The Indian Automobile Industry is struggling with every manufacturer reporting a downslide in sales, with multiple models getting axed, it’s getting difficult by the day. However, Maruti Suzuki India seems to have an answer, the company is planning to reach out to one lakh villages across the country, thats how they made merry this fiscal.
Maruti’s think-tank had planned the rural marketing strategy almost five years ago and it seems to have paid off well. MSI chairman R C Bhargava said In 2012 they had presence in 44,000 villages and November this year the total reach extended to 60,000; by March next year they would cover one lakh villages out of 6.51 lakh villages in India. Mr.Bhargava expressed pleasure with the demand in the rural market growing by 18 percent and said 30 per cent of their sales are non-urban and had it not been then they would have lost sales like other manufacturers.
Maruti has 700 retail outlets outside city limits with authorised service centres to carry out repairs assisted by 650 mobile vans, which can service vehicles at customer’s residence. The company’s retail sales this fiscal until November are up by one percent over last year.
While it seems like a lot, but Maruti may have covered up only 15.3 percent of India’s total rural market by March. However we expect the company to add more outlets outside city limits and cater to more villages across the nation in the coming years.
Source : Economic Times
Image Source : The Hindu
