PRESENTED BY: Sohail Ahmed Aniruddha Ghosh Sudipta Guha Roy Mohammed Shad

INTRODUCTION
The year 1983 was a turning point in the history of Indian automobile industry. For it was on December 14, 1983 that Maruti Udyog Limited successfully launched its much publicised & long-awaited peoples car--Maruti 800 --- in the indian market. Maruti 800 was the result of collaboration between Maruti Udyog Limited, a public sector company of India, & the Suzuki Motor Company, the largest manufacturer & exporter in Japan.

THE NEW MARUTI

The New Maruti 800 symbolises the technological change i.e gearing the Indian Automobile Industry.Before the advent of Maruti there were only three car manufacturer who monopolised the Indian Market.All the three faced no competition & so they could sell in the market whatever they produced.The prices of the cars were so high that they were beyond the reach of middleincome buyers. The passenger car were regarded as iuxury items & the industry could not get any tax concessions or duty exemption for reduction in price.The low & stagnating volume of production made product innovation in terms of superior engine(technology), body restyling & other improvements probability costly.All the models produced in India resulted in high fuel consumption, higher initial cost & lower replacement demand.

It was in this context thr Govt took a decission in october 1980 to take over the company started by Late Sanjay Gandhi.On February 24, 1981 Maruti Udyog Limited was incorporated as a 100% public sector company wiyh a capacity to produce 1,00,000 passenger cars & 40,000 light commercial vehicles.

COLLABORATION

Maruti went into collaboration with Suzuki Motor Company of Japan for manufacture of passenger cars. The need for such a collaboration was felt basically because the government wanted to develop a contemporary motor car with good operating characteristics & in the long run to make a dent in the export market.Besides being the largest manufacturer & exporter of automobiles, Suzuki Motor Company offered attractive commercial terms, agreed for equity participation & was willing to provide training facilities for the Indian engineers. Further, the company had expertise which extended beyond manufacturing of cars to other automotive parts such as pickup trucks vans, jeeps etc.

MARKETING STRATEGY
The company flexible product-marketing strategy has been considerded as one of the brilliant marketing strategy followed in the automobile industry.According to an independent study Maruti-Suzuki has defined its business as cost effective transportation of passenger & utility goods. The product line up uses the same 800 cc power to produce the entire product range wheather passenger cars or vans or pickups.The ensure tremedous product integration & marketing flexibility.Even when the company introduces a new product depending on the market situation commonality of parts is accured.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of the company was to offer a compact , modern & fuel efficientcar.Sleek body , an engine of higher compression ratio & aero dynamic styling for less wind resistance & higher fuel efficiency, front wheel drive system to give a better road grip & manoeuvrability, the ,monocoque contruction of the body to make the car light & to do away with the need for a chassis & other in-built safely features were the characteristics of the new Maruti 800. The product incorporated all the features safety, economy, style, power & comfort.

PRICE, DISTRIBUTION & INDIGENISATION

The initial pricing stategy was to keep it lower within the reach of middle income buyers.The price was accordingly fixed at Rs 47,500 exclusive of all taxes, insurance etc. Subsequently the price was increased to Rs 74,940 in 1986 because of the hike in excise duties & upward revission of the value of yen. The company sells the cars only through the dealers. The dealers are required to provide show rooms, workshops facilities, trained personnel, stocks of genuine spare parts to the extend indicated by the company & appoint other approved servicing outlets. The dealers are required to sell sufficient number of vehicles to earn reasonable return on investment. The company extend training facilities to dealers & their service engineers &, in addition, supervises all facilities at the dealer & service outlets, fro, planning the layout to erecting the specially designed work bences & tools. The company has plans for the development of indigenous component suppliers with the levels of technology, quality, eliability, cost & delivery performance that would match the programme to produce low cost, high quality vehicles.