Irrespective of how well a brand is doing, it always aspires to keep growing and improving its present day situation. India’s number one car brand Maruti Suzuki is not oblivious to this situation and despite being the undisputed numero uno of one of the largest markets in the world, it is still working towards improving. One of the aspects it has sought to improve with a clear intention is appeasing the higher-income end of the customer’s section. For long now, Maruti Suzuki has been labelled as brand that caters only to the common man and masses. However, the firm realised the need to attract high-end customers in order to become more viable abroad and target certain segments in India as well. A step taken by Maruti Suzuki to change things in its direction is the introduction of the NEXA range of showrooms, which will be selling cars priced in excess of Rs. 8 lakh only.
According to sources, the rise of rival Honda is the primary reason behind Maruti Suzuki adopting this method. Already established in the high end segment, Honda took away some market share from Maruti Suzuki through the Amaze and its City model proved to be a big rival for Ciaz. Experts feel that this strategy could work but with some hindrance. Speaking to ET, an analyst said, "We all know Maruti because of its distribution strength, through premium channel, you are forcing people to come to a specific shop. So there could be trade-off between offering better treatment and in-convenience of traveling longer. So Maruti Suzuki will have to deal with it." Maruti Suzuki is focusing a lot on producing premium cars and it will be launching a premium hatchback soon. Whether or not it can help Maruti Suzuki come out of its existing image, only time will tell.
