Maruti Suzuki: History Of The Automobile Industry In India

Chapter: 1

INTRODUCTION

The Automobile industry in India is one of the largest in world. It was mostly known for its quality of products and a strong dedication to meet all the customer needs. Further due to the enhancement in the technology there was a very large competition between the automobile producing giants.

1.1 Background :-

In 20th century there were two main automobile manufacturers in India viz, Hindustan Motors and Maruti Suzuki. Hindustan motors was the first who had launched their first compact car named as Ambassador. Later Maruti Suzuki also launched the same class car known as Maruti 800. In the later mids there was a huge competition between these two giants out of them only one was able to survive.

1.2 Motivation

Bhargava in 1981 at New Delhi. Later on it had an tie up with Suzuki motors in Japan. The Maruti Suzuki started its production with Maruti 800. It was a compact and a hatchback car which had an 800cc engine. Formerly the 76% of company was owned by Maruti Udyog and 24 % by the Suzuki of Japan. Later on Suzuki increased its stake in maruti Suzuki to 50%. The initial phase of the company was full of struggle as it had to compete with Hindustan motors ambassador. Even after the launch of this car the sales were not as expected. So the company made a market survey and made some additional modifications in their car due to which the popularity of the car increased and as a result the company made a strong grip over the Indian market. The company even increased their service centres and gave a quality service to their customers. Due to this the sales of Hindustan motors ambassador were affected. The Maruti Suzuki 800 remained a best selling car till 2004. Later on the new model of Maruti Suzuki were launched named Maruti Suzuki Alto, Alto 800 etc. The extremely finished models, their new style attracted the Indian customers. At the end of 20th century the Maruti Suzuki became a biggest car producer in India. The export of the company also increased as it was a Indo-Japanese company. The company realized that the Indian customers enjoyed a variety in products. So by using this stratergy the company started making changes in Maruti 800. The initial models were petrol based later on the air conditioning system was introduced in the cars. The Maruti Suzuki 800 overcame almost all the drawbacks of ambassador and so the sales graph of Maruti Suzuki went on increasing and made Maruti Suzuki a huge automobile producing