Suzuki Motor Corporation announced its new mid-term management plan titled ‘Suzuki Next 100’ which will be in effect from 2015-2020, at an investor meet held in Tokyo. According to the roadmap, the company has plans to introduce 20 models globally in the next five years. The carmaker will concentrate on small cars, compact cars, as well as SUVs, to best exploit the expanding global compact car market. We expect most of the models to be introduced in India.
At present, SUVs are an obvious focus and Maruti Suzuki will enter the segment in India with the launch of the all-new S-Cross later this month. The car is expected to rival the Hyundai Creta, to be launched on July 21, and the Renault Duster. Later on, Maruti is likely to launch its compact SUV (Codename: YBA) — the automaker’s first entrant in the compact SUV segment — as well as its premium hatchback, the YRA.
Suzuki Motor plans to focus more on production in Indonesia, Thailand and Hungary apart from Japan and India. Currently, most of its automobile business is centred in Japan and India. In Japan, it has a mini-car market share of over 30 percent, and compact car sales of over 100,000 units, while India accounts for over 45 percent of its passenger car sales.
Suzuki said that by 2019, its global car sales are likely to touch 3.4 million units, up from 2.9 million units in 2014. Out of the total, Asia will account for 2.2 million cars as against the 1.7 million units in 2014. Through this, the carmaker aims to strengthen its global market share by 2020 — the year of Suzuki’s 100th anniversary.
Suzuki will also adopt another strategy, it will consolidate platforms to lower unit costs and concentrate on development of petrol engines for efficiency.
In sales results announced today, Maruti Suzuki said that its domestic sales rose 1.6 percent year-on-year to 1,02,626 units in June. In the first quarter (April-June) the automaker registered sales (including exports) of 3,41,329 units, up 13.8 percent over the same period last year.
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
