Maruti Suzuki to focus on R&D, domestic market

                With Indian passenger car market set to double in the next 5-6 years, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (MSIL) has not only decided to boost its research and design capabilities to meet the growing demand and come out with new products, but has also asked its vendors and suppliers to do the same.
India's largest carmaker has also decided to focus more on domestic market and limit exports to take on growing competition.

“We need to rapidly develop our own capacity to develop and design products. This is an area of priority for us and with the help from Japan's Suzuki Motor Corporation, we are investing heavily in R&D,” MSIL Chairman R. C. Bhargava said in the company's annual report for 2009-10.
                 As part of the efforts to build R&D capability, MSIL is coming up with a world-class R&D centre at Rohtak (Haryana).

It invested Rs.173.30-crore in R&D in 2009-10 against Rs.91-crore in 2008-09.
To further consolidate its position in the Indian market, MSIL is also considering limiting exports to 15 per cent of its total output to meet its growing domestic requirements.
 
“Maruti Suzuki, as a company, should perhaps deliberately not attempt to export a large part of its production, but keep its exports at about 15 per cent of output,” Mr. Bhargava said.

“We should concentrate more on the domestic market. To keep our market share, not only should we adequately increase manufacturing capacity, but also remain very aware of the changing customer tastes and demands and be flexible in making quick adjustments,” he added.
MSIL is concerned as its market share has dropped below 50 per cent as it has failed to meet the demand of fast growing car market where other carmakers are now making inroads.
Exports

During April-July this year, the company's car exports stood at 50,558 units out of a total of 3.35 lakh units produced, which is about 15 per cent of the total output.
It has an installed capacity of producing 10-lakh units annually. For 2009-10, the company exported a total of 1.48-lakh units. The Indian passenger car market stood at 19.5-lakh units last fiscal, while it is projected to touch 22-lakh units this fiscal