Car market leader Maruti’s search for non-European export markets has earned it an Asean windfall. The company has managed to make inroads into markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines which are traditional Honda and Toyota strongholds. Maruti has snagged an export order of 11,000 units of the Zen Estilo to Indonesia and 1,500 units of the Alto to the Philippines. Both orders will span the next 11 months at a monthly clip of 1,000 units and 150 units respectively. Suzuki, which owns 54.2% in Maruti, already has a manufacturing facility in Indonesia.
“A group of senior officials from Suzuki Indonesia visited us at the launch of Zen Estilo in December last year and ordered a few cars on trial basis. Later they asked us to supply 1,000 cars per month for the entire year,” Maruti managing director Jagdish Khattar told ET.
Maruti has been trying to expand its export markets aggressively. As part of that effort, about 140 dealers and distributors from about 24 countries and officials from Suzuki’s various subsidiaries visited India between January to March this year to learn about the way Maruti sells cars. “There were five or six delegations covering a wide range of countries, including the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Cameroon, Tanzania, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait etc,” Mr Khattar said.
Maruti aims to export 55,000 units in the current fiscal, up nearly 45% over the 38,000 units shipped last fiscal. From 18,000 units two years ago, it’s current export basket is entirely non-European. Maruti’s Indonesian foray is significant given that it debuted last year with just short of 1,000 vehicles. Suzuki’s Indonesian subsidiary, PT Indomobil Suzuki International (ISI), has a local facility to manufacture 1,40,000 cars a year.
The Maruti-made Estilo will fill in for the Suzuki Karimun small car, which has been phased out and sold around 1,000 units last year. Other small cars in this 3.18-lakh market are the Chinese Chery QQ and the Kia Picanto and Hyundai Atoz. As a market it is attractive for exporters because the duty rates are reasonable (40%) compared to other Asean markets like Thailand.
Last year Maruti’s nearly 40,000 unit exports were to markets like Algeria, Sri Lanka, Chile, Sudan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Nepal. Europe, which contributed 23,981 units out of 32,340 for Maruti in 02-03, 35,113 units out of 51,175 in 03-04 and 32,740 units out of 48,899 in 04-05 came down to zero in 2006. Non-European countries on the other hand have grown from 4857 units in 01-02 to 23,696 last year, 38,000 units last fiscal and an expected 55,000 units this year.
“A group of senior officials from Suzuki Indonesia visited us at the launch of Zen Estilo in December last year and ordered a few cars on trial basis. Later they asked us to supply 1,000 cars per month for the entire year,” Maruti managing director Jagdish Khattar told ET.
Maruti has been trying to expand its export markets aggressively. As part of that effort, about 140 dealers and distributors from about 24 countries and officials from Suzuki’s various subsidiaries visited India between January to March this year to learn about the way Maruti sells cars. “There were five or six delegations covering a wide range of countries, including the Caribbean, Costa Rica, Cameroon, Tanzania, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait etc,” Mr Khattar said.
Maruti aims to export 55,000 units in the current fiscal, up nearly 45% over the 38,000 units shipped last fiscal. From 18,000 units two years ago, it’s current export basket is entirely non-European. Maruti’s Indonesian foray is significant given that it debuted last year with just short of 1,000 vehicles. Suzuki’s Indonesian subsidiary, PT Indomobil Suzuki International (ISI), has a local facility to manufacture 1,40,000 cars a year.
The Maruti-made Estilo will fill in for the Suzuki Karimun small car, which has been phased out and sold around 1,000 units last year. Other small cars in this 3.18-lakh market are the Chinese Chery QQ and the Kia Picanto and Hyundai Atoz. As a market it is attractive for exporters because the duty rates are reasonable (40%) compared to other Asean markets like Thailand.
Last year Maruti’s nearly 40,000 unit exports were to markets like Algeria, Sri Lanka, Chile, Sudan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Nepal. Europe, which contributed 23,981 units out of 32,340 for Maruti in 02-03, 35,113 units out of 51,175 in 03-04 and 32,740 units out of 48,899 in 04-05 came down to zero in 2006. Non-European countries on the other hand have grown from 4857 units in 01-02 to 23,696 last year, 38,000 units last fiscal and an expected 55,000 units this year.
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