To push horizons further and reinforce strongholds Maruti Suzuki India and Toyota have embarked together on quite a few new ventures. First, with the rebadging of Baleno as Glanza and now two much bigger initiatives, both Maruti and Toyota are working towards the empowerment and sustainability of their brand image and market position.
Partnership venture – Vehicle dismantling and recycling facility for end of life vehicles
Their first significant venture, set to commence in the FY 2020-21 is a vehicle dismantling and recycling plant to be set up in Noida in the coming year. The two companies have jointly made the announcement of their new unit, which will function under the name Maruti Suzuki Toyotsu India Private Limited. Both companies will own equal shares of the venture, at fifty percent. The venture firm will undertake the establishment of the new facility and will also hold the responsibility of procurement and systematic dismantling of the so-called End of Life vehicles.
The procedure will involve managing the solid and liquid waste products of dismantling and will strictly adhere to the globally approved, Indian regulations and standards. The venture will eventually expand the number of facilities to more and more major cities over the next few years. The Noida unit will have the capacity to dismantle about two thousand vehicles a month. These vehicles will be directly obtained from owners and dealerships. The joint venture will aim to promote recycling and provide support in optimizing and conserving resources by the use of environmentally friendly processes and system establishments. Maruti Suzuki India Limited CEO and MD have shared that the scrapping of used vehicles that are no longer in production and have attained an end of life status is a necessary industry procedure. Also, when carried out scientifically and in an eco-friendly fashion, such procedures aid in bringing down pollution from emissions and help increase road safety standards of countries.
One of the two partners, Toyota Tusho, started recycling such vehicles almost forty years ago, and plan to apply their expertise and understanding of the field and its procedures, to the Indian Industry.
The sourced vehicles would be taken to the Noida facility before their inspection and documentation. There these vehicles would undergo pre-treatment and will be stripped of any potential pollution hazards like batteries, airbags, and lubricants. Once stripped, the cars would then be put through the dismantling process as directed by international norms and guidelines. Post dismantling the scrap will be processed and categorized, before finally being shipped off to mills and smelting setups. Once wholly disintegrated, the de-registration and documentation procedure for each vehicle would be carried out and sent to records.
Partnership product – mid-sized SUV to rival the likes of Creta and Seltos
Their next collaboration would be the introduction of a mid-sized SUV, to match the likes of Hyundai Creta and Kia Seltos. The partnership between these automotive giants holds great promise for their performing potential in both domestic and international markets. As mentioned, there are numerous plans to be carried out between the two, including joint product development and technology sharing. When Maruti Suzuki established its premium outlet franchise under the name Nexa, they had to take a long step outside their convenient boundaries of selling affordable cars. Also, the Vitara Brezza became their trump card by challenging the contenders of the Compact SUV segment and pulled off some impressive sales numbers.
In the last two years, the compact SUV segment has surprised the automotive world with the response it has gotten in our country. All automotive manufacturers are already neck to neck in the race to make the largest sales numbers in this freshly formed segment of the Indian market. In what seemed like no time at all, two new contenders appeared out of nowhere and are suddenly threatening to dominate this segment with the overwhelming response that their cars have gotten from the Indian customers. In the light of this fresh new segment and the potential it holds for market dominion not just across its kind but other segments as well, Maruti Suzuki is planning on bringing in a completely novel addition to its compact SUV portfolio.
Bound for the Indian and international markets, the SUV will be planned for introduction and launch sometime in the year 2022. Based on the global-C platform shared by the Vitara Brezza, the mid-sized SUV will be manufactured at Toyota’s Bidadi plant in Karnataka along with another Toyota project, which is currently in the pipeline. This one will be a C segment MPV, and the company will pit it against the Ertiga.
Both the MPV and the new SUV in question will be sold from the premium Nexa retail network. Next has recently achieved the one million unit sales and boosted Maruti’s enthusiasm to keep moving ahead by planning new products and coming up with new concepts for development.
Although some of their vehicles recorded commendable sales numbers despite the year-long slowdown, Maruti needs to work towards the sustainability of its sales and brand presence in the market.
