Suzuki and the Indian Auto Industry

The late Sanjay Gandhi the younger son of India Gandhi was a bit of a maverick. He is remembered for imposition of the emergency in I975, but very few recollect that he was the brain that launched the car revolution in India. For long the Indian car market had been dominated by Hindustan Motors and Premier Auto, who churned out dated models like the Ambassador and the Premier Padmini. The Ambassador was an early fifties model of the Morris while the Premier was derived from the Fiat 1100 D. These companies made no efforts to modernize and fueled a market driven by scarcity to make huge profits.

Sanjay had dreamt to launch a modern car and he experimented with a number of prototypes. But his death in an air accident in 1981 saw his dream crumble. However his mother Indira Gandhi the then prime minister decided to further Sanjays dream and called for global tenders for the manufacture of a small car in India.Suzuki of Japan carried the day and a joint venture to manufacture 100,000 cars was established at Gurgaon in the Indian state of Haryana.

The first model launched was christened the maruti 800. This car had 796 cc fuel efficient engines that gave an output of 38 BHP. The car was fuel efficient and in city driving conditions gave 14 km to liter of petrol. The car hit the road in 1983 and changed the face of motoring in India. Priced below Rs 50,000 the car revolutionized the Indian market and the Indian public took to the car with great enthusiasm. Jagdish khattar took over as the MD and a lot of credit must go to him for the successful launch of this product.

Suzuki changed the model to a hatch back a few months later. They also brought in modern car manufacturing concepts at their Gurgaon plant and the popularity of the car soared upwards. Suzuki was given majority stake and the company also went public. Subsequently Suzuki took over the car plant completely and developed at least 13 other models. All the models were hits with the result that even the advent of other car manufacturers has made no impact on them and Suzuki continues to hold 50% of the car market share in India.

Suzuki will forever be remembered as the auto company that changed the face of Indian car industry. Their model the 800 will remain permanently etched in the history of the Indian auto industry as a trail blazer. One cannot forget Sanjay Gandhi in this success story as the Maruti Suzuki car creates history.