Infact this will again raise some eyebrow Some would think
that I have been advocating the cause of the BJP and Mrs Nirmala Sitaraman
which I’m not Many might think that being a RSS man I have advocated this for
the BJP and their Ministry which I have not
I have worked for a period of almost 15 months for a
automobile dealership at Bangalore from 1996 to 1997 for a Maruti dealership and
I know this industry as I have spend a little time of my life in selling the
cars Based on this experience I had and I was able to convince the BMW as a
manufacturer to start and roll their
business at India which they did I even have a letter fo approval from them
It was my PROJECT-DISSERTATION for the BMW for them that I
had advocated to roll their business in India which they did it again after a
lot of studies and research based on the experience of the same I’m jotting
here as to why the auto industry in terns of passenger carrying segment has
completely shrunk with a doubt about their own stability
MARUTI:: IT
STARTED FROM THERE & IT GERMINATED THE SPROUTING OF THE END
The concept of providing the cars to each and every Indian
on a very fair price and with the bare minimum cost was mooted by Mr Sanjay
Gandhi in 1973 and it was he who started the Maruti car project during the
emergency However it fizzled out as
the Congress were to be grinded and dusted in the 1977 election It was all over for them then
Again in 1980 when the Congress came back into the power the
concept of a cheap car again came into the prominence and the Maruti tis time
went in for an international collaboration with Suzuki as their partner It was
decided that Suzuki would be the technical collaborating partner to share the
technologies and it would be the Maruti who would build the cars here at India
Maruti had only 26% of the stakes in the venture The rest remained with Suzuki
Thus started the venture
It was first planned and thought of that the cars that would
be manufactured would be only for the barest of the barest the low middle class
income and the middle class income group It was decided that the price too
would be the barest of the barest At that time the PREMIER and the PADMINI’S
wetre the only competitors to the Maruti that was going to come up We even had
the Ambassador manufactured by the Hindustan Motors but that was not a
competition for either of them because it had a different sector and the
different class of people to serve
SEGEMENTATION :: MIDDLE
CLASS IT WAS A SORT OF CAKE FOR THEM
When this industry ie the industry of Maruti started it was
the p[opulation then which stood at about
90 crors then Of the 90 crores there were the 10 crores of the family
which fell into the middle class sectot During those days it was MIDDLE CLASS
only There was not and never as such
that we have it now as the lower middle , as the upper middle and as the one
between the lower and the upper that we have it now Maruti simply wanted to
create a niche and a segment into this category of the customers It was a car
for the one’s who were ordinary Indians and who could atleast afford a car to
move with the family It was on this assumption that the cars were manufactured
and the first car to roll out from their plant was in 1981 A MAROON colored car
was rolled out from this factory at Haryana that they had and still have it as
of now and thus started the story of rolling out the cars to the ordinary
people of India.
NO COMPETITION TILL
1995 : Maruti had a MARKET SHARE of almost 90% till 1995
There was’nt any
competition for Maruti till the start of 1995 The other two players the
Premier padmini and the Ambassador started losing it’s market but then they did
not have the capacity to invest for their plans if at all they had it by then
to counter the FLUX-&-THE-INVASION
of Maruti . Because of the same and because of this maruti infact seized the
entire car market of India . They also gave a lot of importance to the fact of
providing the after sale services which was a CURSE to those who were holding
the Premier padmini and the Ambassador. The reality turned out to the hilt of
the people selling the cars that they owned of the Premier and the Ambassador
and shifted their loyalty to the Maruti and it’s manufacturer
DAEWOO- CIELO COMES
TO INDIA : MARUTI RESTRUCTURES IT’S MARKETING POLICY
It was Daewoo who had then come to India Daewoo were famous
for not only it’s car in South Korea at Seoul but also for it’s football team
that won the FIRST ever A C Football tourney in 1985 at Doha East BNengal from
India too had qualified for the same tourney but they had lost to Daewoo by 3-0
to be ousted of the tourney The fact is the Technical Director of that Daewoo
team was employed by the Daewoo company proper Daewoo even had it’s electrical
wing operating at South Korea but a conversation by that Technical Director
with the officials of East Bengal
and the little info that they could collect was enough for that Technical
Director to pass on the message to their TOP
FLIGHT DIRECTORS to start their
operation at India That is HOW Maurti got it’s FIRST ever COMPETITION from any company abroad for their cars here at India
DAEWOO: GOT ALL
INFO’S WRONG & FADED OUT
The fact was and the
FACT is Maruti were the leaders because of their cars sold to the comman man in
india who could afford that cars For example when I was incharge of a Car
Dealership where I was working at Bangalore the number of the cars sold per
month would be about 250 cars at the minimum Of it the 800cc engine car would
be arong 200 That was priced at Rs 2.17 lakhs then the others would be the Zen,
the Esteeem LX,VX and the 1000 cc That constituted the sale In other words the
prime buyers were the middle class and they preferred to buy the 80% of the
cars that was in the 800cc capacity of the engine The remaining were the cars
as ascribed above
Daewoo through some useless marketing research agency
started to introduce the cars which were a competitor to the Maruti in the
Esteem sector where the capacity of the engine was 1296 cc The prices then for
thse cars were at Rs 6.00lakhs and above They started manufacturing these cars
in bulk at their plant at Surajpur at Haryana The market research company gave
them a figure of a population which was
nearing to about 95 crores then and they also suggested that India is a HEAVY
and a LSARGE market because of the population that it carries ans the market
that it absorbs in terms of the product
Daewoo did not have the technicalities to come up with the
cars which were meant and built for the lower class and the middle class of the
people here They found it very hard to survive the competition that was offered to by Maruti to them They
started to fizzle out They by the end of 1998 brought in their small cars as a
competitor for Maruti 800cc but by then maruti introduced the 8oocc A/C cars
and for the terrains and the hills they even phased out with a proper planning
to roll on their gypsy This made the Mahindra’s also to come up with some
innovation for their Jeeps, and the other vehicles that they were offering This
again posed a lot of problems for Daewoo and slowly they fizzled out This
warded off the competition for Maruti The internal competitors were NOT at all
geared to throw any challenge to Maruti
1986, 1996, 2006 :
The pay Scale Revision made all the difference
The BOOM in the market started with the pay scale revision
that took place in 1986 The basic which was then at Rs 1050=00 was restructured
to Rs 2200=00 .Again there was a pay scale revision in 1996 and then again in
2006 and 2016 Those who were earning Rs 2500+00 per month during the year 1986
started to earn Rs 85,000=00 now at this stage This completely changed the
behavior of the market and the psychology of the buyers People went in and went
out for a long way to buy what they felt was not only a NECCESSITY but also a LUXURY
as well That made the difference
IT SECTOR : ADVENT
& REINFORCE TO THE INDIAN ECONOMY
At one hand the Government pay structure was a BOOM and a
BOON for the Government official but there at the non-government sector the IT
industry that sprouted and mushroomed between 1995 to 2015 was also there for
the market to enjoy On an average a IT professional then who might have worked
for say about seven years in the IT industry from 1995 to about 2002 was
drawing a salary of about Rs 10 Lakhs to Rs 15 lakhs depending on the industry per
annum too played an important role The first was to procure a CAR and the next
was to PROCURE a house to live in for That was the reason that the car industry
and the car companies made their fortune
VARIETIES OF
DIFFERENT MODEL OF CARS : THE IGMSOD Concept failed very fast
Once the market BOOMED
and became a HIT the the companies
were all out to examine and reintroduce the latest models of the cars to quash
each other in the competition The most RELIABLE feature was that Maruti which
was holding a market share of about 95% till 1994 slidded down to about 54% by
the start of 2004 and it was at about 38% till 2012 though it ws a leaders The
other players snatched the car market from the Maruti They did it by
introducing new models of cars with SPECIFIC
FEATURES better pricing strategies
and supplying the accessories for a
small but a good returns The car industry was full of ZOOM-&-BOOM till 2011 It was from 2012 that the industry slowly
started feeling the effect of slow down and now it is at the bare minimum
strength to survive the way it RULED the business from 1996 to about 2016
REASON FOR SLOW DOWN
& NEGATIVE GROWTH : THE FAILURE OF THE IGMSOD PRINCIPLES
What is “ IGMSOD “ principle of marketing one might ask or
what is IGMSOD one might say Well that is INTRODUCTION-
GROWTH-MATURITY-SATURATION-OBSOLETE-DECLINE principles of a product life
cycle
In this trajectory of pure-and-incessant
marketing the most CRITICAL point is
the point between the MATURITY when
it MATURES by 100% and the START of the SATURATION where it touches the 1% of the bench mark It is there
that the manufacturers and the players of the produced good has to take a stock
about the innovation of the product, innovative marketing schedules, innovative
marketing strategies and the taking-out-the-old-product and introducing-the-newer-one
It is here the startegies of the pricing of the product, the marketing
development and the restructuring of the market the prodcut and it’s portfolios
are researched and searched very technically and with full viability to come
out with a proper marketing plans and functions and it is SORRY to state that NONE
of the AUTOMOBILE CARS MANUFACTURERS DID
IT IN STYLE
Instead of
controlling the market and pushing their product with an eye on the market with
a proper planning all the manufacturers started developing more and more
innovative models just to catch more and more of the consumers but were
unsuccessful in doing so
The money pushed into the schemes and the product for the
manufacturer took a toll as well and with NO
RETURNS the PLOUGHING of the PROFITS too a nosedive Now the piquant situation is there for all
to see
WHY THE “ SLUMP “
& THE “ SLUMB “ IN THE MARKET : SATURATION IS THE ONLY ANSWER
Between the year 1998 and the year 2012 to say people who
would buy the cars and would see a lot of new models with many a specific and
attractive features added to the newly rolled out models of the cars started selling out their first car that they
purchased and went in for the newere one’s The players who played the game of
providing the loans too were at their PRIME-&-BEST Obviously the new market
“ THE-MARKET-FOR-SECOND-HAND-CAR took it’s birth
The one’s who can’t afford a brand new car started visiting
the market where the second hand cars were sold to purchase and fulfil their
dreams and this market outshone the original market at the dealership from
where the cars the first hand and the new one’s could be purchased This was and
this is the PRIMARY reason that the
brand new cars are now not selling that fast as the second hands cars are
Secondly- the one’s who started purchasing the cars as long
as in 1981 and the one’s who purchased the same in 1996, these two category of
customers are the one’s who have purchased the newer cars and kept it altering
by selling them in the second car markets and buying the newer one’s from the
various different manufacturers of the different models that could be available
in the market
NEEDS & WANTS:
THEY HAVE CHANGED
On a scale in the last twenty years a ordinary man has
purchased two different models of car from to different manufacturers and the
affluent one has done it many a times for many new models of cars Then there
had and has been the BMW and the MERCEDES BENZ well to add tho the feather of
the Indians in particular
An average Indian family of four or even five today has
atleast TWO cars and TWO two wheelers vehicle Today his needs are not the cars
It is the HIGHER education of his sons and daughters Today it is getting them
married and settling them to a good life Today it is going for the flats and
the houses for rehabilitations today it is looking into the remaining part of
his life to lead his life with the savings that he has accrued Today it is all
about medicines, medical health and the wellbeing for himself for the future
TODAY-THE NEEDS AND
THE WANTS HAVE CHANGED TODAY THERE IS A NEW AND A DIFFERENT THOUGHTS ABOUT LIFE
At times when the MARKET
wanted to USE the cars and TASTE it to its HILT and the BEST it could
do that Those who could afford tasted as many as two different varieties of the
models of the cars and some even have tasted more than two Obviously when
the NEED and the WANT and their FACTORS have been met these are now saturated.
It is this and for these reason that the market is saturated
This is the ANSWER What Madam Nirmala
Sitaraman has to say is her OWN lookout but as a MARKETING professional
having worked in the ROOT of the sale of the cars and having brought the BMW
company here with my dissertation ( look into my FB pictures and photos, the
letter of appreciation of the BMW is there as a proof ) this is the POINT
I advocate
There is a SATURATION
There is that the THIRST has QUENCHED There is that the price too
has an important role to play There is a SHIFT
in the PARADIGM of the DISPOSABLE income The needs and the
wants have changed The basic amenities are the NEEDS now and NOT the LUXURIES
The WANT now is MORE of proper living with the BEST of the MEDICAL care the best of the STUDIES
etc the best of the moments to settle down to a good job and to look into
building the future The need and the want in common are the HOUSING and the REHABILITATIONS and Not the luxuries
Manufacturers of the
Auto parts and ancilliaries: Their Time Has Come
For the next ten
years at the most the car sales would be below the percentage of an overall 40%
of the market The industry would have to bear this shock However those whose
small sacle and the factories manufacturing the small parts and thr spare parts
would have a boom time
The car manufacturers would have to STRONGLY rely on the after sale service and the provision of the
spare parts This sector will again rise on it’s feet and those who had shunned
or closed their factories etc will get a quantum leap and a LIFE to restart their factories again
for manufacturing and supplying the spare
parts and the auxiliaries
This is the BOON for the auto setot that is it
Many would laugh at Mrs
Nirmala Sitaraman and Mr Piyush
Goyal for their answers about the car industries The FACT is they have NEVER
been a MARKETING professionals at
all All that they have been is a POLITICIANS
and the POLITICIANS just are
there to PASS their TIME with the reporters and the media
and the media always PISSES on them
for their answer which is a CRIME They should NOT do that If these politicians, if they do not get the proper personnel’s to advice them and counsel or guide them
the RESULT is a CRUSHING DIASASTER and HAVOC
That ought to be remembered and that is the PITY of “ Indian POLITICS “
This article I “ DEDICATE “ it to Mrs Nirmala Sitaraman and to Mr
Piyush Goyal This is just to show them Madam & Sir- Shyamal Bhattacharjee
and many like me STILL stand behind the BJP & YOU ALL to ward off any
misfortune that would hit the BJP and to you all
The future of the AUTOMOBILE
industry and the small scale industries
and it’s ancilliaries and the role
that they would have to play is given in this article itself
The answer and the hints for the Govrnment to raise up the
industries that is linked with the automobiles I hope would be taken up very
seriously by the Modi Government to create as many as jobs as possible to the
one’s who are the small and petty scale workers whom we term as the semi-nonsemi-skileed and unskilled workers
Thanks
Shyamal Bhattacharjee
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