Maruti Suzuki. Once a leader, always a leader

Maruti Suzuki India Limited, a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan, has been the leader of the Indian car market for about two decades. Its manufacturing plant, located some 25 km south of New Delhi in Gurgaon, has an installed capacity of 3,50,000 units per annum, with a capability to produce about half a million vehicles.

Maruti Factory at Gurgaon

The company has a portfolio of 10 brands, including Maruti 800, Omni, premium small car Zen, international brands Alto and WagonR, off-roader Gypsy, mid size Esteem, luxury car Baleno, the MPV, Versa and Luxury SUV Grand Vitara XL7.

At the end of 2003-04, Maruti had a market share of over 55 per cent of the Indian passenger car market. The company sold over 4,20,000 passenger cars in the domestic market in 2003-04. It also exported over 51,000 vehicles (highest ever since it started exports in 1986) during the year, raising the cumulative tally of exported vehicles to over 3,30,000.

In recent years, Maruti has made major strides towards its goal of becoming Suzuki Motor Corporation's R and D hub for Asia. It has introduced upgraded versions of WagonR Zen and Esteem, completely designed and styled in-house.

Maruti's contribution as the engine of growth of the Indian auto industry, indeed its impact on the lifestyle and psyche of an entire generation of Indian middle class, is widely acknowledged. Its emotional connect with the customer continues

Customers have rated the company number one in customer satisfaction yet again in the J D Power Survey 2004. Maruti is the only market leader in the world to be ranked number one in customer satisfaction, and the only company to top customer satisfaction rankings for five years in a row. The company has also been ranked number one in J D Power Sales Satisfaction Survey 2004.

Maruti products including Maruti 800, the Zen and the Esteem have been rated best cars in their category in Total Customer Satisfaction Survey 2004 conducted by TNS - Automotive.

The company's quality systems and practices have been rated as a "benchmark for the automotive industry world-wide" by A V Belgium, global auditors for International Organisation for Standardisation.

In keeping with its leadership position, Maruti supports safe driving and traffic management through mass media messages and a state-of-the art driving training and research institute that it manages for the Delhi Government.

Maruti's channel partners own and manage 303 sales outlets across 189 Indian cities. The service network covers over 1000 towns and cities, bolstered by 1923 authorised service outlets.

The company's service businesses including sale and purchase of pre owned cars (TrueValue), lease and fleet management service for corporates (N2N), Maruti Insurance and Maruti Finance are now fully operational.. These initiatives, besides providing total mobility solutions to customers in a convenient and transparent manner, have helped improve economic viability of The company's dealerships.

Maruti had a successful fiscal in 2003-04. Maruti's Total Income (net of excise) during the year was Rs. 97,510.2 million (*US $ 2.17 billion), a growth of 31 per cent over the previous year. The company's Net Profit during this period was Rs. 5421.8 million (*US $ 120.5 million), up 270 per cent over 2002-03.

The company is listed on Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange.