Maruti Udyog Limited is a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, the largest manufacturer of mini passenger vehicles in Japan in terms of sales volumes. Suzuki was also the eleventh largest vehicle manufacturer in the world and the fourth largest manufacturer in Japan in terms of worldwide sales volumes in 2000. Maruti was ranked twentieth in terms of worldwide sales volumes amongst vehicle manufacturers, and has been the largest passenger car manufacturer in India. In fiscal 2002, it had the highest sales volumes of 339,964 cars and a market share of 58.6%. Maruti has a diverse product range that includes ten basic models with over 50 variants, of which nine models are manufactured locally and one is imported from Suzuki. A timeline showing the evolution of Maruti over the years is given in the appendix.
Maruti?s manufacturing facility comprises three integrated plants (all located in the same premises) located at Gurgaon in the state of Haryana. The production facility capability at each plant is upgraded on an ongoing basis to improve productivity and quality. At present, it has an installed capacity of 350,000 vehicles per year, which is the highest among passenger car manufacturers in India and among all passenger car manufacturing facilities of Suzuki?s subsidiaries outside Japan. There are total 17 manufacturing shops and are capable of producing more than 50 variants of the nine basic models manufactured, with different specifications, within the same day. The production of a car occurs in the following stages: Press Shop, Weld Shop, Paint Shop, Assembly Shop, Machine Shop and Engine shops.
Maruti has extensive sales and service network, the largest network of dealers and service centers amongst car manufacturers in India. As of March, 2003, they had 178 authorized dealers with 243 sales outlets in 161 cities. For service, they had 342 dealer workshops and 1,545 Maruti Authorized Service Stations, or MASSs, which covered 898 cities in India