Mr. Bhargava believes that few years down the line, Maruti will be retailing over 2 million vehicles in the domestic market, more than Suzuki’s global operations.
Maruti Suzuki has been a name that every Indian identifies with. The auto brand has been the shining star of economic liberalisation and has grown into the largest Indian car manufacturer with a 45 percent market share. Over the years, Suzuki has been at the forefront of Maruti’s operations providing the expertise and management to catapult the growth. Another name that has been synonymous with Maruti since inception has been the chairman, Mr. RC Bhargava who has been at the helm during the company’s glorious past and has also charted out a road map for future growth.
Confident about his aspirations for the brand, Mr. Bhargava believes that Maruti will overtake Suzuki in the coming years in terms of sales volume, becoming bigger than the Japanese manufacturer’s global operations. In a recent interview Mr. Bhargava stated that Suzuki’s future is dependent on Maruti as the company aims to sell over 2 million cars per year over the next years, which will be more than Suzuki’s global operations put together.
The Indian subsidiary is Suzuki’s biggest global operation and it is in the company’s long term interest that Maruti continues to grow, he stated further. Despite the increasing competition from domestic as well as overseas manufacturers, Maruti has been holding on to its numero uno position for a long time now. To further expand its sales, the automaker has been working its way into newer segments including the SUV space which constitutes of around 20 percent of the passenger vehicle market.
The next year will be seeing a host of new products coming from Maruti starting with the S-Cross that is scheduled for launch by end of January, while there is also the YRA premium hatchback and Celerio diesel among others scheduled for launch. The following years will also see the company launch a sub 4-metre compact SUV and 7-seater as well as a micro-SUV, not to forget its range of offerings in the premium space. Furthermore, the company will enter the light commercial vehicle (LCV) space with the Y9T that is scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2015.
Source – Economic Times