Monday, May 30, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
Maruti struggling with high competition
Shinzo Nakanishi, the managing director of Maruti Suzuki, is struggling hard to lure its customers back. India's largest car manufacturer has been a leader in the market for a very long time and now the changing trend is bothering the company’s top position.
The reason behind the big change is that Suzuki is a small entity against the global auto sweepstakes. Nakanishi, has been associated with the company since 1970s has been a real monotonous trend. He has been habitual of sitting at the position of No. 7, No. 8 in the international markets except India. The company was not at the top position even in the home market where the top competitors include Toyota, Honda, Nissan and others. Nakanishi is now facing the same trend in Indian auto market as well where the company was the top player in past. It is becoming difficult for them to bag the top position again.
The market share of Maruti Suzuki in Indian auto market has been falling on continuous basis. The company was at a monopolistic situation in 1980s with a share of 63% in 1999 to well under 50% now. The trend is not too depressing at present as it still holds remarkable 45% of the Indian car market and good growth is observed in recent years. But the reason of falling share is changing trend and preferences of car buyers' in India.
Nakanishi has said that the company is following the ones which is at top position and learn from their experiences. The companies named at top are Nissan and Toyota.
