In the dusty town of Seoni in rural Madhya Pradesh, Dr Ratan Kumar Sharma, employed with the local government, was debating whether to buy a Hyundai Santro or Maruti 800. Besides the price factor what helped in making his mind was a service station nearby. While Hyundai’s nearest outlet was in distant Nagpur, Dr Sharma bought a Maruti 800 “just because a Maruti road mela was in town!”Thousands—20,687 to be precise—like Dr Sharma bought a Maruti 800 in March this year in spite of the car being the most outdated compared to its peers available for the customer. In fact, since the year it was launched, it’s been the best-selling model in the country. “I bought a Maruti 800 as it was the cheapest car available in the market. I just needed a car to go from my office to hospital—a drive of two kilometres—and once in a while to go for a weekend getaway at Pench 80 kilometres away,” says Dr Sharma.In fact, Maruti booked 51 vehicles in two days in a recently held Kisan Mela in Ludhiana. The mela is an annual feature where the latest innovations in seeds, fertilisers and farming technology are showcased. “I booked the vehicle as I got both the car and the loan together,” says Amrinder Singh, a Maruti fan now.For all those customers like Sharmas and Singhs in small towns like Kanpur and Indore, and even in metro cities, buying a M800 was an easy decision. After all they just wanted a four wheeler to drop kids to school, or for when they went shopping. Often, it was a second car for the family.WHY M 800?For years, the M800 has remained the right opening car for people who look for low cost of ownership, fuel efficiency, convenience and high resale value. Make no mistake, to date no other car offers the kind of mileage you can squeeze out of a Maruti 800. Even with the air-conditioner on, this car can give you 13-14 kilometres per litre of petrol. In fact, in 2002-03, the Maruti 800 had a dream run. In seven months from August 2002 to February 2003, the Maruti 800 averaged a cool 12,677 units per month.And in March, the reduction in excise duty in the Budget led to a 5.1 per cent price reduction, making the M800 even more attractive. At 20,687 units, it is the highest number of cars ever sold in a month since it made its debut in December 1983. It is also the highest number any car brand has ever sold in a month in India. The car is now a legend. Says a Delhiite S. Sengupta: “My 800 has taken me to Badrinath and Gangotri—through roads that were washed away by landslides. A light car, it could be pushed over 45 degree slopes with large boulders on the road, by the road-clearing gangs who were clearing the landslides. Heavier vehicles could not negotiate because they lacked engine power, and were too heavy to be pushed by the labourers.”No wonder Maruti officials are ecstatic. “The penetration of cars in India is very low. If motorisation in this country has to improve and provide a boost to the manufacturing sector we need a car like M800. I think there are enough people in this country who still need a M800. In the coming months, I expect the sales to go up further,” says Jagdish Khattar, managing director of Maruti Udyog Limited. Officials say the sales thrust will be upcountry.“The fact that M800 has sold so many units shows that the car has a bright future in India. There is a demand for this car which is inexpensive, serves its purpose of transporting people and is still relevant to the Indian market,” says Hormazd Sorabjee, editor of Autocar India who drove a Maruti 800 from Kashmir to Kanyakumari last year. “I firmly believe that for greater motorisation in India we will require a car like M800,” he adds.BIG PLAYERS ARE HERE!For a car which does not even have a proper name since its inception, the Maruti 800’s success story is phenomenal though other models are now slowly eating into its market share. The ‘B’ segment cars like Santro, Indica, and Zen sold over 2.99 lakh units in fiscal 2003 as compared to 2.82 lakh sold in last fiscal. Many first time customers are now buying a Santro or a Palio instead of buying an entry-level car— which is a cause of worry for the Maruti officials.Though the share of the ‘A’ segment in the passenger car industry has dropped to 26.2 per cent from 28 per cent, the fact that M800— launched in 1983—is still selling is not surprising analysts in spite of serious handicaps in safety and comfort levels.“In the coming months, ‘B’ segment cars will continue to grow thus squeezing cars like M800 out of the market place. It’s just a question now of when,” says a Mumbai-based auto analyst.IS THE FUTURE BLEAK?No one can predict the future of M800. Not even Maruti. Despite stiff competition, the car has been around for almost 20 years and has been written off as many times only to bounce back. The future of the M 800 will depend upon, say analysts, how Maruti manages to keep its costs down and keep selling its car at less than the Rs 2.5-lakh psychological barrier—targeting two-wheeler owners.Recently, in order to make the car more attractive, Maruti has installed a new engine, and new air-conditioning while dropping the high-end M800 Deluxe to make the gap between Alto and M800 even wider. “The M800 E 2 AC has been a major success. There is currently a wait list of 1,500-1,600 vehicles,” quips a Maruti official.According to Maruti statistics, around 25 per cent of consumers who buy M800 have not owned a motor vehicle in life (this includes two-wheelers), while 40 per cent have at least a two-wheeler. “This shows that many customers can still afford only a M800. The car is here to stay,” says Khattar. Till when no one can say. But no one is betting as yet. (With inputs from Jaya Basu)
