[TusharK]

Maruti Suzuki has announced ‘Rock N Road’ SUV Experiences – a range of experiential and competitive drive events for customers.



The 'Rock N Road' program consists of two formats. The first format includes Rock N Road Expeditions, which offers experiential drives, and Rock N Road Weekenders’ offering curated short and long expeditions.



The second format comprises of an Off-road Championship called Rock N Road 4x4 Masters, which aims at recognizing off-roading talent in the country. The event will be conducted in two phases, with the qualifiers held in 8 cities followed by a grand finale.

The inaugural Rock N Road Expeditions was recently flagged off from Chandigarh. 14 Jimny SUVs are taking part in the drive to the Spiti Valley, covering 539 km in 6 days.

Link to Team-BHP News

[Lone Ranger]

Purely on a lighter note, it's pretty funny that for an offroad/rough road show they have tried to keep the Jimny as much in the background as possible And the gentlemen in the second picture are doing a stellar job covering the little fellow with the flags!

[Venkatesh]

Press Release





The website for MARUTI SUZUKI ROCK N ROAD is now live - Link

[Fuldagap]

The only SUV here is given less prominence in the photo. Such is life.
But I hope it will boost engagement of Jimny users and showcase its incredible capabilities to other participants too!

[omranga98]

Truly a bummer that Ignis is not part of this rally.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by omranga98

Truly a bummer that Ignis is not part of this rally.

Don't forget Lord S-Presso

[uditanshh]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Don't forget Lord S-Presso

They should include LORD ALTO in their SUV clan.
Manali cabbies are sure to take part in their experiential trips

[bhansali_hardik]

Again a charade of online folks who have visibility are a part of this expedition, few of them are no where close to being an auto enthusiast or anything to do with auto world all together.

Disheartening move to call such folks just to get views! Very little to no actual world translation for someone like me. Where we can get more usable information from these media drives! Sigh, MSIL need to pull it together it’s like a mad house since past few years!

[bobbyblr]

Maruti Suzuki streamed the live ‘Rock N Road’ SUV Experiences on YouTube:

Note video starts after 24:10

The host lady asked Mr. Shashank Srivastava only two questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPwk_zbSOr0

[GTO]

Despite having the Gypsy & OG Grand Vitara - both very competent off the road - Maruti never capitalized on it or organised fan events like Mahindra's Great Escapes. Tata has recently started some events, while Royal Enfield & Harley-Davidson have built a legendary following, thanks in no small part to their riding festivals / events for owners.

Rock N Road is a stupid name. What's even more silly is the dilution. They should allow only 4x4 & AWD owners into these experiences. Would any Jimny owner really want to go on a trail that a Fronx can do? How exciting.

Maruti has no clue about:

- Cracking the premium or enthusiast segments. They got a kickass product in the Jimny and completely botched it up with delay after delay in launching it, then overpricing it & finally offering 2+ lakh rupee discounts. Ditto with the mighty S-Cross 1.6L.

- Enthusiast cars, or how they can help build the brand. Not everything is about cost-cutting & the bottomline.

- Conducting great, memorable events.

Maruti's core competence remains in selling budget cars & taking care of these owners really well. But there is a solid reason why Hyundai, Kia, Tata, Mahindra etc. are able to sell thousands of 25-30 lakh cars, while Maruti only has to watch from the sidelines. Truth is, Maruti-Suzuki just don't know how to build a 30-lakh rupee XUV700 or Safari.

[ChauhanSaurabh]

Originally Posted by Fuldagap

The only SUV here is given less prominence in the photo. Such is life.

I read this twice.

Maybe this is what Maruti's attitude towards it is going to be after the dismal opening. Might sound philosophical but this one sentence is spot on and hits hard.

[RMN]

I honestly thought I was misinformed that the Fronx wasn't a 4x4 when I saw the opening post!

Originally Posted by GTO

Rock N Road is a stupid name. What's even more silly is the dilution. They should allow only 4x4 & AWD owners into these experiences. Would any Jimny owner really want to go on a trail that a Fronx can do? How exciting.

I'm guessing the problem is with the way they have advertised it. As I understand there are 2 types of drives, one is for all the models and the other is just for 4x4s, did I get that right?

[dust-n-bones]

I find too much negativity here about Maruti and its attempts at attracting the 'enthusiasts'. I feel we are getting it wrong.

Its true that the real 'offroader' crowd will always scoff at Maruti's attempts. But a 'search with a microscope demographic' is not Maruti's target or capability to begin with.

With such events, Maruti are doing what any self respecting marketing department will do - some feel-good for their bosses and loyalists, and trying to impress the loyalists' neighbours who may be looking beyond a Maruti.

Again, Maruti is not trying to jump segments or establish any offroader cred with such events. Its more of sprinkling a bit of gold dust around the brand aimed at existing customers and adjacent segments.

If the resulting marketing videos convert a few more Jimny fence sitters, that's not too shabby at all.

Full disclosure: We have not purchased a Maruti since the last 8 years in our extended family.

[shankar.balan]

1. Many of us here are being unnecessarily elitist in criticizing Maruti’s effort on this.
2. It is nice that they are being inclusive and welcoming first timers into a new experience.
3. We all know that the humble Alto itself can go almost anywhere in India, literally to the highest reaches of the land, without any ado whatsoever. So there is nothing wrong with wanting to do a light trail drive in a Fronx.
4. Maruti wants to create a space for normal average people to experience something new in their normal average-commuter-road-vehicles. This is decidedly not wrong. Everyone gets that ‘thrill’ when venturing off the tarmac for the very first time, irrespective of the fact that it may just be a simple dirt road or rutted trail. This enables people to feel ‘heroic’. Who are we to criticize that?
5. The members here are not at all representative of the great Indian buying public when it comes to cars.
6. We can all sit here like the armchair heroes and keyboard warriors that we (largely) are and criticise Maruti till Kingdom Come and yet, they will keep doing what they do best and are most successful at, which is serving the masses with efficient, reliable, affordable and predictable vehicular experiences.
7. So let us just accept this initiative for what it is; an attempt to create a cult-movement around some lifestyle-cues by using a few of their upper-class products, creating an experience for normal people, with a view to strengthening the ‘halo’ effect.
8. We are all not ‘marketing experts’ and ‘gurus’ and while we may like or dislike the name ‘Rock and Road’, our likes or dislikes are only ‘opinions’ and there are as many opinions as there are people in this world. No one ‘opinion’, is more equal than any other.
9. All that I would personally care about and hope for, is that they conduct all these events responsibly and give respect to the environment, eco systems and local customs and beliefs.
10. There is a small Maruti owners group and a Suzuki old school group whose members are all very justifiably proud of their humble little and for the most part, ‘senior’ Marutis. They are good and proven little vehicles so why ever not?

[fhdowntheline]

When you have a mix of unsuitable vehicles save one, possibly inexperienced drivers, all you get are shredded tires, burnt clutches and fuming engines lined up by the roadside. What's the fun in that , I really don't know. Seems like just another event to boost the company and people's digital egos.