Monday, July 23, 2012
By Manoj Kumawat
Maruti exchange program, rural focus pushes cars sales
Have you ever wondered how Maruti car sales in June this year soared high even when the car market got its worst hit ever? It’s the exchange program as well as a go rural approach adopted by Maruti India that has saved it from the bad weather. With this Maruti Alto, Maruti K 10, Maruti Swift and Maruti Swift Dzire sales surged ahead even when other car makers ran from pillar to post and gasped for customers. This is the power of the new strategy adopted by Maruti and it has worked for it. As per an estimate, almost half of the total Maruti car sales come from exchange program.
The ‘loyalty program’ as Maruti calls it offers discounts on new Maruti cars, if the buyer exchanges an old Maruti car with a new Maruti car. In addition to this the head to the villages approach followed by Maruti has worked well and the car maker has identified over 500 less urban areas or so called non-metro areas to pitch in its sales strategy and make available Maruti cars in these areas by opening showrooms and other camps. Furthermore, the company is expanding its reach by expanding the distribution and service network.
Meanwhile other car makers such as Tata were badly hit by the slowdown and almost all of the offerings reported not so inspiring sales in the first quarter. This may be due to no new offering in the period while Maruti had new Swift, Maruti Swift Dzire and the LUV MPV Maruti Ertiga that has been more than success for the car maker. In an attempt to extend its base in less urban areas, Maruti has opened 3000 workshops at 1464 new locations and it hopes to sell half of its cars in rural areas by 2015.
