By the end of 2020, Maruti Suzuki plans to newly setup 1,800 work stations and 1,000 dealerships across India
Maruti Suzuki’s widest reach in the Indian market can be attributed to its vast existence of dealer network. As the company decided to turn its attention towards premium products targetting volume segments, it was not all smooth sailing at the start. The mishap created by the S-Cross inaugurating the Nexa outlets had a sharp turn of fortunes as more footfalls were recorded only when the Baleno came into the scene.
While expanding its regular dealerships, Maruti Suzuki have been making quite an impression with Nexa as well amidst adding new products into the showroom like the switching of Ciaz and Ignis being currently positioned as the starter of the premium breed. In a latest report, the Indo-Japanese brand is trying to stretch its sales wing further as 500 service stations are planned to be established by the end of this decade.
Revealed by a Japanese media that stated the wordings of Suzuki Motor Corp president and CEO Toshihiro Suzuki, it is in response to the shareholders’ questions over how the brand would sustain its leading role in the Indian market. It is indeed an aggressive plan considering the fact that over half of Suzuki’s global sales can be credited with India. As part of expanding the service network by 56 percent, 3,000 of the 5,000 planned workshops will come directly under the operation of dealerships.
Speaking at a shareholder meeting at the brand’s HQ in Japan, Toshihiro Suzuki said that its position as the market leader will certainly be defended with full-on commitment. The existing scenario is that Maruti Suzuki has 2,000 dealerships and 3,200 workshops in a total of 1,667 cities across the nation apart from the 250 Nexa showrooms. The expansion would certainly put the space in place for the future target of selling two million cars per annum and grab more market share from beyond 52 percent.
By the end of 2020, about one third of total current dealerships and more than half of existing work station capacity are planned to be set up newly. Maruti Suzuki seems to be banking big on its popularity and the expansion could possibly leave no breathing space for other competitors if the size of the supply chain and work station capacity is taken into consideration.
Source: Nikkei