25-08-2017, 09:32 PM
Maruti plays key player in Suzuki’s new global strategy
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INTRODUCTION
Suzuki Motor Corporation, one of the largest auto giants in the global market is all set to roll its operational strategy under the lead of its Chairman, Osamu Suzuki. The senior official of the Japanese company is scheduled to pay a one-day visit to India though the exact date of his arrival has not been revealed. Termed as a surprise visit, the Chairman is on his way to India to finalize the operational strategy of next year for the company’s largest global subsidiary. According to the industry experts Osamu Suzuki is expected to arrive on March 15th, and this would be his second visit in the year. Maruti will play a major role in shaping up its parent company’s new global strategy of ‘small cars for a big future’. Maruti is now a key player in Osamu Suzuki’s new road map as he moves away from the global markets of expensive sedans and SUVs to concentrate more on fuel-efficient mini cars.
Osamu Suzuki, during his last meeting with the top Indian executives had outlined plans to roll out 10 new cars from India which comprises of compact hatchbacks, small utility vehicles and light commercial vehicles in the coming five years. Many of these cars will be targeting global markets but will be manufactured in India such as the A-Star hatch and the Ertiga MPV that are available across continents. Osamu Suzuki had declared that he was moving away from big car markets after shutting down his US operations.
As Maruti Suzuki is a champion in small cars, Osamu is making the subsidiary his key warrior in the battle of cars. He recently said that he has made his mind to focus on developing countries with emerging car markets, such as India and other Asiatic as well as African markets. According to the sources, the Indian subsidiary Maruti will now develop future models for the global market as it becomes the largest manufacturing hub for its parent company Suzuki Co. which is the world’s 10th largest carmaker.
Maruti currently makes 37% of Suzuki’s global output, a shade more than the 10.6 lakh units produced by its counterpart in Japan. In Suzuki’s global production of 2,893,602 vehicles in 2012, India contributed the largest portion of 10.6 lakh cars, a 6.6% growth over 2011. Osamu Suzuki is also very keen about India as is emerging to be the most successful market for the company’s newly launched cars.
When Suzuki Swift was launched in 2004, it sold over 3 million units across the world, out of which around 45% Swifts were sold in India alone, followed by 23% of the total sales in Europe and just 13% in its domestic market of Japan.
Suzuki’s big cars such as the Kizashi and Escudo SUV could not draw the attention of the US customers as well as the consumers of the developed markets. This is the reason why the company is withdrawing itself from the big car markets and vesting all its energy in India, where it can see itself as the undisputed leader.