India truly lives in villages and this has been sensed by car makers as well. Maruti India has reportedly decided to step up its focus on rural India where one third of its cars are sold. As per the bullish estimates by the largest car maker, rural India Maruti car sales is expected to contribute half of the total car sales in the next three years. Notably, Maruti Alto, Maruti Swift and Maruti Swift Dzire besides other Maruti cars sell well in the rural markets as well. Targeting the rural landscape will also help the car maker beat the heat of slowdown and as soon as the overall market improves, the rural market will be a boon for the car maker in doubling the sales figures.

Notably, keeping the rural market in purview is not a new strategy for the car maker and it has always spotted the sub urban land as well as less developed regions to be prospective markets. Interestingly, Maruti cars are so popular in India that auto industry experts believe that a showroom in a village will fetch tremendous sales as people of India trust Maruti, Tata and Mahindra cars well. In rural setting though, Mahindra and Tata cars are considered as rugged. However, with the rural connectivity improvement following the construction of roads, there is an increasing shift from SUV, MUV to sedans. Small cars such as Maruti 800, Maruti Alto were all time hits in rural India.

Now that Maruti has decided to stress on rural India, it is expected that it will not only help the car maker fight the ongoing slump in car sales but will also help it regain its hold over the market that has currently threats by other car makers such as Hyundai which is selling the Hyundai Eon small car like hotcakes in less developed areas.