Maruti Suzuki has been India's largest's carmaker that has been a local favorite for decades. Though the brand has been present in the local markets since a long time, it still considers the local market one of the toughest in the world. The brand has been working on launching a Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) and new Sports Utility sometime next year. Speaking more on the topic, Kenichi Ayukawa, Managing Director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki said, “I think next year is going to a year of new segments. LCV also is a new challenge for us, we have no experience, but it takes time to develop our network. In the short term, a big number will be difficult. We will start gradually on small number for LCV next year.”
Though Maruti Suzuki has held a strong position in the domestic market, it still considers that the new launches may still be challenging. Adding further, Ayukawa said, “Next year we are launching our new SUV. That's a new area for us and it's a challenge. Of course, our core is entry-level cars and mini cars, which is an important area for us; we have to develop those of kind of products continuously. But at the same we need to add segments because Indian customers are upgrading and we have to satisfy our customers and hence we developed Ciaz.”
Despite economy slowdown Maruti Suzuki has manged to maintain its market share. The exact launch date for the compact SUV from the company's production line is unknown for now, but it is believed that the compact SUV may be launched sometime in 2016. Ayukawa added, “Every year we will have to challenge ourselves. When I joined as MD, our share was 39-40%, now its 45%, we are constantly trying to increase our presence.”
Source: DNA
