Monday, April 19, 2010

Living its millionth life, king size!

Maruti Suzuki is well on its way to hit one million unit sales in this fiscal. But how does the market leader plan to prepare itself for the rougher road ahead?

It was back in 2004 that during a cross-functional team meeting at Maruti Suzuki, the officials derived a slogan for 2010 - ‘Ten Ten Ten’, wherein the first ten stood for 2010, the second referred to the targeted 10 lakh unit sales in the 2009-10 fiscal and the third referred to the 10% operating margin which the company would like to maintain in the process. “Few in the meeting were still not in favour; thinking we had gone crazy, but many supported the goal and designed the way forward,” recalls Shashank Srivastava, CGM – Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India.

While the arrival of the first Ten was inevitable, the third one looked hugely daunting; as the company was striving hard to maintain its margins under the intense competition in which the industry is operating. But the company has proved more than equal to the challenge as it rapidly continued to expand and strengthen its market position. However, the second Ten was what was bothering Maruti the most. It is indeed ironic that at the start of the financial year of 2009, Maruti Suzuki had clocked total sales of over seven lakh units and no one thought that the company is going to cross one million by any chance and hence will not be able to transform its ‘Ten Ten Ten’ slogan into reality. And here we are today – Maruti Suzuki’s total sales are now standing at 9,23,242 units (7,06,498 units in the corresponding period a year ago!) by the end of February 2010. And going by the calculations made by the company, Maruti Suzuki should cross the one million mark on March 23 (co-incidentally on the same date that Tata Motors launched its much-hyped Nano a year ago). Maruti’s MD Shinzo Nakanishi said at the 10th Auto Expo in the capital, “For the first time in 26 years, we hope to sell one million vehicles in one year. The one million sales mark is a landmark, not just for Maruti Suzuki. It is an important threshold for the Indian passenger vehicle industry. But we are finding solutions to reach the next million in ways that are sustainable and mutually beneficial.” Even Osamu Suzuki, Chairman, Suzuki Motor Corporation has expressed his contentment on such a huge achievement. So much so that Suzuki is also expected to take part in a special ceremony on March 23 in the capital.
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Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2009


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