[Carophilic]

I think some information is being lost in translation here. As per my information, the new premium channel vehicles will only carry Suzuki Emblem and Vehicle name like S-Cross. The idea is that the vehicle is to be sold on its own merit rather than as a Maruti or Suzuki branded item.

[a4anurag]

AFAIK, things work well when it is Maruti + Suzuki and NOT a separate entity. What on earth were they thinking when they thought of getting in "premium - ness" to the brand image by dropping off "Maruti"! Splendor, passion etc are still referred as bike from Hero Honda and NOT from Hero Motor Corp!

Things work well be it in sales and service because of the "Maruti" tag as a name preceding the cars name which symbolises reliability, happiness, FE, brand loyalty. The Maruti tag is a key to assurance and happiness for many first time owners. What Maruti today is because of the 3 to 5L customer, how can they think of differentiating.

It isn't fair for both the 3L customer as well as 15L customer to have this kind of discrimination. Even if they do succeed in bringing this premium feeling, how are they going to treat the customers?

What if the same customer comes to buy the premium segment car as well as non - premium car with a gap of few days /weeks? Would be great to see his experience and feedback on such discrimination. They have nothing that is premium in the market currently and why are they getting overconfident on premium - ness allotting separate sales person for a higher value customer.

Who on earth in the top management gets such ideas and how are these approve /discussed about in board meetings! Time waste IMO!

A few examples like below that are inseparable:

Photocopying = Xerox
Scooters = Activa
Small car = Maruti 800
Best 100cc bike = Hero Honda Splendor.

Hope this thought of premium gets it off their minds diverting all energy and focusing on safer cars plus more choice.

[deetjohn]

I would love to see 'Maruti Suzuki' badge to be removed from all the MSIL cars. It just doesn't look that well at all and the cars across the segment will look a lot better without that badge. I was so glad when VW removed the 'Volkswagen' badge from their cars. The initial lot of Polos didn't have them.

Actually, any car will look a lot better without these umpteen number of badges.


Look how much smarter this Swift will look without those plastic chrome pieces stuck on metal.


Actually, ours car here have a lot of badges. Wonder when cars will start to say 'full size alloy wheel as spare' on the boot lid.

Jokes apart, MSIL has been in our country for long and as long as they care for the customers across segments, a badge really doesn't matter.

After all, nothing much happened when MSIL decided to swap the old Maruti logo on their cars (except the Omni and Gypsy?) with the Suzuki one. In fact, they just went from strength to strength.

[techiecal]

Dropping the Maruti tag from Maruti-Suzuki is not a wise idea at all. Milestones have been achieved with this tag by the company. Lots of service centres is the primary reason for the company's success. Convincing Suzuki customers that they will deliver the same service as they are the same company will prove difficult because in our country products sell mostly by brand name.

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, RavenAvi!

A friendly li'l birdie read your post and offers the following comments:

1) Premium cars like Ciaz are already being handled by different sales executives known as Ciaz consultants. There will be no separate section/lounge in the dealerships.
The Nexa range of dealerships will handle only the premium offerings like Ciaz, the new hatchback, S-Cross and other vehicles.

2) Company is holding the 'annual dealer conference cum awards ceremony' for dealers in Dubai. It is not an AGM.

[RavenAvi]

Thanks for the confirmation, GTO.

In a nutshell, it's just like how Mahindra & Mahindra dealerships handle the XUV & Rexton customers. Call up any M&M dealership and inquire about these two SUVs, and they note down your name and phone number and then you are told that you will get a call back because a separate sales team handles those sections.

It's a cool idea to make loyal Maruti-Suzuki customers feel premium, IMO. If they garner some decent sales out of this whole concept, well and good. After the Kizashi/Grand Vitara debacles, Maruti-Suzuki would be trying hard to ensure that the S-Cross (ACross), XA Alpha & the Ciaz maintain decent home runs in monthly sales, specially when they will come with a pricing upwards of 12 lacs OTR.

More critical for the ACross's success, since it will be entering a very competitive segment when it is launched.

[romeomidhun]

IMO, it is a good plan to use Suzuki badge in higher models. But it has to start from Swift. People has to associate the stand-alone Suzuki badge with someone they are very much fond of.

Also, they have to surely use the Maruti Suzuki tag in their ads. But cars can come with just Suzuki badge.

[blacksport]

In my opinion, they should drop all Suzuki logo and moniker from all made-for-india cars. For the level of de-engineering they do to cater to the Indian market, they do not deserve to be called Suzuki at all.

Also I find the "different sales persons for different cars" policy a bit discriminating. When I go to a car showroom to buy an Alto I deserve to be treated with the same respect and enthusiasm as they serve a guy who came to buy a Grand Vitara.

[JP_800]

I believe that this strategy may not work out in favour of Suzuki. "Maruti Suzuki" is a house hold term in India. Just dropping a part of the name to give it a "Premium" feel won't add the desired effect. Buyers in the proce range above 10L want a brand image

On the other hand, an entirely new brand name might be a hit in India. eg SKODA.

[Vigkey]

I am not sure how this strategy is going to help Suzuki much, especially if they are going to sell all the cars in the same showroom. Whatever they do with the badging, the car is still going to come out of the Maruti-Suzuki showroom and also go back to the Maruti-Suzuki A.S.S. So, where is the Suzuki premium?? Only in the badging?? Nobody will care for this.

If they are going to sell Alto to Dzire in one showroom and Ciaz to Vitara in another, again it will not help much. There will be a lot of customers who come in with a confusion of Dzire top trim vs Ciaz base trim. Same with Swift top trim vs YRA base in the future. Which showroom are they meant to visit?? Suzuki themselves will create a budget vs premium differentiation here and obviously get a hit on their image of segregating customers.

Only thing I see from this move is, they are slowly trying to disassociate from the Maruti brand and in the future move to Suzuki brand alone - right from Alto to Vitara. Maruti will be removed right from dealership to A.S.S to everything. Otherwise I dont see any benefit from this strategy.

On the other side, I do not think there is anything wrong with treating the premium customers in a premium way. Ciaz and above having a different set of executives is nothing wrong if the transition between two sets of executives happens smoothly. All well, till you treat your budget customers with atmost respect and courtesy. Mahindra has done this successfully with the XUV and Rexton. Nothing wrong in Maruti-Suzuki trying that model.

[fz_rider]

They are trying to do a Hyundai. Only the model and variant badge, no Manufacturer badge. Just the company logo.
I won't be surprised if they do so. Hyundai and Fiat doesn't do it. I guess even VW stopped pasting Volkswagen on the car.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by fz_rider

They are trying to do a Hyundai. Only the model and variant badge, no Manufacturer badge. Just the company logo.
I won't be surprised if they do so. Hyundai and Fiat doesn't do it. I guess even VW stopped pasting Volkswagen on the car.

Depends on if they just omit the 'Maruti' badge and keep Suzuki or remove the entire monogram and just keep the Suzuki logo. Volkswagen and Hyundai do not carry badges so as to exhibit their brand recognition. That shows their confidence that masses know that this is a VW/ Hyundai product. I believe Maruti is/ always was in the best position to do it, if they wanted.
In fact VW used to carry the badge when they were new in India. They got rid of it recently though, bringing it in line with their International trend.

[400notout]

I remember the old ad which said " India comes home in a Maruti"

They should change it to;

" India comes home in a Maruti, And a Suzuki if they worked a little harder "

[saion666]

Never really thought that so much thought can go into the badging of a car. Personally I would have cared less if the car carries a Suzuki or a Maruti Suzuki or NO emblem at all.I never even noticed that my A-star had a Maruti written at the back except when cleaning the wax with a toothpick and here we have a three page thread on this.

What really matters is the quality of the product. If MSIL(yeah thats the brand in India) wants to make inroads in the premium segment all they need to do is make the premium cars look and feel premium.They are far too boring at present to be called Premium.

[Higgs_Boson_i]

Changing the badge from Maruti to Suzuki only for the so called premium cars sounds nothing short of foolish. As mentioned by a few bhpians if the wonderful thinking is remove the Indian part of the name so that the customers will come flocking to the showrooms for the slow selling so called premium cars they will fall flat on their faces.

SUZUKI is no BMW or MERCEDEZ BENZ to think they can make it on just on brand power.

What will work is Quality products made for Indian conditions and tastes. Fully agree with the following!

Originally Posted by saion666

What really matters is the quality of the product. If MSIL(yeah thats the brand in India) wants to make inroads in the premium segment all they need to do is make the premium cars look and feel premium.They are far too boring at present to be called Premium.

On a lighter note Anyway the only reason the A CROSS will sell is because of the 1.6 MJD from FIAT
cheers!