PREAFACE Today almost all the major co-operation is actively marketing their product beyond their original homeland borders. So, companies must rethink their marketing strategies instead of continuing with their existing strategy. Today company work in a war zone of rapidly changing competitive environment technological advances, changing govt. politics diminishing customer loyalty and so on. Now a day world of stiff competition, the companies with existing marketing strategies need to be changed in a manner so as to cope up with its rapidly changing competitive environment, technical up gradation, varying govt. policies, rules and regulation during customer loyalty etc. in the last few years the information need to conduct a business has grown rapidly. So, in this context, the Maruti Suzuki is also facing a stiff competition in the market from its competitors and for this the company is gearing up themselves to face the competition and conduct a good business taking successful business decision for more accuracy and timeliness. As the part of the partial fulfillment of the MBA course a project has been incorporated in the curriculum during which a study to be under taken in an organization mainly to take out the newly acquired knowledge and skill from an actual work situation and take book and classroom teaching give us through back ground of different functional area devoid of practical experience to how those area to be administered and managed respectively. This report has given up an opportunity to gain an inside into a practical applicability of management concept and theory, learning faster and developed better ability to analysis
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problems and in decision that contribute significantly for better use of resource available to the management. With this view to understand the concept, I have undertaken a project study in Maruti Suzuki, which has equipped me to prepare a report with a proper solution of the problem face by the organization. This area of work has chosen by me as this had all the ingredient of marketing research and other aspect of marketing as well the report offer a Glimpse of various stage at project work in order to serve purpose of the study in systematic manner and hope that the findings and recommendation will go along way in helping in organization.
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Table Contents Executive Summary: (i) Introduction (ii) Aims & objective (iii) Methodology (iv) Analysis (v) Conclusions (vi) Recommendations Part : I An Overview of the Company (i) Introduction 11 - 27 28 - 47 48 - 58 59- 63 (ii) History of the Organisation and products (iii) Special future (v) Competitors details Part : II Project Overview (i) Introduction 65 - 77 78 - 80 81 - 83 84 - 105 106 - 107 108 109 - 110 (ii) Objective (iii) Methodology (iv) Analysis (v) Conclusions (vi) Limitations (vii) Recommendations Part : III
(i) (ii)
Page No. 4 5 6 6-7 7-8 8-9
Bibliography Questionnaire
111 112 - 116
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
(i) Topic
Introduction
Study on consumer behavior of car with special reference to Maruti Suzuki in Tezpur. Organization Isum Motors Pvt Ltd. Authorized Dealer, Maruti Suzuki. Location Of Study Tezpur Institutional Guide Anjan Baruah Faculty member, Third eye College. Organizational Guide Amitab Dey Sales Officer Isum Motors Pvt Ltd. Duration 2 Months
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(ii) Aims and Objectives
Primary : To make a study on consumer buying behavior of car with special reference to Maruti Suzuki in Tezpur area.
Secondary : 1. To study their satisfaction level of customers of different cars available in Tezpur. 2. To study the importance of various attribute which effect the purchasing decision of customers in regard of cars. 3. To study the awareness level of different cars in Tezpur. 4. To study the importance of dealer and their influence in marketing/sale for cars in Tezpur. 5. To study consumers buying behaviours. 6. To find out the expectation of the existing possessing and prospective customers of the company. 7. To study the impact of media on the customers. 8. To study the satisfaction level of the customers on overall performance and after sale service of their existing cars. 9. To study different promotional scheme they expect for purchasing a new car.
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(iii)
Methodology Preliminary study. Data collection Questionnaire Design. Sample size Analysis Scope and Limitation.
(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi)
(iv)
Analysis
The project was undertaken to study the consumer buying behavior of motor car with special reference to Maruti Suzuki in Tezpur. Major findings are: 1. Demographic profile i.e. Age, Occupation and monthly income of the customer. 2. Regarding the awareness of different brands of motor cars all respondents are well aware. 3. According to the most of the respondent the T.V. ads was the best media in building awareness followed by the newspaper, friends, colleague, majoring & family members. 4. Regarding importance of attribute before purchasing the motor car in over all motor cars most of the customer gave importance on brand image of the company. In case of Hyundai motorcars most of the
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customer gave importance or fuel efficiency and look on style of the car. 5. Regarding source of finance most of the customers gave important on loan and installment facility. 6. Most of the customer gave most importance on high engine power.
Conslusion This study was conducted to find out the consumer buying behaviour of motorcars in special reference to the Maruti Suzuki in Tezpur. The findings and analysis revealed many advantages as well as disadvantages for the Maruti India Ltd. Though the Maruti Suzuki is the faster growing company and leading in the market facing a stiff competition from Hyundai and Tata motors in the Tezpur. It has been observed that Maruti Suzuki adopted many promotional strategies and company’s marketing channel is also satisfactory. Now a days people are most aware about after sales service. The dealers also expect Maruti motorcars has overcome this problem and facilities should be improved for meeting the after sales service requirement effectively. The majority of customers expect loan or installment facilities. The Maruti Suzuki has joined hand with State Bank Of India, and many Private Banks to promote this facilities. As most of the existing and prospective customers adults, Maruti should introduces stylish Motor cars which compete its competitors product. But Maruti to meet the expectations of new generation people who are the prospect, or customers has recently introduce Ritz, SX4, AStar hoping to fulfill the demand of the new generation.
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As this study was conducted for educational purpose with the aim to give necessary information to the organization, any mistake by the researchers should be overlooked considering his inexperience in the field of marketing research.
Recommendations Based on the findings drawn from the project’s analysis, certain recommendation need to be made as regards to the future course of action for Maruti Suzuki, which can go a long way in improving the Brand Awareness of the Company in the Motorcars market. The main recommendations are:
1. Maruti should continue with its range of innovative products. At the same
time try to add value to its existing products so that it can cater to the present day requirements. As the study reveals that majority of customers are aged 20 – 40 years the needs and wants should be kept in mind while designing new products. 2. There should be proper synchronization between order placed an delivery. The distribution channel should be enhanced and the models should be readily available in the market.
3. As the buying decision of the buyer has influenced by himself, company should target them through demonstration and advertisement. 4. As the market for the financial institutions are increasing, the company should target them through demonstration and advertisement.
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5. Facilities should be provide to the dealers so that they can extend them to the customers while purchasing this brand. 6. Increase in sales promotion budgets to develop a point of purchase display and to participate to a greater extent in Trade shows and similar kind of shows and this will motivate the non-users to try out the products.
7. The company can sponsor local cultural programmes like Bihu festival of Assam holding Bihu competition at least once in a year and for attracting the youth it may sponsor sports events also.
8. The company can make charitable donation to different organizations. It
can extend their helping hand to the people hotted by natural havoc like flood, draught, earthquake etc. to win the hearts of the mass people which will build a good image of the Company among them.
9. As the market for the financial institutions are increasing, the company
should come up with various schemes, which will induce them to influence the customer for the product. This includes offering various gifts, packages and financial incentives like higher commission as compared to other four-wheeler companies. 10.Incentives and financial benefits provided to the dealers should be maximized to maintain their level of satisfaction and motivation.
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Part 1 An Overview of the company
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INTRODUCTION About the company: Maruti Suzuki is one of India's leading automobile manufacturers and the market leader in the car segment, both in terms of volume of vehicles sold and revenue earned. Until recently, 18.28% of the company was owned by the Indian government, and 54.2% by Suzuki of Japan. The Indian government held an initial public offering of 25% of the company in June 2003. As of 10 May 2007, Govt. of India sold its complete share to Indian financial institutions. With this, Govt. of India no longer has stake in Maruti Udyog. Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in February 1981, though the actual production commenced in 1983 with the Maruti 800, based on the Suzuki Alto kei car which at the time was the only modern car available in India, its' only competitors- the Hindustan Ambassador and Premier Padmini were both around 25 years out of date at that point. Through 2004, Maruti Suzuki has produced over 5 Million vehicles. Maruti Suzukis are sold in India and various several other countries, depending upon export orders. Models similar to Maruti Suzukis (but not manufactured by Maruti Udyog) are sold by Suzuki Motor Corporation and manufactured in Pakistan and other South Asian countries. The company annually exports more than 50,000 cars and has an extremely large domestic market in India selling over 730,000 cars annually. Maruti 800, till 2004, was the India's largest selling compact car ever since it was launched in 1983. More than a million units of this car have been sold worldwide so far. Currently, Maruti Suzuki Alto tops the sales charts and Maruti Suzuki Swift is the largest selling in A2 segment.
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Due to the large number of Maruti 800s sold in the Indian market, the term "Maruti" is commonly used to refer to this compact car model. Till recently the term "Maruti", in popular Indian culture, in India Hindu's lord Hanuman is known as "maruti", was associated to the Maruti 800 model. Maruti Suzuki has been the leader of the Indian car market for over two decades. Its manufacturing facilities are located at two facilities Gurgaon and Manesar south of Delhi. Maruti Suzuki’s Gurgaon facility has an installed capacity of 350,000 units per annum. The Manesar facilities, launched in February 2007 comprise a vehicle assembly plant with a capacity of 100,000 units per year and a Diesel Engine plant with an annual capacity of 100,000 engines and transmissions. Manesar and Gurgaon facilities have a combined capability to produce over 700,000 units annually. More than half the cars sold in India are Maruti Suzuki cars. The company is a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan, which owns 54.2 per cent of Maruti Suzuki. The rest is owned by the public and financial institutions. It is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange in India. During 2007-08, Maruti Suzuki sold 764,842 cars, of which 53,024 were exported. In all, over six million Maruti Suzuki cars are on Indian roads since the first car was rolled out on 14 December 1983. Pressure started mounting on Indira and Sanjay Gandhi to share the details of the progress on the Maruti Project. Since country's resources were made available by mother to her son's pet project. A delegation of Indian technocrats was assigned to hunt a collaborator for the project. Initial rounds of discussion were held with the giants of the automobile industry in Japan including Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Suzuki Motor Corporation was at that time a small player in
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the four wheeler automobile sector and had major share in the two wheeler segment. Suzuki's bid was considered negligible. In the initial rounds of discussion the giants had their bosses present and in the later rounds related to the technical discussions executives of these automobile giants were present. Osamu Suzuki, Chairman and CEO of the company ensured that he was present in all the rounds of discussion. Osamu in an article writes that it subtly massaged their (Indian delegation) egos and also convinced them about the sincerity of Suzuki's bid. In the initial days Suzuki took all steps to ensure the government about its sincerity on the project. Suzuki in return received a lot of help from the government in such matters as import clearances for manufacturing equipment (against the wishes of the Indian machine tool industry then and its own socialistic ideology), land purchase at government prices for setting up the factory Gurgaon and reduced or removal of excise tariffs. This helped Suzuki conscientiously nurse Maruti Suzuki through its infancy to become one of its flagship ventures. Maruti Suzuki's A-Star vehicle during its unveiling in Pragati Maidan, Delhi. AStar, Suzuki's fifth global car model, was designed and is made only in India. Besides being Suzuki's largest subsidiary in terms of car sales, Maruti Suzuki is also Suzuki's leading research and development arm outside Japan Relationship between the Government of India, under the United Front (India) coalition and Suzuki Motor Corporation over the joint venture was a point of heated debate in the Indian media till Suzuki Motor Corporation gained the controlling stake. This highly profitable joint venture that had a near monopolistic trade in the Indian automobile market and the nature of the partnership built up till then was the underlying reason for most issues. The success of the joint venture led Suzuki to increase its equity from 26% to 40% in 1987, and further to 50% in 1992. In 1982 both the venture partners had
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entered into an agreement to nominate their candidate for the post of Managing Director and every Managing Director will have a tenure of five years. Initially R.C.Bhargava, was the managing director of the company since the inception of the joint venture. Till today he is regarded as instrumental for the success of Maruti Suzuki. Joining in 1982 he held several key positions in the company before heading the company as Managing Director. Currently he is on the Board of Directors. After completing his five year tenure, Mr. Bhargava later assumed the office of Part-Time Chairman. The Government nominated Mr. S.S.L.N. Bhaskarudu as the Managing Director on 27 August 1997. Mr. Bhaskarudu had joined Maruti Suzuki in 1983 after spending 21 years in the Public sector undertaking Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited as General Manager. Later in 1987 he was promoted as Chief General Manager, 1988 as Director, Productions and Projects, 1989 Director, Materials and in 1993 as Joint Managing Director. Suzuki Motor Corporation didn't attend the Annual General Meeting of the Board with the reason of it being called on a short notice. Later Suzuki Motor Corporation went on record to state that Mr. Bhaskarudu was "incompetent" and wanted someone else. However, the Ministry of Industries, Government of India refuted the charges. Media stated from the Maruti Suzuki sources that Bhaskarudu was interested to indigenise most of components for the models including gear boxes especially for Maruti 800. Suzuki also felt that Bhaskarudu was a proxy for the Government and would not let it increase its stake in the venture. If Maruti Suzuki would have been able to indigenise gear boxes then Maruti Suzuki would have been able to manufacture all the models without the technical assistance from Suzuki. Till today the issue of localization of gear boxes is highlighted in the press.
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The relation strained when Suzuki Motor Corporation moved to Delhi High Court to bring a stay order against the appointment of Mr. Bhaskarudu. The issue was resolved in an out-of-court settlement and both the parties agreed that R S S L N Bhaskarudu would serve up to 31 December 1999, and from 1 January 2000, Jagdish Khattar, Executive Director of Maruti Udyog Limited would assume charges as the Managing Director. Many politicians believed, and had stated in parliament that the Suzuki Motor Corporation is unwilling to localize manufacturing and reduce imports. This remains true, even today the gear boxes are still imported from Japan and are assembled at the Gurgaon facility. For most of its history, Maruti Udyog Limited had relatively few problems with its labour force. Its emphasis of a Japanese work culture and the modern manufacturing process, first instituted in Japan in the 1970s, was accepted by the workforce of the company without any difficulty. But with the change in management in 1997, when it became predominantly government controlled for a while, and the conflict between the United Front Government and Suzuki may have been the cause of unrest among employees. A major row broke out in September 2000 when employees of Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) went on an indefinite strike, demanding among other things, revision of the incentive scheme offered and implementation of a pension scheme. Employees struck work for six hours in October 2000, irked over the suspension of nine employees, going on a six-hour tools-down strike at its Gurgaon plant, demanding revision of the incentive-linked pay and threatened to fast to death if the suspended employees were not reinstated. About this time, the NDA government, following a disinvestments policy, proposed to sell part of its stake in Maruti Suzuki in a public offering. The Staff union opposed this sell-off plan on the grounds that the company will lose a major business advantage of being subsidised by the Government.
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The standoff with the management continued to December with a proposal by the management to end the two-month long agitation rejected with a demand for reinstatement of 92 dismissed workers, with four MUL employees going on a fast-unto-death. In December the company's shareholders met in New Delhi in an AGM that lasted 30 minutes. At the same time around 1500 plant workers from the MUL's Gurgaon facility were agitating outside the company's corporate office demanding commencement of production linked incentives, a better pension scheme and other benefits. The management has refused to pass on the benefits citing increased competition and lower margins.
Maruti Suzuki offers 15 models, Maruti 800, Alto, WagonR, Estilo, A-star, Ritz, Swift, Swift DZire, SX4, Omni, Eeco, Gypsy, Grand Vitara. Swift, Swift DZire, A-star and SX4 are maufactured in Manesar, Grand Vitara is imported from Japan as a completely built unit (CBU), remaining all models are manufactured in Maruti Suzuki's Gurgaon Plant. Suzuki Motor Corporation, the parent company, is a global leader in mini and compact cars for three decades. Suzuki’s technical superiority lies in its ability to pack power and performance into a compact, lightweight engine that is clean and fuel efficient. Nearly 75,000 people are employed directly by Maruti Suzuki and its partners.It has been rated first in customer satisfaction among all car makers in India from 1999 to 2009 by J D Power Asia Pacific. Pressure started mounting on Indira and Sanjay Gandhi to share the details of the progress on the Maruti Project. Since country's resources were made available by mother to her son's pet project. A delegation of Indian technocrats was assigned to hunt a collaborator for the project. Initial rounds of discussion
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were held with the giants of the automobile industry in Japan including Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Suzuki Motor Corporation was at that time a small player in the four wheeler automobile sector and had major share in the two wheeler segment. Suzuki's bid was considered negligible. Maruti Suzuki has two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in India.[12]. Both manufacturing facilities have a combined production capacity of 1,000,000 vehicles annually. The Gurgaon Manufacturing Facility has three fully integrated manufacturing plants and is spread over 300 acres. All three plants have a installed capacity of 350,000 vehicles annually but productivity improvements have enabled it to manufacture 700,000 vehicles annually. The Gurgaon facilities also manufacture 240,000 K-Series engines annually. The entire facility is equipped with more than 150 robots, out of which 71 have been developed in-house. The Gurgaon Facilities manufactures the 800, Alto, WagonR, Estilo, Omni , Gypsy, Swift and Eeco. The Manesar Manufacturing Plant was inaugurated in February 2007 and is spread over 600 acres. Initially it had a production capacity of 100,000 vehicles annually but this was increased to 300,000 vehicles annually in October 2008. The Manesar Plant produces the A-star, Swift, Swift DZire and SX4. Four Wheeler Industry Approximately 25 of Benz's vehicles were built before 1893, when his first four-wheeler was introduced. They were powered with four-stroke engines of his own design. Emile Roger of France, already producing Benz engines under license, now added the Benz automobile to his line of products. Because France was more open to the early automobiles, more were built and sold in France through Roger than Benz sold in Germany. From 1890 to 1895 Daimler and his
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assistant, Maybach, either at the Daimler works or in the Hotel Hermann, where they set up shop after falling out with their backers, built about 30 vehicles. Benz and Daimler seem to have been unaware of each other's early work and worked independently. In 1890, Emile Levassor and Armand Peugeot of France began producing vehicles with Daimler engines, and so laid the foundation of the motor industry in France. George Selden of Rochester, New York, who applied for a patent on an automobile in 1879, supposedly designed the first American car with a gasoline internal combustion engine in 1877. In Britain there had been several attempts to build steam cars with varying degrees of success with Thomas Rickett even attempting a production run in 1860. Santler from Malvern is recognized by the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain as having made the first petrol-powered car in the country in 1894 followed by Frederick William Lanchester in 1895 but these were both one-offs.[The first production vehicles came from the Daimler Motor Company, founded by Harry J. Lawson in 1896, and making their first cars in 1897. In 1892, Rudolf Diesel got a patent for a "New Rational Combustion Engine". In 1897 he built the first Diesel Engine. In 1895, Selden was granted a United States patent(U.S. Patent 549,160 ) for a two-stroke automobile engine, which hinderd more than encouraged development of autos in the United States. Steam, electric, and gasoline powered autos competed for decades, with gasoline internal combustion engines achieving dominance in the 1910s. Every other day a new model of car is being launched in the country, how many times you must have wished to change that old car of yours and buy a hot set of wheels. However as you come back to earth, bitter reality bites you; realization dawns in that you don't have such a big amount of money to invest in a new car. Don't worry as several banks and financial institution have donned the role of
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new age Santa Claus to make sure that your dream comes true. Today car loans are not only available for brand new cars but they are also available for used cars. In this section we will try to provide you with an insight into automobile financing so read on. State Bank of India which is one of the largest nationalized banks in the country offers you the following advantages
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Longer repayment periods up to 7 years Low processing No advance EMI along with the down payment effectively increasing the amount of loan Interest is calculated on the reducing balance method meaning every time you repay an amount the interest is calculated on the remaining amount and not on the one which is out standing at the beginning of the year.
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The company gives a loan which is up to 2.5 times of one's net annual income, with the minimum income cap of the applicant being 75000 rupees per annum. The company sanctions loans for all new cars and for second hand cars which are not more than 5 years old. The bank also provides loans to people who don't have an account with the bank provided they furnish address proof, identity proof and other relevant documents. For more details click http://www.sbi.co.in UTI bank offers loans covering 85% of the cost of the vehicle plus registration and insurance or 20 times the net monthly salary and you can repay the loan with in a maximum period of 5 years or 60 monthly equated installments. Car Insurance gives the necessary cover if one meets with some unforeseen incident or an accident. Car insurance offers a number of benefits. A no claim bonus is given to the policy holder if no claims are made. It is transferable as it can be used even if one is changing the auto insurance company.
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Used car owners shouldn't feel that they are sidelined. Used car insurances help the second hand car owners greatly. Those who can't afford the luxury cars and their high prices are opting for used cars. The Indian automobile industry is the tenth largest in the world with an annual production of approximately 2 million units. Indian auto industry, promises to become the major automotive industry in the upcoming years and the industry experts are hopeful that it will touch 10 million units mark. Indian automobile industry is involved in design, development, manufacture, marketing, and sale of motor vehicles. There are a number of global automotive giants that are upbeat about the expansion plans and collaboration with domestic companies to produce automobiles in India. The major car manufacturers in India are Maruti Udyog, Hyundai Motors India Ltd., General Motors India Pvt. Ltd., Honda Siel Cars India Ltd., Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd., Hindustan Motors etc. The two-wheeler manufacturers in India are Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt.) Ltd., TVS, Hero Honda, Yamaha, Bajaj, etc. The heavy motors including buses, trucks, auto rickshaws and multi-utility vehicles are manufactured by Tata-Telco, Eicher Motors, Bajaj, Mahindra and Mahindra, etc.
Quick Facts:
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First Indian to own a car in India was Jamshedji Tata. First woman to drive a car in India was Mrs. Suzanne RD Tata. The passenger car and motorcycle segment in the Indian auto industry is growing by 8-9 percent. Commercial vehicle will grow by 5.2 per cent.
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The first automobile in India was rolled in 1897 in Bombay. India is a potential emerging auto market. Motorcycles contribute 80% of the two-wheeler industry. Unlike the USA, the Indian passenger vehicle market is dominated by cars (79%). India is the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world. India's motorcycle segment will grow by 8-9 percent in the coming years. 11. India is the fifth largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world. 12. India has the number one global motorcycle manufacturer. 13. In Asia, India is the fourth largest car market.
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The new chapter in the automobile industry is that of used cars. The massive demand of used cars indicates that cars are becoming increasingly popular. Those who can't afford the luxury cars and their high prices are opting for used cars. In today's time, customers are conscious and diligently investing on car dealership. Car buyers are investing heavily a lot of time for both to sell a car and buy car. There's also a number of car websites that have offering detailed information on new car prices, used cars, car reviews, Chevrolet cars, jaguar cars and luxury cars. At present major Indian, European, Korean, Japanese automobile companies are holding significant market shares. In commercial vehicle, Tata Motors dominates over 60% of the Indian commercial vehicle market. Tata Motors is the largest medium and heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer. Among the two-wheeler segment, including scooters and mopeds- motorcycles have- major share in the market. Hero Honda contributes 50% motorcycles to the market in which Honda holds 46% share in scooter and TVS makes 82% of the mopeds in the country. In the three wheeler industry in India, Piaggio holds
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40% of the market share. Bajaj is the leader by making 68% of the threewheelers. Car manufacturers in India dominate the passenger vehicle market by 79%. Maruti Suzuki is the largest car producer in India and has 52% share in passenger cars and is a complete monopoly in multi purpose vehicles. In utility vehicles Mahindra holds 42% share. Hyundai and Tata Motors is the second and third car producer in India.
Ransom E. Olds. The large-scale, production-line manufacturing of affordable automobiles was debuted by Ransom Olds at his Oldsmobile factory in 1902. This assembly line concept was then greatly expanded by Henry Ford in the 1910s. Development of automotive technology was rapid, due in part to the hundreds of small manufacturers competing to gain the world's attention. Key developments included electric ignition and the electric self-starter (both by Charles Kettering, for the Cadillac Motor Company in 1910-1911), independent suspension, and four-wheel brakes. Although various pistonless rotary engine designs have attempted to compete with the conventional piston and crankshaft design, only Mazda's version of the Wankel engine has had more than very limited success. Since the 1920s, nearly all cars have been mass-produced to meet market needs, so marketing plans have often heavily influenced automobile design. It was Alfred P. Sloan who established the idea of different makes of cars produced by one company, so buyers could "move up" as their fortunes improved. The
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makes shared parts with one another so larger production volume resulted in lower costs for each price range. For example, in the 1950s, Chevrolet shared hood, doors, roof, and windows with Pontiac; the LaSalle of the 1930s, sold by Cadillac, used cheaper mechanical parts made by the Oldsmobile division.
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Cars by Price Range Under Rs. 3 Lakhs
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Maruti 800, Alto, Omni Reva Ambassador Fiat Palio Hyundai Santro, Getz Chevrolet Opel Corsa Maruti Zen, Wagon R, Versa, Esteem, Gypsy Ford Icon & Fiesta Tata Indica, Indigo XL, Indigo Marina Chevrolet Swing, Optra Magnum, Tavera Hyundai Accent, Elantra Mahindra Scorpio Maruti Baleno Toyota Innova Tata Safari Mitsubishi Lancer, Mitsubishi Cedia Honda City ZX Mahindra Bolero Hyundai Sonata Embera
Rs. 3-5 Lakhs
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Rs. 5-10 Lakhs
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Rs. 10-15 Lakhs
Toyota Corolla Ford Mondeo & Endeavour Chevrolet Forester Skoda Octavia & Combi Honda Civic
Rs. 15-30 Lakh
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Honda CR-V Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara Terracan & Tucson Mitsubishi Pajero Audi A4 Opel Vectra
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Honda Accord Mercedes C Class Toyota Camry Audi A6, A8 & Audi TT BMW X5, 5 Series & 7 Series Mercedes E Class, S Class, SLK, SL & CLS-Class Porsche Boxster, Cayenne, 911 Carrera & Cayman S Toyota Prado Bentley Arnage, Bentley Continental GT & Flying Spur Rolls Royce Phantom Maybach
Rs. 30-90 Lakhs
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Above Rs. 1 Crore
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The following links gives the complete picture of Indian Auto Industry:
The first auto vehicle rolled out in India at the end of 19th century. Today, India is the the 2nd largest tractor and 5th largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world. Hero Honda with Automobile History 1.7M motorcycles a year is now the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. On the cost front, OEMs eyeing India in a big way to source products and components at significant discounts to home Industry Investment market. On the revenue side, OEMs are active in the booming passenger car market in India. The passenger car and motorcycle segment in Indian auto market is growing by 8-9 per cent. The two-wheeler segment will clock 11.5% rise by 2007. Commercial vehicle to grow by 5.2 per cent. India is the 11th largest Passenger Cars producing countries in the world and 4th largest in Heavy Trucks. Maruti Udyog Ltd. is the leading 4-wheelers manufacturer. Hero Honda is the leading 2-wheelers manufacturer. Passenger vehicle exports have grown over five times and twowheeler exports have reached more than double. Exports of auto components, whose manufacturing costs are 30-40 per cent lower than in the West, have grown at 25% a year between 2000 to 2005. Hero Honda is the largest manufacturer of motorcycles. Hyundai Motors India is the second largest player in passenger car market. Tata Motors is the fifth largest medium & heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer in the world.
Industry Growth
Vehicle Production
Auto Export
Auto Companies
Know about the number of vehicles registered as Transport or Vehicle Distribution Non-Transport in the Indian states and Union Territories. Get all the contact details of Automobile Association of Upper India (AAUI), Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Automobile Association of Southern India (AASI), Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) and more
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Associations
Sales and Service Network Maruti Suzuki is one of the companies in India which has unparalleled sales and service network. As of 2009 it currently has 681 dealerships across 454 cities. To ensure the vehicles sold by them are serviced properly, Maruti Suzuki has 779 dealer workshops, 1,945 Maruti Authorized Service Stations and 30 Express Service Stations on 30 National Highways across 1,314 cities in India. Service is a major revenue generator of the company. Most of the service stations are managed on franchise basis, where Maruti Suzuki trains the local staff. Other automobile companies have not been able to match this benchmark set by Maruti Suzuki. The Express Service stations help many stranded vehicles on the highways by sending across their repair man to the vehicle.
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Historical timeline
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1909 – Suzuki Loom Works founded in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, by Mr. Michio Suzuki. 1920 – Reorganized, incorporated, and capitalized at 500,000 yen as Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Co. with Michio Suzuki as president. 1952 – 'Power Free' motorized bicycle marketed. 1954 – Company name changed to Suzuki Motor Co.,Ltd. 1955 – Lightweight car Suzuki Suzulight (360 cc, 2-stroke) front wheel drive, marketed helping to usher in Japan's light-weight car age. 1961 – Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Co. established by separating the loom machine division from the motor works and lightweight truck 'Suzulight Carry' marketed. 1962 – Suzuki won the 50 cc class championship at the Isle of Man TT 1963 – U.S. Suzuki Motor Corp., a direct sales subsidiary, opened in Los Angeles. 1965 – 'D55'(5.5 hp, 2-stroke) outboard motor marketed and makes early inroads and Fronte 800 marketed. 1967 – Thai Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. established as a local assembly plant. 1968 – Carry full-cab van marketed. 1970 – LJ-Series 4X4 marketed. 1971 – Ts185 Enduro marketed. 1971 – GT750 motorcycle marketed. 1973 – Suzuki Canada Ltd., opened in Ontario, Canada. 1974 – P.T. Suzuki Indonesia Manufacturing established in Jakarta, Indonesia, entry into medical equipment field by marketing the Suzuki Motor Chair Z600 motorized wheelchair, expansion into the housing field initiated with Suzuki Home marketing two models of prefab 'Mini-House' and three types of storage sheds.
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1975 – Antonio Suzuki Corp., a joint venture for knockdown production and sales, established in Manila, the Philippines. 1976 – GS-Series motorcycles marketed. 1977 – LJ80 4x4 vehicle marketed and exports of GS1000H motorcycle began. 1979 – Alto marketed. 1979 – SC100 marketed in the UK. 1980 – Suzuki Australia Pty. Ltd. established in Sydney, Australia and entry into general purpose engine field by marketing three electric power generator models. 1981 – Business ties with General Motors (U.S.) and Isuzu Motors, Ltd. (Japan) signed. 1982 – 4X4 production began at PAK Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. in Karachi, Pakistan and won maker championship for 7th consecutive year at the World Road Race Grand Prix 500. 1982 – SC100 Discontinued in favour of Alto. 1983 – Enters into a partnership with Maruti Udyog Ltd. to produce cars in India. 1983 – Cultus/Swift 1.0-liter passenger car marketed and 4X4 production started at Maruti Udyog Ltd. in New Delhi, India. 1984 – Suzuki New Zealand Ltd. established in Wanganui, New Zealand and began export of Chevrolet Sprint to the United States. Car production technical assistance contract signed with China National Aerotechnology Import & Export Beijing Corporation. Operation of Suzuki Motor GmbH Deutschland began in Heppenheim, Germany. 1985 – SUZUKI of AMERICA AUTOMOTIVE CORP. established with the introduction of the Samurai, and the GSX-R750 motorcycle with an oil-cooled engine marketed and scooter production started at Avello S.A.
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of Spain. Agreement with Santana Motors to produce Suzuki cars in their Linares factory in Andalusia, Spain.
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1986 – American Suzuki Motor Corp. is formed merging U.S. Suzuki Motor Corp and Suzuki of America Automotive Corp. 1987 – Cultus/Swift production began in Colombia and total aggregate car exports reached 2 million units. 1988 – Escudo/Vitara 4x4 marketed and total aggregate car production reached 10 million units.. 1989 – CAMI Automotive Inc. established and began operation in Ontario, Canada. Swift GT/GLX and Sidekick sales begin in the United States. 1990 – Corporate name changed to Suzuki Motor Corporation. 1991 – Car production started in Korea through technical ties with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Heavy Machinery Ltd and Cappuccino 2-seater marketed. 1993 – Passenger car production/sales began at Suzuki Egypt S.A.E., opening ceremony for new car production plant held at Magyar Suzuki Corp. in Esztergom, Hungary and Wagon R passenger car marketed.
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1994 – Maruti Udyog Ltd. of India total aggregate car production reached 1 million units. 1995 – Total aggregate motorcycle export reached 20 million units 1996 – Start of production in Vietnam (Motorcycles and automobiles) 1997 – Achieved 10 million cumulative automobile sales for overseas market and 4-stroke outboard motors win the Innovation Award at The International Marine Trade Exhibit and Conference (IMTEC) in Chicago. 1998 – Suzuki and General Motors form strategic alliance and Chongqing Chang'an Suzuki Automobile Co., Ltd. received official approval from the Chinese government for production of passenger cars.
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1999 – Aggregate motorcycle production reaches 40 million units and Jiangxi Changhe Suzuki Automobile Co., Ltd. receives official approval from the Chinese government for production of commercial vehicles. 2000 – The company commemorates the 80th anniversary, aggregate car production at Kosai Plant reaches 10 million units and Suzuki production starts at General Motors de Argentina S.A. 2001 – Aggregate Launch of Suzuki Liana/Aerio. worldwide sales of SJSeries reaches 2 million units, production of Alto reaches 4 million units and Suzuki achieves "Zero-Level" target of landfill waste 2002 – Achieved 30 million cumulative automobile sales for worldwide market and America's #1 warranty: 100,000/7-year powertrain limited warranty. 2003 – Suzuki is #1 in Kei car sales for the 30th consecutive year and Twin, the first hybrid Kei car in Japan, marketed. 2004 – Aggregate domestic automobile sales reach 15 million units. 2005 – Swift was awarded the 2006 RJC Car of the Year. 2006 – New XL7 is marketed particularly to the North American market; and GM divested, selling 92.36 million shares and reducing their stake to 3%. 2008 – Suzuki introduces its first production fuel-injected motocross bike; and GM divested its remaining 3% stake in Suzuki. 2009 – Suzuki introduces its first production pickup truck called the Equator. Volkswagen AG and Suzuki reach a common understanding to establish a close long-term strategic partnership 2010 – Volkswagen AG completed the purchase of 19.9% of Suzuki's outstanding shares.
Discontinued Car Models 1000 (1990–1994) Zen (1993–2006) Esteem (1994–2008) Baleno (1999–2007) Versa (2001–2010) Grand Vitara XL7 (2003–2007) May Launch Maruti Cervo
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1.Maruti 800 :- It is a city car manufactured by Maruti Suzuki in India. It is a rebadged version of an old model of the Suzuki Alto. Over 2.5 million Maruti 800's have been sold since its launch in 1984. The same car is sold in Pakistan as the Suzuki Mehran with a much older 1980s era Suzuki SS80 carburetor based engine. The 800 has undergone some minor face lifts but overall it still remains the same as it was in 1984. The car has reported slipping sales in recent times, mainly due to the introduction of the Alto at a comparable price. The car produces approximately 37 bhp (28 kW; 38 PS) of power and runs on 12 inch wheels. Curb weight is 650 kg (1,433 lb) and 4 passengers (including the driver) fit in. Top speed is in the region of 125 km/h (78 mph) and the car is known to deliver fuel economy better than 20 km/l (47 mpg) on clear and plain roads. Maruti Suzuki had earlier launched a version with a 4 valves per cylinder engine producing 45 bhp (34 kW; 46 PS) coupled with a 5-speed manual transmission (currently found in the Suzuki Alto) but discontinued it after a couple of years. The Maruti 800 is still popularly hailed in India as "the smallest car in production" due to its relatively tightly spaced interior. Its main competitor is the cheaper Tata Nano (123,000 compared to 184,641 Rupees) which has an 8 percent smaller exterior size and a 23 percent larger interior space. Maruti 800 the first choice for all those who want a 'value for money car' that is little on pocket and big in performance. Maruti 800 is safe, economical and easy to drive car(with a small turning radius of 4.4 m) in congested road conditions. Since its launch in December 1984, Maruti 800 has gone through various changes in styling, structure and technology. For years Maruti 800 has remained the right opening car for people who look for low cost of ownership and fuel efficiency. It is a car perfectly made for the Indian roads. It goes in any location, be it in town, around town, highways, busy streets, narrow lanes anywhere and everywhere.
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In order to make the car more attractive, new engine has been installed in M800. The M800 E 2 AC has been a major success. Variants, Price and Mileage The car is available in Standard and A/C versions in metallic and non-metallic colors. It is available in the price range of around Rs 2 lakhs. Engine The engince produces approximately 37 bph (28 kW) of power. It consists of 4gear, 4-stroke, and 800 cc water cooled engine having three two-valvescylinders. The pistol displacement is 796cc. Maruti800 has a fuel tank of capacity of 28 liters for petrol. Safety Thanks to the presence of specially allocated crumble zone which absorbs the impact of accident, Maruti 800 ensures safe journey. It is equipped with front and rear seat belts to provide more safety.
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2.Maruti Omni :- It is a microvan manufactured by Indian automaker Maruti Suzuki. The first version of Maruti Omni had 796 cc engine, same as the Maruti 800 city car. This was the second vehicle to be launched by Maruti, one year after the 800, in 1984. Later version of the Omni includes the:
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Omni (E), released in 1996, 796 cc engine, 8 seater capacity vehicle Omni XL - 1999, same engine, modified with a higher roof. Omni Cargo LPG - 2004, created to answer the growing popularity of this car being used as an inter-city cargo vehicle.[1] Omni LPG - 2003, same 796 cc engine, added with a factory fitted LPG Kit, authorised by the Indian RTOs (Regional Transport Offices). This makes it the most economic 4 wheeler in India, as far as the driving costs are concerned. Omni Ambulance - A Modified E version into an ambulance vehicle. This is the most common type of ambulances found in Indian cities.
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3.Gypsy :- It is manufactured in India by Maruti Suzuki. It was introduced in the Indian market in 1985 with the 970cc F10A Suzuki engine and was an instant hit in the civilian market as well as with law enforcement. It was codenamed MG410 that stood for Maruti Gypsy 4 cylinder 1.0 litre engine. Initially, it was only available as a soft-top; but a bolt on hardtop was later introduced to the public after the aftermarket hardtops became extremely popular. It instantly replaced Premier Padmini as the quintessential Indian rally car due to its performance, reliability, tunability and the go-anywhere capability. The carburetted F10A engine made 45bhp and was mated to a 4 speed gearbox. The 4WD transfer case had 2 speeds. It had a freewheeling mechanism
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on the front axles made by Aisin to unlock the front axles from
the hub when 4WD is not used; It reduced rolling resistance, thereby improving fuel efficiency. However, many owners of the Gypsy who constantly complained about the poor fuel consumption never knew about this novel feature. The two major complaints of the vehicle in the civilian market were poor fuel consumption and poor ride quality especially in the rear seats. The suspension was indeed harsh with live axles and leaf springs all around. It features almost no creature comforts, like power-windows and power-assisted steering.
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4.WagonR :- WagonR The Suzuki Wagon R is a kei car first introduced in Japan in 1993, and is still in production by Suzuki. The R stands for recreation. It is one of the first cars to use the "tall wagon" design in which the car is designed to be unusually tall with a short bonnet and almost vertical hatchback and sides in order to maximise cabin space while staying within the kei car dimension restrictions. The Wagon R has been the best-selling kei car in Japan since 2003 and in 2008, Suzuki expected to produce its three-millionth Wagon R. It has been a profitable car for Suzuki even in the International market, mainly since introducing the car in India. The car comes with a variety of trim levels. These include the LX (sans power steering), Lxi (power steering), VXi (fully loaded) and the AX (automatic). The car is available with a 5-speed manual transmission and seats 4 (including the driver) comfortably. The Wagon R's bread-box shape did not immediately cut ice with the Indian consumer and the car saw slow sales initially. Recently New version of WangonR has been launched with more upgraded features. Wearing an innovative and sporty looks Maruti Suzuki Wagon R is enjoying good market position in small car segment. India's leading auto maker Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) has designed Wagon R with ample and convertible inner space, finely crafted panels and the power of a low friction 64 bhp engine. Available in three variants (LX, LXi, VXi) Wagon R has everything that small car lover looks for. 'Blue Eyed Boy' - The New Wagon R Maruti has re-lauched its second best selling model to compete in present competitive car market. The new WagonR is roomier with larger cabin space, increased leg-room for all passengers and larger boot. Other major highlighs
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includes fitment of a new L-shaped front suspension for improved ride comfort, tiltable steering, electrical outside rear view mirror, superior AC for faster cooling and tubeless tyres. Externally, the new Wagon R flaunts a new grill and bigger and sweeping headlamps with blue tint giving it a refreshing new look. The new K10B engine marks the technical advancement and ensures a high mileage of 18.9 kmpl. The new cool colors are bound to get you attracted towards this smart boy of maruti. Available in three variants viz LX, LXI and VXI, this re-loaded new Wagon R can make it to your garage in Rs 3.28 - 4.14 lakhs. 5. Alto:- The Maruti Alto is the Indian-built Suzuki Alto version, manufactured by Maruti Suzuki in India. It was launched in the local Indian market on September 27, 2000 although the Alto nameplate was very successfully being used to export the Maruti Zen to Europe from India since around 1994having captured over 40% market share in Belgium and 33% in Netherlands by 1998. It is the best-selling hatchback in India. Since 2006, It is India's largest selling car and crossed the 1 million production figure in February 2008 becoming the 3rd Maruti model to cross the million mark in India after Maruti 800 and Maruti Omni and 4th overall joining Hyundai Santro. Besides being exported to Europe from 1994-2004, it has also been exported to several other countries. In the small hatchback car segment of India, Maruti Suzuki Alto gives 'maximum' comfort and safety features with 'minimum' price tag. The most economical petrol engine powered with 32-bit computer technology delivers great output of 47 bhp. Available with number of convenient and security features, Maruti Suzuki Alto has become like a hot cake in its segment.
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Maruti Suzuki Alto, is tagged as the Best Selling car of India from last three years. One of the hottest selling compact cars in the Indian market, Alto has an efficient engine system and better mileage. Maruto Alto is targeted at middle class families living in cities because of high fuel economy and affordability. Least maintenance cost and variety of vibrant colours make it true value for money. The car has high tensile steel side door beams to guard against the front, rear and side collision impact. The looks are tough but accommodating, having more Boot Space than other cars. The AC of the vehicle is ideal for India's tropical climate
6. Swift :- Swift debuted at the Paris Auto Salon in September 2004. This generation of the Swift marked a significant departure with the previous Cultusbased models, with Suzuki re-designing the vehicle as less of a "low price alternative" subcompact and more of a "sporty" subcompact.The Swift's design and driving characteristics focused on the European market with its chassis refined through a road-testing program across Europe. Available with 1.3 (92 PS (68 kW; 91 hp)) and 1.5 (102 PS (75 kW; 101 hp)) L petrol engines, the new Swift is Suzuki's new "global car", produced in Hungary, India, Japan, Pakistan and by Chang'an in China. Maruti Suzuki Swift is rocking the hatchback car segment of India and has become the blockbuster model since its launch. Swift is cool, stylish and dressed powerfully. Big dimensions, great fuel economy, larger fuel tank capacity, European style looks, eye-catching interiors and above all the support of large Maruti service network, makes Suzuki Swift a thrilling car that has emerged as a tough competition for Hyundai and
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Tata.
Maruti Suzuki Swift, the car of the year, was launched in May 2005. It is a new kind of compact car with a fresh approach to design and development. The Swift is more eye-catching, more spacious, more refined and more userfriendly. It is a whole lot of enjoyable to drive than anything else in the compact-car category. 7.Estilo :- The First Generation MR Wagon is currently sold in India as "Maruti Suzuki Estilo", where it was known until 2009 as the "Maruti Zen Estilo". This transition has brought about a steady decline in sales for this model though the redesign has brought significant improvement in performance and styling over the car's Japanese variants. The first generation model went on sale on December 4, 2001, featuring Suzuki's K6A kei car engine, in either naturally-aspirated (40 kW / 54 hp) or turbocharged (44 kW / 60 hp) versions, available with either front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. In all versions, the transmission was a 4-speed transmission with column shift. A hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle based on the firstgeneration MR Wagon was presented in 2005, using technology co-developed with General Motors. Maruti Suzuki Zen Estilo is a flamboyant model launched by India's leading auto company Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) replacing the Zen model. Zen Estilo, with its sporty looks, roomy space, true riding comfort and competitive price tag, would definitely make its style statement in the small car segment in India posing a tough call for other players like Hyundai and Tata.
Estilo is all set to compete against the Hyundai Santro, Tata Indica and possibly can eat into the sales of its own model, the Swift. Maruti Udyog launched the Zen Estilo to cater to a slightly upmarket customers then that of the Maruti 800 had. Estilo is powered by 1.1 l MPFI engine that delievers a power of 64 bhp @
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6200 rpm. Zen Estilo wears an aerodynamic body in unique bean shape with stunning body line. Just step inside Zen Estilo which is soft-plush from inside and sleek-dynamic from outside, would shape your world in new dimension of comfort, style and performance. 8.SX4:- SX4 Maruti Suzuki launched SX4 sedan with the 1.6-litre gasoline engine (without VVT) in 2007. Currently, the SX4 comes equipped with the 1.6-litre gasoline engine (with VVT). Minor cosmetic differences can be seen between the Indian version and others sold elsewhere. For the 2010 model year, SX4 five-door hatchback is available with a 1.6-litre DOHC VVT petrol engine, 2.0-litre DOHC engine and 2.0 litre DDiS engine (16 valve, 135 PS & 320 Nm torque) on the AWD version. The 1.6 litre DOHC VVT engine revised to the new CO2 emission control standards Euro 5 regulations. The engine gets also slight performance increase (from 102 to 107 bhp). (The US-market 2.0 litre engine from 143 to 150 bhp) and lower fuel consumption. The car is offered either a six-speed manual, 4 speed automatic transmission for 1.6 litre engine cars, or CVT automatic transmission with paddle shifters for 2.0 litre I4 engine cars. The 2010 model also gets front (ventilated) and rear (solid) disc brakes, 6 airbags (front, side and curtain), Anti-lock Braking System (ABS), and Electronic Stability Program (ESP), optional in 1.6 litre models. The 2010-model SX4 saw changes to the grille, taillights, instrument cluster, climate controls, and door trim, as well as a restructured cargo hold, and allwheel-drive models add new rear skid plates. "Men are back" amongst the cars. Maruti Suzuki SX4-the strong, masculine body outline, generous power of 102 bhp, plush and luxurious interiors with steering mounted controls - are some of the unmatched features in sedan car segment, that the SX4 flaunts. Dressed with
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contemporary European design styling and the economical and responsive M series petrol engine, driving the Sx4 is like a dream come true.
In an attempt to strengthen its position in the of Sedan cars market, Maruti Udyog Ltd. has launched its premium model bearing name SX4. After Maruti Suzuki Swift, SX4 is the second international model being launched in India. Suzuki SX4, is an A3 segment sedan car, with a perfect combination of style, performance, safety and comfort. There are two versions of Suzuki SX4: Vxi and Zxi that gets power from latest and efficient 1.6-litre M-Series engine delivering impressive 102 BHP of power.
Maruti Suzuki SX4 is packed with strong features like independent suspension system, Anti Lock Braking System (ABS), matching color bumpers, electrically adjustable outside mirrors, fine quality fabric seats, power windows, rear seat center armrest and adjustable head rests in the front and rear seats are few to name for a smooth, comfortable and safe ride.
Having the price tag of between Rs. 6-6.5 Lacs, Maruti Suzuki SX4 will provide tough competition to its rivalry models like Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Verna, Honda City, and Indigo XL. A new SportBack model offers a lowered sport-tuned suspension, body kit, rear spoiler, and also removes the roof rack found on the normal crossover SX4. The 2010 SportBack also includes many standard features otherwise optional.
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9.Swift Dezire:- It is the new entry level sedan from Indian automaker Maruti Suzuki. Launched on March 26 2008, Maruti Swift DZire is based on the popular Suzuki Swift platform. The Swift DZire replaces Maruti Suzuki’s popular entry level sedan, Maruti Suzuki Esteem, production of which was discontinued in late 2007. Maruti Suzuki has introduced Swift DZire only in the Indian market. Swift DZire is a result of an indigenous project started in 2005 to design a threebox notchback version of the Swift. Some changes have been made to the car’s overall styling to seamlessly integrate the boot. The wheelbase remains the same. The car weighs about 30-35 Kgs more than the Swift hatchback. Few modifications in the rear suspension have been done to cope with the additional weight of the boot and improve the ride quality for the rear passengers. Adjustments in the rear seat inclination have been made to improve the rear seat comfort and legroom. The car is pitted against the other entry level sedans in the Indian market, such as the Mahindra Renault Logan and the Tata Indigo.
The Swift DZire has become infamous for delivery delays as the number of cars being booked is large. The price of the car and the features offered are very attractive compared to the entry-level sedan competition (in India), resulting in large number of bookings. The diesel version of the Dzire, in particular, had delivery times extending from 4 to 6 months 10.A star :- A-star (Launched 2008) The 7th Generation is known in India as the Maruti Suzuki A-Star, but is also known as the Suzuki Celerio or Nissan Pixo in other places worldwide. It was launched in December 2008 by the IndoJapanese auto maker Maruti Suzuki. It is the next generation Suzuki Alto and is
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exported worldwide. It is available in European markets as Nissan Pixo. The car was rolled out to the Indian customers in December 2008 and exports began in April 2009. A-Star means Alto-Star. With a totally new body and engine, Maruti hopes to bring freshness to the Indian car market, of which it already holds a major share. Initial reviews have been positive. It has a fresh new dashboard, with a unique protruding tachometer besides the usual meter cowl (only in the ZXi trim). It is the fourth model after Swift, SX4 and Grand Vitara which has helped Maruti to make stylish cars, something which it was unknown for during older models. Though the drive is comfortable for the front row, rear seating is a little small for taller passengers. The interiors have been reported to be a bit cramped as compared to the Hyundai i10, its closest competitor. It has the new K10B series engine, which Suzuki says is technically highly developed and gives a balance of fuel efficiency and power. The ZXi is the fully loaded version with all the expected features like power windows, central lock, ABS, rear wiper, fog lamps, CD player, airbags etc. Indian car market leader Maruti Suzuki has launched A-Star in the hatchback car segment in which the company holds ruling position with 55% market share. Maruti has unveiled A Star as a next generation model of its another model Alto which is already selling greatly in the segment. Scroll down to know more about the sporty and striking features of all new A Star Car. India's largest automaker Maruti Suzuki India Limited has unveiled its much awaited hatchback car, A Star in the Indian auto market. A Star was first showcased in the Indian auto expo in New Delhi, as a concept car and after launch A Star from Maruti would be its fifth car model slated to be exported in the International market as well. Maruti Suzuki A Star, the all new entrant into the hatchback car segment in India, promises to become the most fuel-efficient
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car in its category with an exceptional mileage of 20 kmpl. The launch of A Star Car, which is the eighth consecutive car launch by Maruti, denotes the key positioning of the market leader in the A2 car segment with 55% market share. The all new Maruti Suzuki A Star features a sporty-designer looks and equipped with state-of-the-art technology that promises to deliver a wonderful driving experience. A Star houses a brand new KB series 998 cc engine under its hood that delivers 67 PS @ 6200 rpm and an exceptionally good torque of 90 Nm @ 3500 rpms. Being light in weight this engine lowers the vibration or noise and provides more fuel-efficiency in every litre. The A Star has been launched as the next generation model of Alto car car and would be built completely at the company's facility at Manesar, Haryana. 11.Ritz:- Ritz (Launched 2009) The Suzuki Splash is a city car introduced in model year 2008 and jointly developed between Suzuki Motor Corporation and Opel — which will also market their version as the Agila. It debuted as a concept car at the 2006 Paris Auto Show and the production model debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show. The Splash is slotted below the Swift in the lineup, and uses a shortened wheelbase version of its chassis. The car was launched with two petrol engines, a 3 cylinder 1.0 litre and 4 cylinder 1.2 litre Family 0, and a 4 cylinder version of Fiat's MultiJet diesel engine. Unlike its predecessor, the Wagon R+, the Splash has five seats as standard.
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12.Ecco:- Eeco (Launched 2010) When it comes to performance, the Maruti Suzuki Eeco is a thrilling surprise. Because under its hood, and in your hands lie unique features and unmatched benefits that add up to giving you a delightful driving experience. Maruti Suzuki Eeco is equipped with a powerful 1200cc BS IV compliant engine that delivers 73 bhp @ 6000 rpm, with a torque of 101Nm @ 3000 rpm. The engine incorporates a range of advanced technologies, and has been tuned for performance at low and mid range speeds with emphasis on fuel efficiency and drivability. The suspension system of the Maruti Suzuki Eeco has been designed and developed for best-in-class driving comfort, with balanced handling for Indian roads in both plain and rough terrains. For the first time, Maruti Suzuki has introduced Diagonal Shift Assistance (DSA) for smoother gear shifting.
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May Launch Maruti Cervo India's largest auto manufacturer, Maruti is planning to launch another small car model Maruti Cervo in entry level segment in the Indian auto market. This car is to balane Maruti's market share in loe level segment cats which has been effected due to Tata Nano. Maruti Cervo will be priced in the range of Rs 1.5 to 2 lacs with ample features and performance parameters to overtake the companys most popular models Maruti 800 and Maruti Alto along with Tata Nano. Maruti Suzuki Cervo has a sleek and beautiful look in a compact structure. Easy handling in congested traffic and city roads makes it an easy drive. Features like power steering, AC as standard, body colored bumpers,body colored door handles and outside mirrors make Maruti Cervo a true value for money. Safety features like ABS and Airbags take Cervo into the category of competitive hatchbacks like Hyundai i10, Chevrolet Spark etc.
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Special Features of Maruti Suzuki Maruti Insurance Launched in 2002 Maruti Suzuki provides vehicle insurance to its customers with the help of the National Insurance Company, Bajaj Allianz, New India Assurance and Royal Sundaram. The service was set up the company with the inception of two subsidiaries Maruti Insurance Distributors Services Pvt. Ltd and Maruti Insurance Brokers Pvt. Limited. This service started as a benefit or value addition to customers and was able to ramp up easily. By December 2005 they were able to sell more than two million insurance policies since its inception.
You do not have to pay the repair charges to the extent the same is payable by the Insurance Company. Just pay for the compulsory excess and applicable depreciation (both are as per motor tariff) and walk away with the repaired vehicle - Rest is settled directly between the dealer and the Insurance Company.
Its like "Free Roaming" - You get Maruti insurance services across India at all Maruti authorized dealer. These services include buying new policy, effecting renewals, endorsements issuance and claims settlement.
Maruti Insurance ensure a hassle-free and fair claim settlement. Whatever is payable by standards is paid by the Insurance Company. The customer is not forced to bear the undue differential cost of repair/ replacement. All transactions are completely transparent. No hassles of personal involvement or follow up with surveyors/ insurance co. etc. No botheration of depositing the salvage with insurance co. No compromise on repair48
replacement-parts that need replacement are replaced and not repaired to minimize repair bills.
With Maruti Insurance you don’t compromise on the quality of repairs as you are not forced to go to a roadside workshop. The damaged vehicles are repaired at Maruti authorized dealer workshops that are equipped with the best facilities and infrastructure. This ensures quality repairs with Maruti Genuine spare parts and trained technicians.
Towing assistance is provided for getting the vehicle to the dealer workshop, in case the vehicle is immobile after accident. This facility is available free of cost upto Rs 1500/-. This limit can be increased at customer preference by paying extra premium at the time of policy issuance.
If you are renewing with Maruti Insurance for the first time, the entitled no claim bonus(NCB) is easily transferred to Maruti Insurance policy at the time of renewal.
The customer does not have to wait for the policy document, which sometimes takes months to get delivered from the Insurance Company. With Maruti Insurance, the policy is issued instantly through the Internet.
Maruti Finance To promote its bottom line growth, Maruti Suzuki launched Maruti Finance in January 2002. Prior to the start of this service Maruti Suzuki had started two joint ventures Citicorp Maruti and Maruti Countrywide with Citi Group and GE Countrywide respectively to assist its client in securing loan. Maruti Suzuki tied
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up with ABN Amro Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Limited, Kotak Mahindra, Standard Chartered Bank, and Sundaram to start this venture including its strategic partners in car finance. Again the company entered into a strategic partnership with SBI in March 2003 Since March 2003, Maruti has sold over 12,000 vehicles through SBI-Maruti Finance. SBI-Maruti Finance is currently available in 166 cities across India. Maruti has entered into agreements with several finance institutions to arrange for finance for its customers. Under the program, lucrative financial deals are offered for the customers. The consortium of companies is comprised of State Bank Group, Citicorp Maruti, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra, Sundaram Finance, Magma Leasing Ltd, Cholamandalam Finance and Mahindra & Mahindra Finance Services. Features The interest rates offered by Maruti Finance are 0.25% to 0.5% lower than those available in the market across all credit profiles. Maruti Finance offers value added services like extended warranty for the 3rd and 4th years, which can be bundled along with the Maruti Finance loan. Loans for insurance and accessories are built into the EMI's, keeping the whole deal simple and hassle-free.
The customer get all his car needs – Car, Finance, Accessories, all under the same roof.
Citicorp Maruti Finance The joint venture was set up by Maruti with Citibank in May 1998. A wide range of flexible and customised financing options at affordable rates are available to prospective customers for buying a Maruti car. Maruti Countrysid GE Capital, HDFC and Maruti Udyog Limited came
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together to set up Maruti Countryside in 1995. The entity offers innovative finance schemes for the purchase of Maruti cars.
SBI Maruti Car Loans The country's largest bank and the largest car maker have joined hands to make car finance affordable. The group offers low interest rates and there is no processing fee or hidden costs. Loan is made available on the basis of the car's on-road price, not ex showroom price. The repayment period is upto seven years. Maruti TrueValue Maruti True service offered by Maruti Suzuki to its customers. It is a market place for used Maruti Suzuki Vehicles. One can buy, sell or exchange used Maruti Suzuki vehicles with the help of this service in India. As of 2009 there are 315 Maruti True Value outlets. Maruti True Value is India No.1 organized pre-owned car brand .True Value is venture of India’s largest automobiles manufacturer “Maruti Suzuki India Ltd”.
Maruti True Value business expands the family of Maruti customers, providing reassurance to existing Maruti customers about resale of their cars and further emphasizes Maruti s Commitment towards enhancing customer satisfaction by continuous association during the vehicle ownership life cycle. No one knows your Maruti car better than Maruti - based on this premise, Maruti chanalises its expertise to ensure that transactions in pre owned cars are transparent and fair. Through that, the company endeavors to extend the relationship and emotional connect that it enjoys with the customer.
True Value has transparent and fair evaluation process, which is currently missing in the largely unorganized market for pre-owned cars. Maruti True
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Value processes and systems ensure that the seller gets the right price and is paid promptly. Under True Value, the seller has the option to be paid in cash, or get a True Value car in exchange or a brand new Maruti Suzuki car in exchange. True Value category cars bought by Maruti True Value dealers are taken to state-ofthe-art workshops. True Value Category cars are refurbished in state of art workshops using Maruti Genuine Parts and by skilled technicians. These cars are then sold through maruti True Value outlets.
As a mark of confidence, and to provide reassurance to customers, every vehicle bought under Maruti True Value is inspected and certified by Maruti Engineers and the Car carries a one-year warranty and three free services. Convenient finance options are also offered to buyers of Maruti True Value cars.
Accessories Many of the auto component companies other than Maruti Suzuki started to offer components and accessories that were compatible. This caused a serious threat and loss of revenue to Maruti Suzuki. Maruti Suzuki started a new initiative under the brand name Maruti Genuine Accessories to offer accessories like alloy wheels, body cover, carpets, door visors, fog lamps, stereo systems, seat covers and other car care products. These products are sold through dealer outlets and authorized service stations throughout India. Maruti Genuine Accessories (MGA) is a new initiative to offer you high quality accessories at competitive prices. We follow world Class engineering and design processes to develop each and every item of MGA. Many of these items
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are imported from Suzuki, Japan. Every MGA item has perfect mechanical and electrical compatibility with the vehicle and offers you unmatched performance.
Company’s welfare activities for the employee:  Medical facilities: For providing domiciliary treatment to the employee and their dependent a dispensary and a full time doctor is the plant.  Group Accident insurance scheme: Employee covered under ESI is automatically under the company group accident insurance scheme.  Provision of loans: Loan can be obtain by member for purpose such as construction of house, marriage etc.  Service Award: In appreciation of the long term association the company gives service awards as a mark of honour to the employee.  Training Activities: The company is concerned with personal growth a development of the employee & sponsor for various learning and developmental programme.  Transportation: There have provision for transportation facility for the employee.
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TPM: Total productivity maintenance mean to achieve high level of productivity through total participation of all people inside the organization and with them maintain the time service by developing self managing in the people a practice.
Economic development: The programmed enables people below the poverty line in these adopted villages to earn their livelihood by involving them in activities that generates income. Infrastructure Development The Company is actively involve in the community development of the villages by providing infrastructure facilities such as housing, sanitation, road, drainage, shelter, medical center and natural resource management. Network at Maruti Maruti Suzuki India has one of the largest sales and service network in India spanning 454 cities and comprising of 681 dealers. Maruti Suzuki is making its domestic sales network stronger day by day to reach out to its growing number of customers in each and every part of the country. Most of the Maruti dealership all equipped with 3S facilities, which means that sales, service and spares facility are offered under one roof. CHENNAI, Team Maruti,
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comprising company’s top officials, have a job at hand. To target cities and markets where the company has not got its due share, and strengthen its presence.
To achieve that, the company has been encouraging its existing dealers to open new outlets. And it doesn’t seem to be a tough job to accomplish considering that MUL had rolled out new initiatives like finance, insurance and TrueValue (used car business) through its dealers.
“Our new initiatives and new businesses have started bearing fruit and it (dealership) has turned out to be a much bigger business that merely selling cars,” said Jagdish Khattar, MD, Maruti. Several of the company’s dealers have invested Rs 4-8 crore on new dealership outlets. And in the next three months, the company expects to add at least 20 more outlets this way. The company targeted nine cities, including Mumbai and Bangalore, to strengthen its presence. “If they are not prospering from the business, they will not be keen to make such huge additional investments,” Mr Khattar pointed out. “We are really now focusing on states where we are not getting our due share,” he said. The company particularly targeted nine cities, including Mumbai and Bangalore, across the country to strengthen its presence.
In addition, it also resorted to “price rationalisation” for its models in places like South India. For instance, if the company had brought down the prices of a few of its models last year in south, it has again given a 7% reduction in price over and above the 7% excise duty cut “to get better volumes” from the South this
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year.
The results are already there. While the company’s ‘B’ segment cars — Zen, Alto and Wagon R grew by 9-10% in the first 11 months of the current fiscal, the growth of these models in the south were much higher at 14% for Zen, 79% for Alto and 55% for Wagon R.
The focus is also spreading the ‘TrueValue’ used car network across the country. While the network will be 50-outlet strong by the end of the month, it will be 100 by the end of this year. “The objective is to cover more cities through TrueValue than the new car outlets of our nearest competitor,” Mr Khattar asserted. Kinji Saito, director (marketing and sales), MUL said that there are more buyers (waiting to buy used cars through TrueValue) than sellers. “We need to enthuse them through exchange or customer loyalty programme and help them to upgrade,” Mr Khattar added.
Four-wheeler dealers more satisfied compared to two-wheeler dealers According to the findings of the 2004 Dealer Satisfaction Study released by market information provider - TNS, Honda Motorcycle & Scooters (HMSI) and Honda Siel Cars (HSCI) rank highest in dealer satisfaction with their principals in the Two and Four-Wheeler industry segments, respectively.
The study represents the responses of 1238 dealers (which included 846 twowheeler dealers and 392 four wheeler dealers) on the key areas of product, management relationship, profit & margin, order & delivery, sales & marketing
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activities, after-sales & parts support, warranty, sales representatives, after-sales representatives, and training support. Depending on the respondent's convenience, a combination of face-to-face, telephonic, or self-completion interviews were conducted for this study. Over 150 cities including metros, mini metros, state capitals, and other smaller towns were covered for the study. The study was fielded from October 2004 through December 2004. The 2004 Dealer Satisfaction Study is the second in the series by TNS specialist division, TNS Automotive. In contrast, the four-wheeler manufacturers do a remarkable job in almost doubling their 'partner' dealers in 2004. Honda Siel has significantly increased the proportion of "Partners" from 38% in 2002 to 70% this year. Also of significance is the drop in 'uninvolved' dealers - from 34% in 2002 to 22% this year at the overall level. The challenge for the manufacturers lies in converting the 'hostage' dealers into 'partners', since, at 28%, they form a very large section of the dissatisfied dealer community. A well developed transport network indicates a well developed economy. For rapid development a well-developed and well-knit transportation system is essential. As India's transport network is developing at a fast pace, Indian Automobile Industry is growing too. Also, the Automobile industry has strong backward and forward linkages and hence provides employment to a large section of the population. Thus the role of Automobile Industry cannot be overlooked in Indian Economy. All kinds of vehicles are produced by the Automobile Industry. The automobile industry in India—the tenth largest in the world with an annual production of approximately 2 million units—is expected to become one of the major global automotive industries in the coming years. A number of domestic companies produce automobiles in India and the growing presence of multinational investment, too, has led to an increase in overall growth. Following the economic reforms of 1991 the Indian automotive
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industry has demonstrated sustained growth as a result of increased competitiveness and relaxed restrictions. India Automobile Industry includes the manufacture of trucks, buses, passenger cars, defence vehicles, twowheelers, etc. The industry can be broadly divided into the Car manufacturing, two-wheeler manufacturing and heavy vehicle manufacturing units. The small car market in India is increasing by leaps and bounds. The indigenous market for small cars now occupies a substantial share of around 70% of the annual car production in India of about one million. The main players in the car market like Tata Motors and Maruti Udyog are fiercely competitive and more or less all the automobile companies in India that have forayed into the production of small cars are trying to out-do each other in terms of design, innovation, pricing, and technology, in order to gain control of the small car market in India. The biggest players in the Indian small car market are engaging in a healthy competition, which has intensified since the Indian government decided to boost the small car sector. In this regard, a reduction in the excise duties has been thought of. Even the engine capacities are expected to be raised to 1500cc. The new small cars in India cars may even be fueled by gasoline and diesel in the future. With all these facilities, it has been estimated that the indigenous car market is going to move beyond the 3.5 million mark very soon.
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Competitor Detail So many inferences to be drawn from these stats that if I put something, someone would howl as to why I have missed something else. Still, some very quick observations: 1.Distinct slowdown in 2007-08 (FY2008). 2. Maruti’s share has remained the most consistent across 2003-08: 46-47%. Over the same period, Hyundai down marginally, and so is Tata. 3. Pt.2 needs to be combined with the fact that growth during last 5 years has been higher in bigger segment (cars and MUVs). That means +for Honda and Toyota; and growth limitation on Maruti, Hyundai, and Tata. 4.That still leaves a lot of room for these 3: the Indian market will still retain a small car one (with a gradual shift upwards). The small, compact, and Omni share of total domestic sales has remained at around 65% for last few years. 5. The bigger segment is growing fast but still very low % of total. That should change in the next decade. 6. Hyundai has dominated exports. That is a +for the country. On the other hand, no one has found success in exporting bigger cars. They may export to fellow LDCs (Bangladesh, etc) but not to competitive markets of US, Europe, and Japan. Could that change soon? Not soon, though people are trying. As of
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now, only M&M and Tata have some plans, but those involve a radical quality improvement, which will not happen tomorrow (liability laws have made them very cautious). Toyota and Honda have the products, but then they also have factories worldwide. Possibly India could be used as a regional hub. Suzuki exports small cars, and its big cars do not sell much anywhere. 7. High growth for One month or quarter or even a year do not make a successful company, as Fiat and GM have found it (have data prior to 2002 also). Even the 3-year growth can be misleading (when read in isolation). Refer only Skoda. It was anyway growing at a good rate but selling around 1000 prior to Fabia. Now it sells 1900-2000. That means a 100% growth. Similarly for Logan/M&M; Spark/GM. 8. Most important for survival (as any business would be aware) is profits. No profits and selling at a loss soon leads to extinction. The really good profitable years were till FY2007. From 2003-07, although steel, aluminium, plastics prices all increased; higher volumes enabled healthy growth in profits and returns. That has changed in 2007-08 with higher costs continuing, but volume growth slowing down. For comparison, I am posting the operating margin and return on networth for major companies which have publicly available financial results for FY2007 (first figure is margin and second is return): Maruti: 13.5%, 25.4%; margins increasing FY2004-07 Tata: 10.5%, 30.9%; stable margins HM: operating losses from 2003-04 onwards Hyundai: 8.3%, 20.4%; declining margins from 2001-02 onwards, though margins have been stable during 2005-07. Honda: 11.2%, 30.8%, stable margins M&M: 8%, 33.3%; stable margins.
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Four – Wheeler  As in the two-wheeler segment, manufacturer related aspects are critical "Motivators" where performance is below average. Segment leader, Honda Siel has scored above average in 'Concern for dealer profitability'. This clearly brings out the importance of these attributes with respect to the overall satisfaction.  The impact of 'Effectiveness of brand/product positioning' on commitment is relatively lower among 4-wheeler dealers. 4-wheeler manufacturers are also delivering as per their dealer expectations on this aspect.

'Fair settlement of warranty claims' & 'Communication to dealer in case of delay', which were hygiene areas for 2-wheeler dealers have moved to the motivator segment for 4-wheeler dealers.
 'Sales & service training support' has a greater impact on commitment among 4-wheeler dealers as compared, to 2-wheeler dealers. A well developed transport network indicates a well developed economy. For rapid development a well-developed and well-knit transportation system is essential. As India's transport network is developing at a fast pace, Indian Automobile Industry is growing too. Also, the Automobile industry has strong backward and forward linkages and hence provides employment to a large section of the population. Thus the role of Automobile Industry cannot be overlooked in Indian Economy. All kinds of vehicles are produced by the Automobile Industry. The automobile industry in India—the tenth largest in the world with an annual production of approximately 2 million units—is expected to become one of the major global automotive industries in the coming years. A number of domestic companies produce automobiles in India and the growing presence of multinational investment, too, has led to an increase in overall
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growth. Following the economic reforms of 1991 the Indian automotive industry has demonstrated sustained growth as a result of increased competitiveness and relaxed restrictions. India Automobile Industry includes the manufacture of trucks, buses, passenger cars, defence vehicles, twowheelers, etc. The industry can be broadly divided into the Car manufacturing, two-wheeler manufacturing and heavy vehicle manufacturing units. The major Car manufacturers are, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
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1. Hindustan Motors 2. Maruti Udyog, 3. Fiat India Private Ltd 4. Ford India Ltd 5. General Motors India Pvt. Ltd 6. Honda Siel Cars India Ltd 7. Hyundai Motors India Ltd 8. Skoda India Private Ltd 9. Toyota Kirloskar Motor Ltd The two-wheeler manufacturing is dominated by companies like TVS,
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (Pvt.) Ltd., Hero Honda, Yamaha, Bajaj, etc. The heavy motors like buses, trucks, defense vehicles, auto rickshaws and other multi-utility vehicles are manufactured by Tata-Telco, Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors, Bajaj, Mahindra and Mahindra,etc. Following India‘s growing openness, the arrival of new and existing models, easy availability of finance at relatively low rate of interest and price discounts offered by the dealers and manufacturers all have stirred the demand for vehicles and a strong growth of the Indian automobile industry.
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15 Small Car Market in India
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The small car market in India is increasing by leaps and bounds. The
indigenous market for small cars now occupies a substantial share of around 70% of the annual car production in India of about one million. The main players in the car market like Tata Motors and Maruti Udyog are fiercely competitive and more or less all the automobile companies in India that have forayed into the production of small cars are trying to out-do each other in terms of design, innovation, pricing, and technology, in order to gain control of the small car market in India. The biggest players in the Indian small car market are engaging in a healthy competition, which has intensified since the Indian government decided to boost the small car sector. In this regard, a reduction in the excise duties has been thought of. Even the engine capacities are expected to be raised to 1500cc. The new small cars in India cars may even be fueled by gasoline and diesel in the future. With all these facilities, it has been estimated that the indigenous car market is going to move beyond the 3.5 million mark very soon.
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Part : II Project Overview
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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Our society is a land of diversity. We see diversity at all level exist among consumers, among nation, culture, food and taste among marketers and even among consumers behavior theoretically perspective. However, despite prevailing diversity in our society. The term consumers behavior refers to the behavior that consumers display in searching for purchasing, using, evaluating a disposing of product and service that they expect will satisfy their needs. To study consumers behavior to spend their available resource to understand and predict behavior in the market place, it also promote understanding of the role that consumption play in the lines of individuals. Consumer behaviour study include the study what they buy, why they buy it, when they buy, where they buy it, how often they buy it and how often they use it. Consumer research takes place at every phases of the consumption process, before the purchase, during the purchase and after the purchase, consumer behaviour research goes far beyond these facts of consumer behaviour and considered the uses of consumers make of the good they buy and their subsequent evaluation. Consumer behaviour is inter disciplinary, that it is based on concept and theories about people that have been involved by scientist in such diverse disciplines as psychology, sociology, social psychology, cultural anthropology and economics. Consumer behaviour has been an integral part of strategic market planning. The belief that ethics and social responsibility should also be Integral component of every marketing decision is a revised market concept. The term consumer is often used to describe two different kinds of consuming entitles the personal consumer and the organizational consumers. The personal consumers buys goods and service for his/her own use for the
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organizational encompasses for profit and non profit business, govt. agencies and institution all of which must buy product, equipment and service in order to run their organization. Introduction to buying motives Consumer or buyer is the central figure of all marketing activities. It is the consumer who determines the growth, prosperity and even existence of a business enterprise. Hence the marketer should always feel the pulse of customers. In order to understand the pulse of the customers, the marketer needs to understand fully the working of buyers mind. It helps him to plan his production and distribution to suit to the needs and convenience of customers‘ .It also helps him to plan suitable marketing strategies. Thus it is very essential for every marketer to know his customers buying motives. Buying motives Motive is a strong feeling, instinct, desire or emotion that makes a person to do something. When a motive makes a person to buy a product, then it becomes a buying motive. Thus buying motive means the influence and considerations which makes a customer to buy a particular product. According to D.J.Duncan, ―buying motives are those influences or considerations which provide the impulse to buy, induce action or determine choice in the purchase of goods and services‖. Buying motives are mainly two types, manifest motives and latent motives. Manifest motives are those motives which are known to the customer and also ready to admit them.
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Consumer Behaviour: Turning to the Web and New C2C Tools Consumers today have a multitude of sources from which to gather information during the vehicle buying process, but the Internet tops the list. The web has become a standard resource in the shopping process for eight out of 10 consumers when researching car purchases. However, the way they use it is changing. As the web matures, vehicle buyers are visiting fewer sites and focussing more on manufacturer and C2C websites and less on third-party information sites and independent e-tailer sties. Manufacturer Sites a Key Information Source Just two years ago, information websites were identified as the number one information source by web users responding to the Cars Online survey (tied with family and friends and manufacturer specific dealer), named by 55% of consumers. This year, they dropped to the number four source, named by 41% of web users. In comparison, manufacturer sites are now the top source for consumers who use the web when researching vehicles, named by 70% of respondents. Two years ago manufacturer sites held the number three position, named by 43% of web users. The use of dealer websites has remained steady, with about half of web users turning to these sites. Key Factors in Vehicle Choice When it comes to making their final decision about which vehicle to buy, consumers focus on factors such as reliability, safety, price and fuel economy. At the bottom of the list are cash-back incentives, named by fewer than half of consumers. The importance of incentives as a deciding factor has declined for the past several years, indicating that consumers today seem less interested in
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gimmicks when it comes to their car purchases. Where consumers are in the buying cycle can make a difference in how they rank the factors that influence their vehicle choice. For example, additional warranty coverage is important to consumers who are furthest away from the point of purchase; it was named by 69% of respondents who were 13 to 18 months from purchase. However, the number declines as consumers get closer to actually buying the car: 55% of respondents who were within three months of purchase said extra warranty coverage was important. This reflects the fact that consumers will narrow down the factors that really matter to them as they get closer to the point of purchase. Demographic factors such as age and gender accounted for some variances. For example, older consumers tend to put more emphasis on reliability and safety than do younger respondents. Those in the 50-plus age group were also more concerned with environmental issues and fuel economy. The youngest respondents were most likely to rate the ability to research information on the Internet as an important factor in their vehicle decision. Women tend to rate most of the factors as more important than do men. The difference was most pronounced for cash-back incentives, low financing, safety, environmental issues, fuel economy and additional warranty coverage.
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Going ‘Green’: Fuel Efficiency Takes Centre Stage Fuel efficiency and environmental issues have moved to the forefront in consumers’ minds and in automotive industry forums thanks to factors including global warming, fluctuating gasoline prices, and proposed legislation to increase fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. This growing interest in so-called green vehicles was evident in this year’s Cars Online research. More than one-quarter of respondents said they currently own or lease a fuelefficient vehicle while almost half said they are planning to buy or thinking seriously about buying a fuel-efficient vehicle. Not surprisingly, the numbers for alternative-fuel vehicles were lower. Just 2% of respondents currently own an alternative-fuel vehicle and 11% are planning to buy or thinking seriously about buying one. The most common type of alternative-fuel vehicle represented in the survey were gas/ electric hybrids, named by about half of current alternative-fuel car owners. Biodiesel vehicles were the second most common, named by 15%. The alternative-fuel market remains in transition and it’s still too early to tell how it will ultimately shake out, although sales are expected to continue to grow. For example, J.D. Power and Associates predicts that U.S. sales of hybrid vehicles will increase by 35% in 2007, compared with 2006. Current ownership of fuel-efficient and alternative-fuel vehicles tended to be quite consistent across gender and age groups, although the oldest consumers were somewhat more likely to be seriously thinking about buying an alternative-fuel car.
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CONSUMER BUYING vs. ORGANIZATIONAL BUYING Final (or ultimate) consumers purchase for:
• • •
personal, family, or household use
Organizational consumers purchase for:
• • •
further production, usage in operating the organization, and/or resale to other consumers
Consumer Buying Behavior The decision processes and acts of final household consumers associated with evaluating, buying, consuming, and discarding products for personal consumption Consider the purchase an automobile. You generally will not consider different options until some event triggers a need, such as a problem needing potentially expensive repair. Once this need has put you "on the market", you begin to ask your friends for recommendations regarding dealerships and car models. After visiting several dealerships, you test drive several models and finally decide on a particular model. After picking up your new car, you have doubts on the way home, wondering if you can afford the monthly payments, but then begin to wonder if instead you should have purchased a more expensive but potentially more reliable model. Over the next five years, the car has several unexpected breakdowns that lead you to want to purchase a different brand, but you have been very happy with the services of the local dealership and decide to again purchase your next car there.
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In this particular case, the following generic model of consumer decision making appears to hold: =====>need recognition =====>information search =====>evaluation of alternatives =====>purchase decision =====>postpurchase behavior
Now consider the purchase of a quart of orange juice. You purchase this product when you do your grocery shopping once per week. You have a favorite brand of orange juice and usually do your grocery shopping at the same store. When you buy orange juice, you always go to the same place in the store to pick it up, and never notice what other brands are on the shelf or what are the prices of other brands. How is it that the generic model above works differently in this second scenario? Why does it work differently? Why would we generally need the ministrations of a sales person in the sale of a car, but we generally do not need the help of a salesperson in the purchase of orange juice? How can the marketer of orange juice get a consumer like you to exert more effort into information search or to consider alternative products? How is it that the marketer of your brand got you to ignore alternative competing brands? What is the involvement of salespeople in sales promotions that might be associated with products such as orange juice? Consumer behavior researchers are not so interested in studying the validity of the above generic model, but are more interested in various factors that influence how such a model might work.
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GROUP INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Culture the set of basic values, beliefs, norms, and associated behaviors that are learned by a member of society Note that culture is something that is learned and that it has a relatively long lasting effect on the behaviors of an individual. As an example of cultural influences, consider how the salesperson in an appliance store in the U.S. must react to different couples who are considering the purchase of a refrigerator. In some subcultures, the husband will play a dominant role in the purchase decision; in others, the wife will play a more dominant role. Social Class A group of individuals with similar social rank, based on such factors as occupation, education, and wealth Reference Groups Groups, often temporary, that affect a person's values, attitude, or behaviors
•
E.g., your behaviors around colleagues at work or friends at school are probably different from your behaviors around your parents, no matter your age or stage in the family life cycle. If you were a used car salesperson, how might you respond differently to a nineteen year old prospect accompanied by her boyfriend from one accompanied by two girlfriends? Opinion leader A person within a reference group who exerts influence on others because of special skills, knowledge, personality, etc.
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•
o
You might ask the webmaster at work for an opinion about a particular software application. Software manufacturers often give away free beta copies of software to potential opinion leaders with the hope that they will in turn influence many others to purchase the product.
•
Family A group of people related by blood, marriage, or other socially approved relationship
ENVIRONMENTAL / SITUATIONAL INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Circumstances, time, location, etc. Do you like grapes? Do you like peas? You might like grapes as a snack after lunch, but probably not as a dessert after a fancy meal in a restaurant. You might like peas, but probably not as a topping on your pancakes. Everyday situations cause an interaction between various factors which influence our behaviors. If you work for tips (a form of incentive related to commission) as a waiter or waitress, you must certainly be aware of such interactions which can increase or decrease your sales. If you are doing your Saturday grocery shopping and are looking for orange juice, you are probably much more sensitive to price than if you stop at the quick store late at night, when you are tired and cranky, after a late meeting at the office. A prospect shopping for a new automobile while debating the wisdom of a necessary expensive repair to his car might be more interested in what cars are on the lot than in shopping for the best deal that might involve a special order.
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INTERNAL INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Personality A person's distinguishing psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to stimuli in the environment We are each unique as individuals, and we each respond differently as consumers. For example, some people are "optimizers" who will keep shopping until they are certain that they have found the best price for a particular item, while other people are "satisficers" who will stop shopping when they believe that they have found something that is "good enough." If you are a salesperson in a retail shoe store, how might you work differently with these two personalities? Lifestyle and Psychographics
•
lifestyle is a pattern of living expressed through a person's activities, interests, and opinions psychographics is a technique for measuring personality and lifestyles to developing lifestyle classifications.
•
Motivation: Multiple motives Consumers usually have multiple motives for particular behaviors. These can be a combination of:
•
manifest known to the person and freely admitted latent unknown to the person or the person is very reluctant to admit
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•
Note: different motives can lead to the same behavior; observing behavior is not sufficient to determine motives. TYPES OF CONSUMER PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESSES Routinized
• • •
used when buying frequently purchased, low cost items used when little search/decision effort is needed e.g., buying a quart of orange juice once per week
Limited Problem Solving
• •
used when products are occasionally purchased used when information is needed about an unfamiliar product in a familiar product category.
Extended problem solving
• •
used when product is unfamiliar, expensive, or infrequently purchased e.g., buying a new car once every five years
Under what sorts of conditions would the assistance of a salesperson be needed? Not needed?
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POST-PURCHASE CONSUMER BEHAVIOR Satisfaction After the sale, the buyer will likely feel either satisfied or dissatisfied. If the buyer beleives that s/he received more in the exchange than what was paid, s/he might feel satisfied. If s/he believes that s/he received less in the exchange than what was paid, then s/he might feel dissatisfied. Dissatisfied buyers are not likely to return as customers and are not likely to send friends, relatives, and acquaintences. They are also more likely to be unhappy or even abusive when the product requires post-sale servicing, as when an automobile needs warranty maintenance. Cognitive dissonance It has to do with the doubt that a person has about the wisdom of a recent purchase It is very common for people to experience some anxiety after the purchase of a product that is very expensive or that will require a long term commitment. Jane and Fred, for example, signed a one year lease on an apartment, committing themselves to payments of $1500 per month. A week later, they are wondering if they should have instead leased a smaller $900 apartment in a more rough part of town; they are not sure if they really can afford this much of a monthly obligation. Dick and Sally, on the other hand, ultimately rented the $900 apartment, and now are wondering if the savings in rent will be offset by noisy and sometimes unsafe conditions in this neighborhood. Perhaps neither couple would be experiencing this anxiety if their landlords had given them just the smallest of assurances that they had made a good decision. After a close on products that are expensive or that require a long term
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commitment, the salesperson should provide the prospect with some reasons to be happy with the decision. Allow the car buyer to reinforce her own positive feelings by calling her a week after the purchase to ask how things are going. Call the new life insurance policy holder after two months to see if there are any questions; a lack of questions can only help the buyer to convince himself that he did the right thing. The four-wheeler Market is even expanding and ever changing showing new trends. Almost every day, we get to know about the launch of new model by different company Sales. Their market strategy and also their selling policy. But as the competitors gets intensified between the domestic and the multinational brands. The company producing better product enjoy the benefit.
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Objectives Tezpur is the most developed town in north bank and gateway to Arunachal Pradesh and to capture this market and establish themselves as a leader is the prime aim of all the companies so as to have an psychological impact on the people and to have an edge over other four wheeler companies were not doing great business in This region from the very beginning. It was so because the prices of the product were high and the customer were not fully aware of proper advertisement facility, which is key factor in influencing a consumer. Earlier Maruti product was almost enjoying the monopoly market but now Hyundai and TATA entered the market with various promotional schemes and changing the market scenario. Nowadays with the advent of financial scheme by the commercial Bank and Hire purchase companies, the four-wheeler company has been given new dimension. But with the introduction of new models, the greater market opened up for all the motorcar companies, which ultimately led to a stiff competition between the brands. Today all the companies namely Hyundai, Toyota, Hyundai, TATA, Skoda, Chevrolet, Ford, Mahindra etc. are trying to grab the market. Maruti is enjoying good reputation in motorcar segment in Tezpur market for its after sales service. According to research, Maruti is the largest car manufacture in India.
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1. To study their satisfaction level of customers of different cars available in Tezpur. 2. To study the importance of various attribute which effect the purchasing decision of customers in regard of cars. 3. To study the awareness level of different cars in Tezpur. 4. To study the importance of dealer and their influence in marketing/sale for cars in Tezpur. 5. To study consumers buying behaviours. 6. To find out the expectation of the existing possessing and prospective customers of the company. 7. To study the impact of media on the customers. 8. To study the satisfaction level of the customers on overall performance and after sale service of their existing cars. 9. To study different promotional scheme they expect for purchasing a new car. Various segments of Maruti are: The entire model is being used in Tezpur, Maruti Motor is trying to reach every nook and corner of the North East, it has dealers and sub-dealers in every part of the North Eastern India. The service provided by them are quite satisfactory to the consumers, which has helped them to achieve good reputation in the market. The four-wheeler companies have divided the market into various segments, which have helped them to meet the demand more easily. Suppose, the customer who demand a unique stylish car, for them Maruti has produced SX4, Grand Vitara which is considered as one of the most extraordinary car in the market.
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Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in February 1981, though the actual production commenced in 1983 with the Maruti 800, based on the Suzuki Alto kei car which at the time was the only modern car available in India, its' only competitors- the Hindustan Ambassador and Premier Padmini were both around 25 years out of date at that point. Through 2004, Maruti Suzuki has produced over 5 Million vehicles. Maruti Suzukis are sold in India and various several other countries, depending upon export orders. Models similar to Maruti Suzukis (but not manufactured by Maruti Udyog) are sold by Suzuki Motor Corporation and manufactured in Pakistan and other South Asian countries. Today Maruti is coming up with various sales promotion works to induce more sales in the city. They also spend a good lot of money in advertisement like TV advertisements, Hoarding, Banner etc. This help to in increase the sales of the product.
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METHODOLOGY
(1) Preliminary Survey: - The project study was undertaken general
discussion and informal interview with the customer both possessing and prospective. The objective were set mainly to gain an idea about consumers buying behaviors of cars.
(2) Data Collection: - The data were collected from primary sources. The
primary data were collected from the customer both possessing and prospective. Surveying method through personal or direct interviews with the help of questionnaire-designed specification for the purpose did this.
(3) Questionnaire Design:- Primary data was collected through well framed
questionnaire. The questionnaire had two parts, one part for possessing customers and other part for prospective customer. Question was framed keeping mind. The various information required as per the objectives. Each question was directed towards getting information regarding Maruti as well as other competitors. The questionnaire contained both open ended and close ended question. Also question with multiple-choice answers, degree of importance scale etc. were included. All effort were made to that the questionnaire was simple and precise and also adequate care was taken about the language, structure and format of questionnaires.
(4) Sample Size: The sample was selected on the basis of simple random
sampling. A total 50 customer surveyed where 44 were processing and 6 were prospective customers.
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The total sample size in segmented under the following zones: Zones: 1. Isum Motors. 2. Main Road, Tezpur. 3. M.D.Road. 4. Various business establishments in Tezpur.
(5) Analysis: The data collected from the customer were analysed using
different standard statistical tools and techniques each of the question were analyzed to find out the purchasing behaviour of different cars with reference to Maruti motors.
(6) Scope: The scope of the project is define by the objective of the study it
self. If the study was basically for the fulfillment at its objectives. This means that scope of this project study is restricted to consumers buying behaviours of Maruti cars among the other brand in the market. Scope of this project is also restricted to the area of field survey in Tezpur. The study does not include any other area like finance personnel product etc.
(7) Limitations: With many point the study of this project suffered from
many limitation also, likewise as the sample is low I cannot analyze many respondent, as the survey may also suffer from bais results.
(8) Recommendation: Recommendation were made or the based of finding
drawn from the project analysis.
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(9) Conclusion: Conclusion were made on the finding and analysis of the
survey.
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ANALYSIS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE As the consumers play a key role in the today’s market; their preferences, attitude and perceptions are of utmost value to the marketers keeping all the objectives of the study in mind and to give a proper dimension to the study undertaken, a comprehensive consumer survey was undertaken with the aid of a well-framed questionnaire. The detail of the findings have been fragmented as: Demographic profile segment: The analysis on demographic profile has been done on the basis of Age group, Occupation and Monthly income:
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Q. No 3. Occupation Considered This question was put forwarded to extract a profile factor of the respondent. The prime objective of this question was to know the occupation of the respondent. Though this it can be analysed that which segment of people have like for which brands. This question helped to extract the background of the customers owning and not owning cars.
Table No. 1.1 Occupation Service Business Students Others Percentage 30% 40% 20% 10%
People 15 20 10 5
Diagram 1.1
From the responses obtained, it was found that the most of the Businessman seemed to score high followed by service holder in possession of cars.
Q. No 4. AGE GROUP
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The age group, which is one of the important roles in the buying behaviour of the customer, was extracted through this question. It was attempted to cover most of the age groups in various slabs.
Table No. 1.2 Age groups 20-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 Above 40 years Percentage 2% 8% 24% 40% 26%
Diagram 1.2
Age Group
The responses revealed that maximum number of car possessed by respondents in the age group of 36 – 40. Age group above 40 years followed it. The least was found to be in the age group of 20-25 years.
Q. No 5. INCOME PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS
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Since the income of a respondent is also important in making decision to buy a car, therefore, this question was framed to extract their level of income. The slabs of income considered for the purpose were ranging from Rs.15,000/(minimum) and above Rs.45,000/-.
Table No. 1.3
Income slab Rs.15,000 – Rs.25,000/Rs.25,000 – Rs.35,000/Rs.35,000 – Rs.45,000/Above Rs.45,000/Percentage 44% 30% 18% 8%
Out of the total respondents, most of them were found to be in the income slab of Rs.15,000 – Rs.25,000/- followed by respondents in the age group of Rs.25,000 – Rs.35,000/-.
Q.NO. 6. AWARENESS ON BRANDS OF CARS
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The respondents in response to this question revealed the awareness about the existing brands of cars in the market. To reveal it, they were given options of various brands that are playing in the market of Tezpur.
Table No. 1.4 Brands Hyundai Maruti Chevrolet Toyota Skoda Ford TATA Mahindra Percentage 100% 100% 76% 100% 70% 100% 100% 100%
It is seemed that almost every brand is well aware by thr respondent. Q. No. 7. MEDIA OF AWARENESS An endeavor was made to know the source of information or the awareness of different brands of existing cars in the market of Tezpur, to the customers. To respond to this query, respondents were opted with various sources of media.
Table No. 1.5 Media Newspapers Percentage 82%
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Magazines T.V. Advertisement Trade Fairs Friends Family Members Others
Of the different media, TV Advertisement ranked top in creating brand awareness among the perceptual mindset of the customers, which in turn effects the buying behaviour of a customer.
Q. No. 8. Do You Own a Car Ownership of car was the chief extraction of this question. To this question only 88% of the respondents were found positive whereas the remaining 12% were not in possession of a car of their own.
Table No. 1.6 Media Yes No Percentage 88% 12%
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Diagram 1.6
Possessionof cars
No 12%
Yes Yes 88%
No
The question revealed that, of the 50 respondents only 44 of them owns a car whereas rest 6 do not possess car.
PART A Questions of Part A were targeted to those respondents who own a car. These questions were put forwarded to know the brand of possessed by them, attributes they look for, payment patterns etc. The deliberation of each questions are discussed below separately below:
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Q No. 1. Most of the brands of cars existing in the market of Tezpur were given to choose from by the respondents. Accordingly, respondents made their responses favoring mostly for Maruti followed by Hyundai.
Table 2.1 Brands Hyundai Fiat Maruti Chevrolet Toyota TATA Mahindra Skoda Ford Percentage 27.27% 0% 40.90% 4.5% 0% 20.45% 4.5% 0% 2.27%
Q.No. 2. This question was attempted to extract the factors, which plays a major role in the buying behaviour of the customers. It was attempted to cover most of the factors to make this extract more effective and productive.
Table No. 2.2 Sl. No. a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) Attributes Price Financial assistance / credit facility Fuel efficiency Style / looks Comfort and convenience Durability Brand image Advertising After sales service Very Important 39 40 44 35 38 37 20 6 44 Important 5 4 5 6 6 18 19 4 1 6 19 Not so important
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In response to this question, as revealed by respondents, the attribute “fuel efficiency” and “after sales service” ranked top followed by “financial assistance
Diagram2.2
Q. No. 3. A major factor “Influence”, which induces a person to buy anything (herein referred to as car) was revealed by the respondents through their response to this question.
Table No. 2.3 Source of Influence Self Family Friends Colleague Others Don’t own a car Diagram No. 2.3 Percentage 48% 28% 10% 2% 0% 12%
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From the responses obtained, it is found that self-motivation is the major role in purchasing a car. Of the 50 considered respondents
Q. No. 4
The price factor and payment mode also plays a pivotal role in the
buying behaviour of a customer. Respondents, being customers to respective companies, also looks for the most convenient mode of payment. Therefore, this question was designed to know their preferred mode of payment. In response to this query with four different options like (a) Cash (b) Bank finance (c) Private finance (d) Others, respondents numbering 21 opted to go for Bank Finance, for the purpose of low and reducing balancing method of charging interest, whereas 19 respondents opted to go for private finance for their lesser paper work despite interest being flat. Of the rest 1 opted for cash and remaining 3 opted for other modes of purchase. Table No.2.4
Options 94 No of respondents
Cash Bank finance Private finance Others
Diagram 2.4
Q. No. 5 This question was designed to know the overall performances that were being experienced by the respondents from their cars. Also, an open-ended part in question was offered to reveal the exact kind of problem that they have experienced from their cars. 80% of respondents were satisfied with the overall performance of the car whereas remaining 20% were partially or were not satisfied with their car’s performance.
Table No. 2.5 Options Yes No Percentage 80% 20%
Diagram No. 2.5
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Q. No. 6 Another major factor playing the role in decision making of buying or buying behaviour of respondents was “After sales service”. So, this question was designed to know the satisfaction level on the after Sales service of respective brands, received by the respondents, which in other words are considered as the customers of respective brands.
Table No. 2.6 Options Yes No Diagram No. 2.6 Percentage 100% 0%
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Q. No. 7 This question was designed to know the next option, if any respondent is willing to go for a new one. To this query, 27.27% respondents were willing to go for latest model of cars whereas the remaining were happy to be contended with what they have.
Table No. 2.7 Options Yes No Diagram No. 2.7 Percentage 27.27% 82.73%
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Q. No.8 In terms of technical feature expectation of the respondents, it was found that all the technical feature are expected by the customers.
Table No. 2.8 Sl. No. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Technical features High engine power High fuel efficiency Brakes Tyres & Wheels Power Steering Suspension Yes 100% 95% 100% 80% 98% 100% No 0% 5% 0% 20% 2% 0%
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7.
Power window Diagram 2.8
80%
20%
Q.No.9. This question was targeted to extract if they recommend Maruti to others. To this response 10 respondents out 12 (possessing Maruti brands of cars) are recommending whereas remaining 2 are not doing so.
Table No. 2.9 Options Yes No Diagram No. 2.9 No of respondents 10 2
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PART – B This part was intended for those respondents who were not possession of a four-wheeler car. To this part only 6 respondents responded. Q.No.1 The never-ending choosy human beings were asked to extract their preference of brands when they go for their new car. To this question only two respondents preferred to go for Hyundai brand of cars whereas 3 opted for Maruti and remaining 1 opted for TATA.
Table No. 3.1 Brands No of respondents
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Hyundai Fiat Maruti Chevrolet Toyota TATA Mahindra Skoda Ford Diagram 3.1
2 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 0
Q.NO.2 To know the specific model of cars that the respondents would like to go for in near future are presented herein below in tabular form. The responses were obtained in the form of an open-ended response.
Table No. 3.2 Models Hyundai’s Santro l Maruti’s Wagon R Maruti’s 800 TATA’s Indica Diagram No. 3.2 No of respondents 2 1 2 1
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Model preferredbyrespondents
2.5 2 1.5 2 2
t d n p s e r f o N
1 0.5 0
1
1
Hyundai’s Santro l Maruti’s Wagon R
Maruti’s 800
TATA’s Indica
Models
Q. No.3: This question was attempted to extract the factors, which plays a major role in the buying behaviour of the customers. All the factors were found to be important for the respondents. Table No. – 3.3 Sl. No. a) b) c) d) e) f) g) Attributes Price Financial assistance / credit facility Fuel efficiency Style / looks Comfort and convenience Durability Brand image
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Very Important Not so Important important 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
h) i)
Advertising After sales service
Diagram 3.3
6 6
Q. No. 4: The price factor and payment mode also plays a pivotal role in the buying behaviour of a customer. Respondents, being customers to respective companies, also looks for the most convenient mode of payment. Therefore, this question was designed to know their preferred mode of payment. In response to this query with four different options like (a) Cash (b) Bank finance (c) Private finance (d) Others, Out of a total of six respondents, one respondent preferred cash, two respondents preferred Bank finance and three respondents preferred private finance. Table No. 3.4 Options Cash Bank finance Private finance Others
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Q. No. – 5 : This question was framed to know about the respondents interest on the various promotional schemes, and was found that out of 6 respondents 100% were interested for the different promotional schemes which is shown in the following table. Table – 3.5 (a) Options Yes No Table 3.5 (b) Sl.No. 1 2 3 Scheme Price discount Exchange offer Free gift Very Important 6 --104
No of respondents 6 0
Important -4 3
Not so important -2 3
4 5
Installment facility Interest free installments
4 6
2 --
---
Diagram No. 3.5 (b)
CONCLUSION
Since Indian Automobile market is continuously in the prowl of surging as a major car manufacturer, people are purchasing car as there is increase of income of common people as well as change in tastes and preferences of consumers. It is important for the car manufacturers and car dealers to be able to understand the different factors affecting the extent in car purchasing behaviour. People are more conscious about the on spot information provided about various cars who serves according to the needs and wants of the customer. The type of technology used and the wider reach of the service stations also affect the most on car purchasing decision. While government obligations and various policies like import duties, custom exemptions is seen as second most affecting driver of purchase of cars. Factor 3 includes family needs; brand image; income level; special family programs/events like Anniversary, Birthday; insurance facility; credit card acceptance; car accessories affects customers car purchase decision causing a variance of 3.080.This shows that importance of family decisions,
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special occasions in family and the various services provided by car dealers. includes installment payment facility; location of the car dealer shop; looks; availability of service station showing customers accessibility to the service provided. Factor 5 shows the impact of various promotional activities and extra care taken by car dealers. Factors 6 shows the impact of suggestion provided by family members and peers as well as price and after sales service provided. includes the infrastructural benefits of the shop and the variety of cars it stores .The last but not the least ones shows the impact of factors of technical specifications of the car and the festive season offersThis study was conducted to find out the consumer buying behaviour of motorcars in special reference to the Maruti brand in Tezpur. The findings and analysis revealed many advantages as well as disadvantages for the Maruti India Pvt Ltd. Though the Maruti is the faster growing company and leading in the market facing a stiff competition from Hyundai and Tata motors in the Tezpur. It has been observed that Maruti adopted many promotional strategies and company’s marketing channel is also satisfactory. Now a days people are most aware about after sales service. The dealers also expect Maruti has over come this problem and facilities should be improved for meeting the after sales service requirement effectively. The majority of customers expect loan or installment facilities. The Maruti has joined hand with State Bank Of India and many private bank to promote this facilities. As most of the existing and prospective customers adults, Maruti should introduces stylish Motor cars which compete its competitors product.
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But Maruti to meet the expectations of new generation people who are the prospect, or customers has recently introduce Ritz, SX4, WagonR hoping to fulfill the demand of the new generation. As this study was conducted for educational purpose with the aim to give necessary information to the organization, any mistake by the researchers should be overlooked considering his inexperience in the field of marketing research.
LIMITATION The study suffers from many limitations of this report are enumerated as the following: Firstly, being the whole project dependent on primary data, the study has gained vulnerability. Secondly, the survey was restricted only 50 respondents in whole Tezpur and as such may not be true representative of the entire Tezpur. Thirdly, the major constrain was the time factor, as the study have to be finished within the stipulated time period. Fourthly, lack of interest and unenthusiastic response may have allowed biasness to creep this report.
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Finally, lack of conclusions, which have been drawn, are subject to criticism at any stages of its analysis and presentation. This report may not provide the best possible market scenario and the efforts can always be made to have this project report more effective and useful.
RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the findings drawn from the project’s analysis, certain
recommendation need to be made as regards to the future course of action Maruti India Pvt Ltd., which can go a long way in improving the Brand Awareness of the Company in the Motorcars market. The main recommendations are: 1. Maruti should continue with its range of innovative products. At the same time try to add value to its existing products so that it can cater to the present day requirements. As the study reveals that majority of customers are aged 20 – 40 years the needs and wants should be kept in mind while designing new products. 2. There should be proper synchronization between order placed an delivery. The distribution channel should be enhanced and the models should be readily available in the market.
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3. As the buying decision of the buyer has influenced by himself, company should target them through demonstration and advertisement. 4. As the market for the financial institutions are increasing, the company should target them through demonstration and advertisement.
5. Facilities should be provide to the dealers so that they can extend them to the customers while purchasing this brand. 6. Increase in sales promotion budgets to develop a point of purchase display and to participate to a greater extent in Trade shows and similar kind of shows and this will motivate the non-users to try out the products. 7. The company can sponsor local cultural programmes like Bihu festival of Assam holding Bihu competition at least once in a year and for attracting the youth it may sponsor sports events also. 8. The company can make charitable donation to different organizations. It can extend their helping hand to the people hotted by natural havoc like flood, draught, earthquake etc. to win the hearts of the mass people which will build a good image of the Company among them. 9. As the market for the financial institutions are increasing, the company should come up with various schemes, which will induce them to influence the customer for the product. This includes offering various gifts, packages and financial incentives like higher commission as compared to other fourwheeler companies.
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10. Incentives and financial benefits provided to the dealers should be maximized to maintain their level of satisfaction and motivation.
Annexure
Bibiology
Name of the Author/Publisher 1. Kotler Philip 2. RSN Pillai Bhagavathi Year of Publication Eighth Edition (1994) Thirteenth Edition(2003) Second Edition (1990) Name of the Books Marketing Management Modern Marketing Principle and Practices Research Methodology
Questionnaire
Respected sir/madam, I am Management (MBA) student at Sikkim Manipal University. I have been assigned a project in the context of which I am conducting a study on “Customer’s buying Behavior” on Maruti Car in Tezpur, I would like to request you kindly to spare a few minutes for answering some questions. Your answers will be kept strictly confidential and will be used for academic purpose only. 1.Name of the respondent:……………………………………………………… 2. Address: ………………………………………… Phone no: ……………… 3. Occupation: (a) Service (d) Others 4. Age group. (a) 20 to 25 years (d) 36 to 40 years 5. Monthly income: (a) Rs. 15,000 to 25,000/(b) Rs 25,000 to 35,000/(c) Rs. 35,000 to 45,000/(d) Above 45,000/111 (b) 26 to 30 years (e) above 40 years. (c) 31 to 35 years (b) Business (c) Students
6. What are the different brands of cars you are aware of? (a) Hyundai (d) Toyota (g) TATA (b) Maruti (e ) Skoda (h) Mahindra (c) Chevrolet (f) Ford
7. How did you aware of different brands of cars? (a) News papers (c) T.V. add (e) Friends (b) Magazines (d) Trade fairs (f) Family members
(g) others please specify……………………………………………….. 8. Do you own a car? (a) Yes (b) No.
If yes please respond to Part A. If no please respond to Part B.
PART A (1) Which Brand of cars do you posses ? (a) Hundai (d) Chevrolet (g) Mahindra. (b) Fiat (e) Toyota. (h) Skoda (c) Maruti (f) TATA (i) Ford
(2) How important were the following attributes before you decide to buy the existing car? Sl. Attributes Very Important Not so No. a) b) c) d) e) Important Price Financial assistance / credit facility Fuel efficiency Style / looks Comfort and convenience 112 important
f) g) h) i) j)
Durability Brand image Advertising After sales service Millage
(3) Who influence your decision in purchasing cars? (a) Self (c) Friends (e) Others. (b) Family (d) colleague (f) Don’t own a car
4) What was your mode of payment while purchasing the car ? (a) Cash (b) Bank finance (c) Private finance (d) Others
Please Specify ………………………………………………………….
5) Are you satisfied with the overall performance of your existing car? (a) Yes (b) No
If No, Kindly specify the problem …………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… 6) Are you satisfied with the after sales service of your car ? (a) Yes (b) No
If No, Kindly specify the problem …………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………… 7) Are you planning to purchase a latest model of car ? (a) Yes (b) No
If Yes, Kindly specify the Brand …………………………………………………… 8) Which of the following technical features do you accept from your new car that dose not exist in the old car? Sl. No. 1. Technical features High engine power 113 Yes No
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
High fuel efficiency Breaks Tyres & Wheels Power Steering Suspension Power window
9) For the possessing customers of Hyundai cars, do you recommend others to purchase Hyundai cars? (a) Yes (b) No.
PART B 1) Which brand of cars would you like to purchase in near future? (a) Hyundai (d) Chevrolet (g) Mahindra. (b) Fiat (e) Toyota. (h) Skoda (c) Maruti (f) TATA (i) Ford
2) Which model of cars would you like to purchase in near future ? Model Name ………………………………………………………
3) Please indicate relative importance of the following factors, which you will consider before purchasing your new car? Sl. No. a) b) c) d) e) f) Attributes Price Financial assistance / credit facility Fuel efficiency Style / looks Comfort and convenience Durability 114 Very Important Important Not so important
g) h) i)
Brand image Advertising After sales service
4) What mode of finance will you prefer for purchasing a new car ? (a) Cash (b) Bank finance (c) Private finance (d) Others
5) Do you want avail any promotional scheme while purchasing the new car ? (a) Yes (b) No
If yes please indicate the relative importance of the following promotional scheme. (Please put a tick in each row) Sl No. a) b) c) d) e) Scheme Price discount Exchange offer Free gift Installment facility Interest free installment Very important Important Not so important