A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT PROJECT SUBMITTED TO PROF. SRINIVAS GOVINDRAJAN Submitted by: Rachit Agarwal [B13045] Krishnakant Goenka [B13028] Sneha Rungta [B13057] Shivam Gupta [B13055] Page | 1 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT CONTENTS Particulars History of Maruti Maruti Suzuki Swift Advertisement, Brand positioning & Repositioning Segmentation Analysis of the Project SWOT Generic competitors Distribution strategy Future of the brand Hypothesis Justification of the hypothesis Instrument of data collection Method of data Sample size & Sampling plan Questions Page No. 04 05 - 07 08 - 09 10 11 12 12 13 13 15 15 16 16 16 17 - 21 Page | 2 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT PHRASE 1 LITERATURE REVIEW Page | 3 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT HISTORY OF MARUTI Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) was established in February 1981, though the actual production commenced in 1983 with the Maruti 800, which at the time was the only modern car available in India. The only competitors during that time for this car in India was - the Hindustan Ambassador and Premier Padmini, they were both around 25 years out of date at that point of time. Through 2004, Maruti Suzuki has produced over 5 Million vehicles. The company has domestic sales of 730,000 cars annually.Its manufacturing facilities are located at two places Gurgaon and Manesar in Haryana, south of New Delhi. Maruti Suzuki’s Gurgaon facility has an installed capacity of 900,000 units per annum. The Manesar facilities, launched in February 2007 comprise a vehicle assembly plant with a capacity of 550,000 units per year and a Diesel Engine plant with an annual capacity of 100,000 engines and transmissions. Manesar and Gurgaon facilities have a combined capability to produce over 14, 50,000 units annually. About 35% of all cars sold in India are made by Maruti. The 54.2% of company’s share is owned by the Japanese multinational company Suzuki Motor Corporation. The rest is owned by public and financial institutions. It is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. During 2007 and 2008, Maruti Suzuki sold 764,842 cars in India. In all, over six million Maruti Suzuki cars are on Indian roads since the first car was rolled out on 14 December 1983. Maruti Suzuki offers 15 models, Maruti 800, Alto, Maruti Alto 800, WagonR, Estilo, A-star, Ritz, Swift, Swift DZire, SX4, Omni, Eeco, Gypsy, Grand Vitara, Kizashi and the newly launched Ertiga. Swift, Swift DZire, A-star and SX4 are manufactured in Manesar, Grand Vitara and Kizashi are imported from Japan as completely built units (CBU), remaining all models are manufactured in Maruti Suzuki's Gurgaon Plant. The company is believed to be moving towards introduction of a new version of Maruti 800 by November 2012, which will be more fuel efficient, though slightly costlier than Alto and existing Maruti 800. The Suzuki Motor Corporation, Maruti's main stakeholder, is a global leader in mini and compact cars for three decades. Suzuki’s strategy is to utillise light-weight, compact engines with stronger power, fuel-efficiency and performance capabilities. Nearly 75,000 people are employed directly by Maruti Suzuki and its partners. It has been rated first in customer satisfaction among all car makers in India from 1999 to 2009 by J D Power Asia Pacific. Maruti Suzuki will be introducing new 800 cc model by Diwali in 2012.The model is supposed to be fuel efficient, hence more expensive. Page | 4 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT In 2004 Maruti Suzuki launched its new car “ Maruti Suzuki Swift ”. Swift is a hatchback model of Maruti Suzuki, which is a copy of an American Model Car with more boot space. Earlier Maruti was using FIAT engine in its car but now Maruti has launched its own manufactured K-series engine. In swift its using 1.2L K-series engine which is running successfully. Swift is Available in Petrol and Diesel variants. Competing with the other cars of Maruti, Maruti Swift is gradually making its position in the Indian market of hatchback cars. Most fuel efficient car: In Swift Diesel and Petrol variant DDiS and K-Series engine is used that delivers completely new levels of power , refinement, response and fuel efficiency. Environment friendly: The combination of a 16 valve cylinder head and a 5 Step Multi Injection System gives efficient combustion leading to cleaner emissions. Lowest maintenance cost: It is the only engine with a Chain Drive Timing System, which is maintenance-free for the entire life of the engine. Trust worthy car . Features: Air conditioner, Power door locks, Body Color Bumper, Rear Defogger, Cup Holder, Tinted window glass, Power windows, Power steering, Roof antenna, Wheel Covers. Colour: Mid night black, Arctic white, Silky silver, Blazing Red, Orange, Glistening Grey. Interior: Driving posture is excellent as the driver’s seat has a height adjuster and a slide range that ensures driving comfort. The material and textures used for the dashboard and the car interiors are of good leather finish. The climate control system has an easily-operable large circular dial. The currently located instrumentation display includes a tachometer, speedometer and digital Page | 5 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT odometer as well as a clearly visible digital clock. Air conditioner, Power door locks, Rear Defogger, Cup Holder, Power windows, Power steering. Exterior: Turn indicators integrated into outside rear view mirrors, automatic climate control system, new front and rear bumper with chrome finish grill. New design for wheel covers/ 15” alloy wheels for top variants centre console with dashboard integrated music system, round shaped fog lights, peeled back tail lamps, bigger and better looking head lamps, Roof antenna, Tinted window glass. The Maruti Suzuki Swift was launched in India in May 2005 with a 1.3-litre petrol engine. Later, in early 2007, Maruti introduced the Swift with a Fiat-sourced 1.3 L DDiS engine. In 2010, due to the new BS IV emission norms, Maruti replaced the 1.3 L petrol engine with a 1.2 L K-series engine. In August 2011, Maruti launched the all-new third-generation Swift, with 1.2 L K-series petrol and 1.3 L DDiS engines. Page | 6 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT Hence Maruti Suzuki Swift design is derived from the previous Suzuki Swift which was already in foreign market. Maruti Suzuki launched limited edition Swift RS. It is available on the VXi and VDi variants of the hatchback. Page | 7 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT ADVERTISEMENT, BRAND POSITIONING & REPOSITING The old swift ad show the busy boss driving his new swift for the thrill of it, in between his office work. The commercial had an ambiguous catch line ‘You are the fuel’. The brand swift never needed much promotion after launch and always remained the top most best selling products of the company. It is the known fact that advertisements are generally made for either the new products or the products that are really not selling. On the other hand for a product that is selling really well and is very well accepted in the market does not get any TVCs. REPOSITIONING: This new TV advertisement of Maruti Suzuki Swift has come up after almost 5 year’s time. The commercial that has been doing rounds of the various TV channels, show cases a fleet of swift cars speeding and swerving down the roads, which the passengers and drivers of the cars have the evident expression of excitement and amazement on their faces. The Maruti Suzuki Swift is shown to create sheer awe and thrill of driving it. The commercial caption line goes as ‘We are the Swift’, and clearly shows that the vehicle is meant for the young and fast generation of India. The most apparent reason is sales. While the swift’s popularity has not reduced even an iota, but because of the slowdown stricken car market of India the overall sales of the company is really affected. Thus, to improve Page | 8 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT the sales of the Swift models the company might have taken resort to the promotional commercials. The age of the brand is also a factor. While it is true that the best selling products such as the Maruti Suzuki Swift, only gain more trust over the years but it is also important to remember that the young generation is rather experimental and looking forward to try new attractive things. As brand swift it also ageing slowly, it is important to hold the customer interest intact in it. Thus, Maruti’s new ad directed at the young generation could be meant to draw attention on the stunning qualities on the swift model. The most important reason behind this new promotional investment from Maruti is the fear of competition. There are a lot of cars coming up in the Indian car market to challenge the best selling Maruti cars. As a part of promotional approach maruti Suzuki promoted swift through sponsoring various live programmes (Dancing shows) like Dance India Dance. Page | 9 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT SEGMENTATION It is necessary to understand the Indian car market classification and the segments in which MUL operates. There are two principal systems of classificat ion in the Indian passenger car industry: A. Price Based Classification Price based classification is the widely accepted classification basis in the Indian passenger car industry. The different price segments used by Maruti were as follows: 1. Segments A – cars priced lower than Rs. 300,000 2. Segment B – cars priced between Rs. 300,000 and Rs. 500,000 3. Segment C – cars priced between Rs. 500,000 and Rs.1,000,000 4. Segment D – cars priced between Rs. 1,000,000 and Rs. 2,500,000 5. Segment E – cars priced above Rs. 2,500,000 B. Length & Weight Based Classification: In April 2002, SIAM introduced a new segmentation of cars on the basis of the length of the cars, in order to establish a uniform industry standard. The new segmementation of the passenger vehicles are as follows: Passenger Cars Segment A1 (Mini) – cars having a length up to 3,400 mm Segment A2 (Compact) – cars having a length of 3,401 – 4,000 mm Segment A3 (Midsize) – cars having a length of 4,001 – 4,500 mm Segment A4 (Executive) – cars having a length of 4.501 – 4,700 mm Segment A5 (Premium) – cars having a length of 4,701 – 5,000 mm Segment A6 (Luxury) – cars having a length of more than 5,000 mm Page | 10 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCT There are six types of variants available in the brand Maruti Swift : Maruti Suzuki Swift LXi - Rs 4.79 lakhs Maruti Suzuki Swift VXi - Rs 5.25 lakhs Maruti Suzuki Swift ZXi - Rs 6.12 lakhs Maruti Suzuki Swift LDi - Rs 5.95 lakhs Maruti Suzuki Swift VDi - Rs 6.45 lakhs Maruti Suzuki Swift ZDi - Rs 7.27 lakhs SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths: Distributor network with brand loyalty Japan technology and service distribution After sales service Cost-effective Low maintenance Low price High fuel Efficiency Knowledge of the market Strong partnership Weakness: Low engine capacity Government bureaucrats have made MUL unaccustomed to international standards and keen competitors Relatively new in the diesel car segment Low resale value Opportunities: High end car segments Overseas Market Improve Handling Add extra features to small segment cars Page | 11 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT Attracting youth Threats: Global players Worker’s strike High competition GENERIC COMPETITION Bus Auto Bike Cycle Train Metro Page | 12 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY Distribution strategy of a firm is a plan created by the management of a manufacturing business that specifies how the firm wishes to transfer its products to intermediaries, retailers and end consumers. Maruti Suzuki has two manufacturing facilities in India. Both manufacturing facilities have a combined production capacity of 14,50,000 vehicles annually. Maruti has a strong dealer network. Infact it was one of the very first companies in the country to understand the importance of after sales service in high involvement products like cars. It has the largest distribution & Service network comprising of over 400 sales showrooms, over 600 dealer workshops, and 1900 Authorized Service Stations spanning across over 1190 cities unparalleled in the country. It has 30 Express Service Stations on 30 National Highways across 1,314 cities in India. Most of the service stations are managed on franchise basis where Maruti trains the local staff. To increase their reach to rural India, where setting up a complete dealership was very difficult, they opened extension counters which are operated by some dealer in the city thereby ensuring increased customer touch points without risking the viability of the dealers. FUTURE OF THE BRAND In future, Maruti Suzuki may launch electric cars like Swift Plug-in Hybrid in India. Maruti Suzuki which controls slightly over half of the domestic car market in the country has said that it would design small cars suitable for the Indian conditions as a strategy to beat the stiff competition with the entry of global auto makers. It would be launching compact S2 cars which will be the new modified version of the brand Maruti Swift with more features to meet the needs of the customers locally. Page | 13 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT PHRASE – 2 Page | 14 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT HYPOTHESIS In our survey we are trying to prove upon three hypotheses: In hatch back segment B category, Maruti Swift is the most fuel efficient car. Maruti Swift is a status symbol. Maruti Swift is a sporty looking car. JUSTIFICATION OF TAKING THE HYPOTHESIS Hypothesis 1: Initially Maruti Suzuki swift positioned itself as a fuel efficient car. In due course due to competition many carmakers started to promote their hatchback variant with the same positioning of fuel efficiency. Here we have taken this hypothesis to check whether Maruti Suzuki is still related to fuel efficiency in the mind of the car users. Hypothesis 2: Maruti Suzuki Swift falls under segment B category of pricing segmentation but its starting variant is of cost 4.79 lakhs. The sales of Maruti Suzuki Swift is the second highest for the company next to Maruti 800 which shows that interest to purchase Swift is really high. This may be due to the reason that people consider Swift as a status symbol, which is the hypothesis. Hypothesis 3: In the repositioning strategy of Maruti Suzuki swift they concentrate on creating an impact among young generation as their new swift variant is a sporty looking car as they want to eradicate the age factor of the swift and also fear of competition. This hypothesis is related to check the success of repositioning of maruti Suzuki swift. Page | 15 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT INSTRUMENT OF DATA COLLECTION Face to face interview: An interview is a purposeful discussion between two or more people that can help you gather valid and reliable data that is relevant to your research objectives. Face to face interviews allow for personal communication and make it possible to gather more information for your study. Online survey: An online survey is a questionnaire that the target audience can complete over the Internet. Online surveys are usually created as Web forms with a database to store the answers and statistical software to provide analytics. In this we obtain information by receiving responses either by mail or through social networking site. METHODS OF DATA ANALYSIS Likert Scale: It is the most widely used scale in research survey. It is developed on the principal of measuring attitudes by asking people to respond to a series of statements about a topic, in terms of the extent to which they agree with them. It provides a right image of the product. Rating scale: A scale that rates some attribute form “poor” to “excellent”. It gives an idea where exactly the product stands. SAMPLE SIZE AND SAMPLING PLAN Sample size: The number of entities in a subset of a population selected for analysis. The number of respondents: 40 Sampling plan: A sampling plan is a detailed outline of which measurements will be taken on which material, in what manner, and by whom. Sampling plans is designed in such a way that the resulting data will contain a representative sample of the parameters of interest and all questions, as stated in the goals, will be answered. Page | 16 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT QUESTIONS: 1. Does anyone in your family own a car? o Yes o No 2. Do you drive a car? o Yes o No If No, for both the questions then terminate or else continue. 3. Which car comes to your mind when you think about “Hatchback” cars? 1 2 3 4 4. Identify these brands Page | 17 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT Page | 18 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT 5. What is the importance of these features in the respective brands in hatchback cars? ( Please rate the following on the scale of 1 – 5, 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest) Page | 19 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT Fiat Punto Ford Figo Maruti Swift Hyunda Chevrolet i i20 Beat Which car do you think is more fuel efficient car According to you which car do you think gives the more driving comfort According to you which one is more durable Which car is more spacious Which according to you is more sporty 6. According to you which of the following is the most critical factor while buying the car? ( 1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest) Value for money Sporty looks Mileage Design of the car Comfort riding 1 2 3 4 5 7. How would you like to rate the mentioned cars according to the following attributes? ( Please rate the following on the scale of 1 – 5, 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest) Hyundai Chevrolet i20 Beat Maruti Swift Ford Figo Fiat Punto Value for money Status symbol Comfort riding Page | 20 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT 8. Name >> Page | 21 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT PHRASE - 3 Page | 22 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT PRIMARY RESEARCH Q1) Does anyone in your family own a car? Yes No Yes No 5% 95% We are taking here a sample size of 40 people amongst which 38 (95%) people own a car and 2 (5%) people do not ow Q2) Do you drive a car? Yes No 27% Yes No 73% We are taking here a sample size of 40 people amongst which 29 (73%) people knows how to drive a car and 11 (27 Q3) Which car comes to your mind when you think about "Hatchback" cars? Maruti Swift Others Page | 23 30% Maruti Swift Others A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT According to the pie-chart we come to know that when the customers think about the car in the hatchback segment other spontaneous response of cars which come to the users mind is 70%. Q4) Identify these brands 38 40 34 35 30 28 28 24 25 20 15 10 5 0 Fiat Punto Ford Figo Hyundai i20 Chevrolet Beat Maruti Suzuki Swift From the columnar bar chart we can summarize that from the pictorial view of the cars in the questionnaire the most Punto. Q5) What is the importance of these features in the respective brands of "Hatchback" car? ( Please rate the following on the scale of 1 - 5, 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest) Fiat Punto More fuel efficient car More driving comfort 2.48 2.35 Ford Figo 2.85 2.93 Maruti Swift Hyundai i20 4.23 4.08 3.75 4.15 Chevrolet Beat 3.35 3.13 Page | 24 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT More durable More spacious Sporty 2.7 2.7 2.33 2.8 2.9 2.75 4.38 4.03 3.73 3.78 4.1 3.78 2.88 2.5 3.48 Fuel efficiency Driving comfort Fiat Punto 5 4 3 2 1 0 Fiat Punto 5 4 3 2 1 0 Chevrolet Beat Hyundai i20 Ford Figo Maruti Swift Chevrolet Beat Hyundai i20 Spacious Chevrolet Beat Hyundai i20 Fiat Punto 5 4 3 2 1 0 Ford Figo Maruti Swift Sporty Fiat Punto 4 3 2 Ford Figo Chevrolet Beat 1 Ford Figo 0 Maruti Swift Hyundai i20 Maruti Swift The importance of fuel efficiency as rated by the people in case of Maruti Swift is the highest and lowest for the Fiat P The importance of driving comfort as rated by the people is same for Hyundai i20 and Maruti Swift and lowest for the The importance of durability as rated by the people is highest for the Maruti Swift and lowest for the Fiat Punto. Page | 25 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT The importance of space in a car is one of the most asked for feature and in this segment Maruti Swift again take the The look of car matters a lot for many of the customers and in this segment Maruti Swift and Hyundai i20 are approxim Fiat Punto. Q6) According to you which of the following is the most critical factor while buying the car? ( 1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest) Answer Value for money Sporty looks Mileage Design of the car Comfort riding Total 1 2 3 17 1 11 6 5 40 4 12 2 10 9 7 40 4 6 8 6 16 40 5 4 8 7 12 9 40 3 23 4 7 3 40 As it is a rank given by respondent hence weightage as per the rank Where (highest priority =5 and Lowest priority = 1) Answer Value for money Sporty looks Mileage Design of the car Comfort riding 5 4 3 2 1 Total Weightage Max average weightage 85 5 55 48 8 40 12 18 24 8 16 14 3 23 4 156 70 137 3.9 1.75 3.425 5 5 5 30 25 36 28 18 64 24 18 7 3 115 138 2.875 3.45 5 5 5 money Value for 5 3.9 4 3 2 Page | 26 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT According to the Spider Chart, Value for money is one of the main factor which is looked upon by the customers while buying a car as it can be seen that 3.9 out of maximum of 5 preferred value for money while making there buying decision. Comfort riding is considered as the second most important feature by the customers while buying a car according to the spider chart. Mileage is considered as the third most important feature by the customers while buying a car according to the spider chart. Sporty look and design of the car are considered together here as the fourth important feature while buying a car according to the spider chart. Q7) How would you like to rate the mentioned cars according to the following attributes? ( Please rate the following on the scale of 1 - 5, 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest) Hyundai i20 Value for money Status symbol Comfort riding Chevrolet Beat Maruti Swift Ford Figo Fiat Punto 3.78 3.28 4.33 3.28 2.53 3.95 3.1 3.88 3 2.55 4 3.1 4.3 3.1 2.65 Status symbol Value for money Fiat Punto 2.53 Hyundai i20 5 3.78 4 3 2 1 0 Hyundai i20 4 3.95 3 2 3.28 Chevrolet Beat Fiat Punto 2.55 1 0 Page | 27 Chevrolet B 3.1 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT Comfort riding Fiat Punto 2.65 Hyundai i20 5 4 4 3 2 1 0 3.1 Chevrolet Beat 3.1 Ford Figo Maruti Swift 4.3 In terms of value for money Maruti Swift is far ahead then all its competitors and is the most preferred car by the people who takes the attribute of value for money as their main criteria while purchasing a car. In terms of status symbol Maruti Swift is a bit low in rating from Hyundai i20 in the preference made by the people as per their requirements while purchasing a car whereas Fiat Punto is termed to be the lowest recomme In terms of comfort riding Maruti Swift is leading all its competitors which assures that the riding comfort of the car is better than the cars with which it has been compared in this particular survey. Page | 28 Hypothesis 1 Value for money Q5&6 Ranking 1 – MARUTI2SUZUKI SWIFT 3 A BRAND DOSSIER Value for money 43% 30% Value for money (after weightage) 85 48 4 5 10% 10% 8% 12 8 3 Q7 Hyundai Chevrolet Maruti i20 Beat Swift Ford Figo Fiat Punto 3.78 3.28 4.33 3.28 2.53 Value for money 1 2 3 4 5 Value for money Hyundai i20 43% 53.78 4 3 2 1 0 30% Fiat Punto 10% 10% 2.53 8% 3.28Chevrolet Beat 3.28 Ford Figo Maruti Swift 4.33 Hypothesis 2 Q5 Fuel Efficient Fiat Maruti Hyundai Chevrolet Punto Ford Figo Swift i20 Beat 2.48 2.85 4.23 3.75 3.35 More fuel efficient car Q6 Ranking Mileage Mileage (after weightage) 12 1 2 3 11 55 10 40 4 8 24 5 7 14 4 4 Fuel efficient car 11 10 10 8 Fiat Punto 6 7 8 6 42.48 4 Chevrolet Beat 4 3.35 2 2.85 0 2 0 1 2 3 Mileage 4 5 3.75 Hyundai i20 4.23 Ford Figo Page | 29 Swift Maruti A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT Hypothesis 3 Sporty Look Q5 Fiat Maruti Hyundai Chevrolet Punto Ford Figo Swift i20 Beat 2.33 2.75 3.73 3.78 3.48 Sporty Q6 5 Sporty looks Design of the car 4 5 30 8 36 2 18 18 1 16 24 23 7 Sporty 36 40 35 Fiat Punto 4 30 30 24 25 18 18 20 23 32.33 3.48 16 2 Chevrolet Beat 15 10 3 5 8 Ford Figo 1 7 2.75 0 5 0 5 4 Sporty looks 3 2 Design of the car 1 Hyundai i20 3.78 Maruti Swift 3.73 Page | 30 A BRAND DOSSIER – MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT Page | 31