacturers are competing for a piece of the cake, the challenge becomes even more difficult.
However, it is very critical for Maruti to retain its lead in India as it has become Suzuki’s most lucrative market and helped the Japanese automaker to achieve the tag of the most profitable automaker across the globe, displacing BMW from its position.
In a recent statement, Maruti revealed that they intend to provide a car for every pocket and for all lifestyle needs. He added that Maruti will also focus on ‘premiumisation’ of their products by offering multiple variants of their products. The car maker has already updated their Swift, Dzire, Baleno, Vitara Brezz range as they are new gen cars. Next they plan to update the Alto, WagonR range.
Currently Maruti has one of the most diverse portfolio in the country, ranging from Alto hatchback to S-Cross which is a crossover. No wonder that the product portfolio and large channel presence has helped it to ensure that every second car on Indian roads is a Maruti.
Still, there are gaps in its range, however Maruti is keen on plugging them soon. The upcoming Y2K (could revive the Zen nameplate) which is based on the Future-S concept will help it compete with rivals like Renault Kwid. Speculations are also high that the new Vitara will be brought to India which will further help Maruti to compete in the C-SUV segment which is dominated by Creta, Compass and XUV500.
It isn’t just the launch of new products, Suzuki’s tie-up with Toyota for multi-badged products will probably further help Maruti address customer needs in a better way, considering that there are vehicles like Maruti badged Corolla in the pipeline.
Maruti added that the company is on track to achieve a double-digit growth in the current fiscal and is committed to its target of 20 lakh cars sales per year by 2020, propelled by introduction of 20 models by end of 2020.
