May 13 – Japanese automaker Suzuki Motors narrowly avoided a loss in the final quarter of last year thanks only to the demand for its products in the Indian market. Suzuki’s presence in India represents about 50 percent of the total domestic market through its JV with Maruti Suzuki India.
The Indian outfit has posted four consecutive quarters of growth, in sharp contrast to markets in Japan and the United States, where Suzuki has seen an 87 percent decline in sales. The Indian market for small cars is booming, and the trend also now seems to be catching on in Japan and elsewhere, as consumers require less expensive vehicles to run. Tata’s much vaunted Nano has also achieved over 200,000 pre-paid orders in signs that the demand for smaller, and hybrid vehicles is going to take off on a global scale.
Maruti Suzuki will release their new model, the Ritz, on May 15th across Indian showrooms. In a growing entertainment trend for car sales in India, Suzuki has also turned to the internet to spark interest in the car through an interactive online game. Tato used a similar strategy with the Nano, which can be test-driven around a virtual Mumbai.
