The Maruti Story - R C Bhargava
My Rating: 3/5
I wanted to read this book since I read a review of it long ago on Facebook. I remember the early 80s, when the car launched amid huge fanfare, followed by so many negative posts that it might not be able to cross or climb bridges and small hills with four people on board. It became the apple of my eye when one of my uncles got his first car from the initial batch back in our hometown (Bhopal), and it was not only able to climb Lalghati (back then it used to be a huge hill to cross from Bairagarh to reach Bhopal) easily, but he used to do highway trips to meet us in Ujjain from Bhopal, say, a distance of close to 190 KMs one way. We loved not only the small size of the car but the power, pickup and efficiency back in the day, when the comparisons could be drawn only with the likes of the Hindustan Ambassador ( a white elephant) or with Premiere Padmini / Fiat, but were good looking cars but somehow not reliable at all or efficient, I must say. I distinctly remember my first highway trip, as my dad got transferred and he decided to hire a car for long-distance travel with a few things that we needed till our goods were transported to the new place. The car we took was an Ambassador, and it was very interesting to see the driver filling water somewhere inside the bonnet after every 50-60 KMs :). But my trip with uncle on the way back was without a break, of-course we stopped for lunch but he never touched the car bonnet or do any fill over, he didnt even stop at a fuel bunk to top up the tank, if my memory serves right, while uncle slept peacefully, his son overtook some 40-odd trucks on the highway, a distance of 200+ KMs, and my job was to count the trucks or buses and let as many pass while we had our lunch so he could overtake them yet again in his Maruti 800. No doubt, it was a revolutionary product back then in the 80s when it was launched and look at the turnout, as even now the company Maruti Suzuki India still holds 42.5% market share of all cars sold. Isn’t it incredible?
Now this book talks about the journey from Sanjay Gandhi’s dream of having an Indian car to the joint venture with Suzuki Motors Corporation Japan and finally the making of the most successful PSU in the history of the Indian Economy, which went on to become one of the most successful companies from our part of the world, and is still going strong. Now they are proudly exporting to Western as well as European countries. No doubt the company has gone places in the last four decades since its inception. I personally have owned three of their cars, including the much-loved world car- the Zen, followed by the Alto 800, and my last stint with a Maruti was the Ertiga, the people mover that we had for three years, and we did some amazing trips across India, including two Mumbai to Ladakh runs back in 2013 and 2014, respectively, that too without facing any issues at all, with the whole family and a few friends on board. It was incredible to read the full story about how the company got incorporated, the challenges they faced and how, by the end of its first year, the company was not only profitable but beat the competition by a few times. Unfortunately, as far as the reading goes, the first and the last chapters were pretty interesting to read, but the rest of the book in between, say some 250+ pages, read more like a case study, diluting my interest, but I kept reading as there was so much to learn from it, and I must say that the HR professional in me has picked up quite a few pointers that I will try in my own company in due course of time. It was no surprise to read the then Govt’s backing of the project, as Sanjay Gandhi’s mother was the then Prime Minister; both of them unfortunately didn’t live long to see his dream fulfilled, but what it did was empower the middle-class Indian with a dream car for life, and no surprise that it is still going on a success run with almost no company giving them any challenges as of now.
Do let me know if you have read this one and liked it too, or any other similar book based on another success story. I am going to look out for a Tata or Mahindra story of this kind, as that too will make out to be a very interesting read, especially if there is a Ratan Tata or Anand Mahindra version.
