Based on reports by Livemint.com, country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki quoted highest market share in comparison to last three years. The labor unrest at the Manesar facility in 2012 had costed the company a fortune, and now with the issues been sorted out the company has outperformed it past figures. According to SIAM, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the company witnessed a 6% increase to 49.24% from 13.85% reported a year ago.
The gain is worth noting especially when the market sales for 2013 was the lowest in comparison to last 11 years. Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers reported 9.5% dip, and stated the rising cost of fuel and slow economy as the reason for delayed purchases. The reports also stated sales rose 6.7% from a year ago to 637,000 units, even as overall domestic sales for the passenger car market contracted by 5% to 1.29 million units.
Maruti Suzuki registers highest market share in past three years
Mayank Pareek, the chief operating officer of Marketing and sales for the Maruti Suzuki stated, “We attuned our market strategy to suit the small and semi-urban markets. We realized, with first-time buyers staying away from new purchases, we needed to target those looking at replacing their cars.” The strategy seemed to have paid off well with the exchange business growing in the current fiscal. The company’s share in December increased to 46% from 42% in November.. With the new launch of Honda Amaze and Brio cars, it seemed that Honda would eat up a considerable sales number from Maruti. But, this fear never came true and Maruti-Suzuki Swift Dzire almost remained unaffected. Surjit Singh Arora, an analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd quoted, “The Dzire has been holding its turf.”
Mahantesh Sabarad, deputy head of research at SBI Caps Ltd, was also stated, “They (Maruti) have been relatively resilient to market conditions, A wide distribution reach and a strong rural presence should have helped it in facing adversaries and compensate for a slowing in urban markets.” New launches by brands such as Hyundai, Nissan and Honda may give a strong competition to the Indian manufacturer in the coming days, but it is unlikely that Maruti Suzuki may let them eat a part of its sales.
