Follow road rules, no safety add-ons needed: Suzuki

GREATER NOIDA: Adherence to the rules of the road is more crucial to protecting lives than putting special equipment in cars, Suzuki Motor Corp’s global president Toshihiro Suzuki said Wednesday amid a raging debate over the safety quotient of most automobiles that ply on the country’s accident-prone roads and highways.
“Maintain speed limits and don’t drive in opposite directions. These are basic rules. If we follow them, I don't think we need to make special arrangements in cars to ensure safety,” the head of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd's parent company said on the inaugural day of Auto Expo 2023. “While I think it’s important to introduce safety regulations, I also feel there is a way to ensure safety without making these investments. Follow the (traffic) rules.”
Maruti Suzuki, whose staple has been no-frills small cars on a budget, refuses to give up on them despite the onslaught of SUVs that have shaved off a significant portion of its market share in just the last few years. While the company supports regulatory interventions to make cars safer, it maintains that enforcement of rules is the bulwark against most fatal accidents on Indian roads.
The company, which once accounted for one out of every two cars sold in the country, has been under severe stress as increased competition — especially from rivals such as Hyundai, Tata and Mahindra & Mahindra — has led to its market share slipping to 42%. As sales of Maruti’s bread-and-butter small cars dwindle due to the growing popularity of SUVs, the company has been gradually changing course to fall in line with the trends.
So, what convinces Toshihiro that small cars haven’t fallen out of favour among Indian buyers for good? “I think that small cars still fall under an important category in India. Remember that out of 1.4-billion people in the country, only 3% own cars. Small cars still have a large market potential. And so, they are likely to do good in the future,” he said.
The company’s global president went on to argue that small cars might yet be a bigger bet for the future than muscle cars. “You might not require bigger cars in future, but may still require small cars to support mobility of people.”
The Suzuki president, who unveiled the company’s first electric car in the eVX SUV concept, said that while full-battery vehicles were crucial, there was also a need to look at sustainability through other alternates such as hybrids, CNG, flex fuels and ethanol blending.