A 4Ps B&M exclusive with the man who would be king... Fourth in line after Chairman R. C. Bhargava, Maruti’s Executive Officer, Mayank Pareek speaks...
"As a market leader our strategy is to be in all the
segments and with full force. When we think that the market is right, we time our entry"On the future of the small cars Mayank Pareek,Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India is known to be a small car market for quite some time now and this is primarily because of the low penetration levels here. As of now only 9 out of 1,000 people own a car. Naturally, every body desires finally to upgrade. So we look forward to help this vast multitude of population to get a car. To give a prospective, even countries like Pakistan have car penetrations of 20 per 1,000! So demand for small cars will always be there in India. Secondly, if you see demographic wise, if you divide the households into 4 categories, i.e. deprived, aspirers, middle class and rich-the middle class households will almost double to 48% by 2010-11. Therefore demand for small cars will be extremely big.
On Maruti’s penetration strategy
As a market leader our strategy is to be in all the segments and there with full force, but we time our entry. When we think that the market is right, that is the time we enter. So today we offer from entry level 800 to the Grand Vitara, so we offer a full gamut of options to the customers. As market for larger cars opens up, we have launched the SX4 and DeZire.
On A-Star concept & India role
See design is a collaborative project between India and Suzuki Japan, but yes Indians are playing a big role. This car is made in India for the global market and supplied through out the world. India will be the central manufacturing hub. In October we will launch the A-Star and the Splash sometime next year.
On Maruti nich product plans
Every vehicle performs to expectations of the concerned customer. India as a country does not have large numbers and we are a mass manufacturer here. We enter a market with large numbers, when the market is ready we will enter it in the future. There are very small number of customers who want those niche products, volumes have to be at least in thousands.
On image enhancers
We have always been launching limited editions through out, like the versions of the Zen (Carbon and Steel). As we talk about brand enhancement and image buildup, we already do two big rallies. ‘Raid de Himalayas’ and have been doing it for the last seven years and it is extremely popular. The whole point is to connect with the youth of this country. Then there is the rally ‘Desert storm’, with participants from India and abroad. The idea is to build the brand and to know the customer.
On being customer focussed
Continuously our endeavour is to launch vehicles which suit this country and when we launch we look at the leadership position, we don’t want to be marginal players. So our core strategy is customer focus rather than product focus. What ever the customer wants we will provide. If he needs new model we will provide them, if he needs new engagement in terms of brands we will do that as well. So we continuously try to evaluate what the customer requires. This is a continuous process. Almost 700,000 customers visit us every month and tell us things that helps us in building our future strategy.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
"As a market leader our strategy is to be in all the
segments and with full force. When we think that the market is right, we time our entry"On the future of the small cars Mayank Pareek,Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki India is known to be a small car market for quite some time now and this is primarily because of the low penetration levels here. As of now only 9 out of 1,000 people own a car. Naturally, every body desires finally to upgrade. So we look forward to help this vast multitude of population to get a car. To give a prospective, even countries like Pakistan have car penetrations of 20 per 1,000! So demand for small cars will always be there in India. Secondly, if you see demographic wise, if you divide the households into 4 categories, i.e. deprived, aspirers, middle class and rich-the middle class households will almost double to 48% by 2010-11. Therefore demand for small cars will be extremely big.On Maruti’s penetration strategy
As a market leader our strategy is to be in all the segments and there with full force, but we time our entry. When we think that the market is right, that is the time we enter. So today we offer from entry level 800 to the Grand Vitara, so we offer a full gamut of options to the customers. As market for larger cars opens up, we have launched the SX4 and DeZire.
On A-Star concept & India role
See design is a collaborative project between India and Suzuki Japan, but yes Indians are playing a big role. This car is made in India for the global market and supplied through out the world. India will be the central manufacturing hub. In October we will launch the A-Star and the Splash sometime next year.
On Maruti nich product plans
Every vehicle performs to expectations of the concerned customer. India as a country does not have large numbers and we are a mass manufacturer here. We enter a market with large numbers, when the market is ready we will enter it in the future. There are very small number of customers who want those niche products, volumes have to be at least in thousands.
On image enhancers
We have always been launching limited editions through out, like the versions of the Zen (Carbon and Steel). As we talk about brand enhancement and image buildup, we already do two big rallies. ‘Raid de Himalayas’ and have been doing it for the last seven years and it is extremely popular. The whole point is to connect with the youth of this country. Then there is the rally ‘Desert storm’, with participants from India and abroad. The idea is to build the brand and to know the customer.
On being customer focussed
Continuously our endeavour is to launch vehicles which suit this country and when we launch we look at the leadership position, we don’t want to be marginal players. So our core strategy is customer focus rather than product focus. What ever the customer wants we will provide. If he needs new model we will provide them, if he needs new engagement in terms of brands we will do that as well. So we continuously try to evaluate what the customer requires. This is a continuous process. Almost 700,000 customers visit us every month and tell us things that helps us in building our future strategy.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
