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The 800 Rolls On

Just what accounts for the Maruti 800's enduring appeal?

Maruti 800: Going strong

The Maruti 800, according to globally-aware auto heavyweights, was like the moped -- too underpowered, too small and too flimsy to be India's 'family car' for very long. It was, in short, a compromise option for a poverty-stricken nation. India's GDP/head had just to come within the $500 range, and the 'minimum requirement' family car would be something bigger and smarter, something more 'adult' on the whole, like a sedan.

Well, maybe the sedan would take awhile, but B-segment cars? One of these certainly seemed ready to take over as the largest selling single-model car in India. There was the Indica, Santro, Zen and some others to choose from - all of them playing on the inadequacies of the poor old 800 (which wasn't even an 800-cc car, but a 796-cc one, rounded off in the interests of wider memorability... in the sense, 806-cc would've been the same thing statistically speaking).

Today, the 800 is an 18-year-old model. Yet, it somehow retains its sales as India's main seller, the entry-level car that doesn't give up. Its sales in August 2002? About 13,560 units.

That's up from 8,932 units the previous month. But the reason for the jump was the oldest trick in the book: a major price cut. In July this year, Maruti Udyog cut the price of Maruti 800 Standard (Euro-II) by Rs 15,000, the price of the Deluxe variant (Euro II) by Rs 18,000, and so too the Maruti 800 Standard (Euro-I).

It has been tried before. In the recent past, Maruti Udyog has resorted to price cuts thrice -- in 1999, in June 2000 and in July-end this year. Each time, sales zoomed. It is a price-elastic product.

The point to note is that the 800 was not doing very well. Sales since April 2002 had been hovering between 7,000 to 9,000 units per month, as opposed to the monthly 12,000-plus units the model is accustomed to. Signs of decline? Sure thing, say some analysts. Once upon a time, the 800 used to account for over two-thirds the Indian car market. Now, just one-fourth of all cars that hit Indian roads bear the famous '800' tag on their rear.

So, is price all that the 800 has got going for it? And how many cuts can Maruti Udyog undertake before scraping the bottom?

Jagdish Khattar, Managing Director, Maruti Udyog, does not think that the 800 would be a lost cause without the price bait. He has always maintained that the 800 will continue to sell, for a long long time - given that most of the country is still to have a 'first car' experience. Also, remember that the cheapest alternative in India to the 800 is almost Rs 1 lakh more expensive. Alto 800 cc LX, a B-segment car, sells Rs 2.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), while a Euro-II compliant standard Maruti 800 is priced at Rs 2.04 lakh - cranked out by a fully-depreciated plant. The actual factory cost, according to Khattar, is just Rs 1.2 lakh, which makes it the lowest-cost car in the world. With some fiscal help from the government, it can remain a force to be reckoned with. Last but not least, the 800 remains India's most fuel-efficient car, with the lowest maintenance costs too.

But is that all there is to the story? Maybe. Maybe not. India, don't forget, can be a rather peculiar market at times, one that's not always impressed by the call of 'upward mobility'. In the US, the Volkswagen Beetle had to create a utilitarian revolution, going against almost everything understood as 'American' (size, power, influence...). India, thanks to centuries of spartan conditioning, has always had an inbuilt utilitarian ethic that says that a car is car is a car, a transportation device that must do its job at the least possible cost. No more, no less. This works in favour of the 800.

Okay, the Beetle was more than just a utilitarian tool, it was an attitude - with special appeal. It started as a standard-issue product, and ended up as an antithesis to the idea of a choiceless world. And that's what the 800's marketers need to think about. Regardless of all the price antics, maybe the 800 needs to be repositioned as a car to be chosen, not just-afforded, for the values it represents. That's what a real brand is. But it should start, perhaps, by rebranding itself the Maruti 796 - and then outdo Santro's 'the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth' pitch.

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