NEW DELHI: As it eyes one million annual sales by 2010, country's top carmaker Maruti Suzuki has firmed up a massive expansion plan of its service network and plans to expand it to 1,700 towns and cities from the current about 1,200.
Company officials said Maruti has firmed up a blueprint for expansion of the service network by as much as 45% over the next three years as it expects higher sales and further penetration in the market.
The company plans to increase the number of service stations and workshops to over 3,800, from the about 2600 currently. Also, the plan includes almost doubling the dealer workshops by 2011, officials said.
The network would be expanded to newer cities, which is in line with the company's plan to go deeper in the market. Currently the company's service network is in 1,215 cities and its plans to boost this substantially to 1,700 cities by going to new areas. The plan has been approved by the management and would further strengthen its grip on the market, considering it already has a dominant position compared to rivals.
The company, that has more than 50% share of the Indian car market, primarily sells small cars, many of which are targeted at first-time buyers. The cut in excise duty on small cars in the Budget and new pay commission recommendations expected later this year are likely to give a major boost to the sales of small cars in India and increase demand in many new unserviced geographies, including in interior regions.
Maruti, which currently is the cheapest car maker in the market with its entry-level 'Maruti800' compact priced just below Rs 2 lakh, has also been coming out with specific sales promotion programmes targeted at interior regions. Among them is the 'Mera Sapna Meri Maruti: New Panchayati Scheme' programme launched in rural areas last year through which the company offered special discount schemes and financing options in villages.
Interestingly, Tata Motors — that plans to come out with the country's cheapest car 'Nano' — has also spoken about massively expanding its dealer and service network as it prepares for the launch of the new Rs 1 lakh entry-level car around October this year. Maruti officials said expansion of the service network was among the key focus area for its new Managing Director S Nakanishi.
