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Maruti fires fresh salvo, dealers to have individual promo campaigns

In a bid to counter the imminent competition from new small car entrants, Maruti Udyog Limited has launched a fresh salvo in the form of an improved service set-up under which vehicles would be picked up for service and delivered back at the customer doorstep.

Besides, a lot of effort is being put into increasing productivity levels at the workshops and improving the front office operations at workshops, MUL Managing Director R S S L N Bhaskarudu said in New Delhi today.

''We are also working towards bringing down the complaints per 10,000 vehicles from 13 at present to 10. Moreover, the entire lay-out of workshops, the environment and the attitude of dealers are going in for a sea change,'' said Bhaskarudu.

The dealers have also been asked to work out an individual promotional activity to push forward sales. ''It would vary from dealer to dealer. We have already informed them to come up with individual campaigns. The dealers are presently preparing these initiatives.''

The company has also increased the warranty on its vehicles from one-year and 20,000 km to one year and unlimited mileage.

These incentives are in addition to the several fiscal sops which the company had recently announced to counter the impending competition in the small car segment pursuant to the launch of Hyundai Santro and Daewoo Matiz.

Jolted by the two back-to-back aggressive launches, Maruti had doubled the interest payment on bookings to 20 per cent per annum. Besides, cash sops are being offered to dealers to prop up sales.

Riding on these initiatives, the company expects to surge ahead in volumes but with the market expanding, its share is likely to come down. Maruti is, in fact, now looking at a market share of around 70 per cent over the next two years as against the present 84 per cent.

''Our products have been widely accepted and are time-tested. Under the present circumstances, we feel the company will continue to grow in volume terms. Our sales growth will not drop. But with new entrants, the market will also expand and our share of the market will drop slightly,'' Bhaskarudu said.

The company, he said, is totally geared to meet any competition. ''We have total access to any new technology from Suzuki Motor Corporation, which is a global leader in small cars. And at an appropriate time, we will roll out the new models.''

The company presently has a capacity to produce 350,000 vehicles per annum and another 100,000 vehicle capacity is being added to it.

''So we are looking at producing half a million vehicles by 2000-01 and we are confident of selling the entire lot.''

He further stated that once the automobile industry comes back on the growth track, the company is confident of growing at 15 per cent. During the current fiscal, when the industry has recorded a negative 2.6 per cent growth, Maruti has grown at two per cent.

Bhaskarudu also reiterated that Maruti will not resort to any price cuts to meet the competition.

UNI