From rational to emotional appeal: How WagonR made it to 30 lakh hearts

Three generations and 24 years later, Maruti Suzuki's WagonR has crossed a milestone of clocking sales of 30 lakh cars. Launched in India at a time when there weren't too many hatchbacks, today it competes in an aggressive market. Yet, it has held its position as the best-selling passenger vehicle in the country for the last two years. It has consistently featured in the top 10 best-selling cars in India since the last decade. But it was not always the case. 

Launched in Japan in 1993, the car was introduced in India in December 1999 as an answer to Hyundai Santro. While it was immensely popular in Japan, it didn't immediately take off in the Indian market. Its 'tall boy' design made it stand out from the existing hatchbacks- Maruti 800, Zen and Santro. But the same design was not receiving universal acceptance. 

Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer, marketing & sales, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, who was in the sales team at the time of the launch, recalls that for every three Santros one WagonR would be sold. 

"At the time, the 'tall boy' design was the developing trend. But one of the big reasons for it not being accepted was this design. It was not getting well received by everyone. It was seen as a slightly boxy hatchback," he says.

What then made the 'tall boy' the 'blue-eyed boy' of Indian families?

Based on the feedback received from customers, the company made some design changes in the car. It then roped in a new advertising agency and altered its positioning. 

With the tagline ‘For the Smarter Race’ (created by Saatchi & Saatchi), Maruti Suzuki positioned the car as a rational and logical choice for people.  

"WagonR fit the bill for people who were looking at a rational choice in terms of space, performance, value and quality," Srivastava adds. 

The company's strong distribution network gave it an edge. The brand would also conduct events and give gifts like WagonR t-shirts to make people take a test drive.

"And slowly, WagonR overtook Santro, and the ratio became 6:1 in the favour of WagonR," he says.

Santro was the first vehicle that directly challenged Maruti Suzuki. With WagonR it was the first time the company was competing head-on with its competitors. "At a time when Maruti Suzuki's legacy models had a long waiting time, the challenge was to compete in sales with the new manufacturers like Hyundai. So it was not just a test for WagonR, but for the entire sales team and it reflected the organisation's marketing capability and competitiveness as well," he adds.

Shift from rational to emotional appeal

WagonR stuck to its 'smart' positioning for almost two decades. Its another popular tagline was 'Smartness is Infectious". In 2013, as it completed sales of 13 lac WagonRs, it launched a campaign "India is getting smarter!".

The rational appeal meant the car's ads always highlighted its features and stressed on why it was the right choice.

Its brand ambassador R Madhavan also helped establish this positioning. "He has the image of a rational, common, smart, urban Indian. His presence helped us establish the car for a person who is rational and wants multiple things from his car, including performance, good fuel efficiency, good after-sales service, etc," he adds.

But in 2019, the brand shifted from its cerebral positioning to the matters of the heart with its new tagline 'Dil Se Strong' (created by Dentsu). While the 'dil' here refers to the engine and its improved performance, it also indicates an emotional bond.  

"While it retains all the rational elements of space, flexibility and performance, it also indicates that there is now an emotional connection with the vehicle. For example, it has the highest percentage of repeat buyers as 24% of its customers prefer to upgrade to a new WagonR," he explains.

Design Changes

Over the years the car has seen several design changes. When it was launched, a common feedback was that the back of the WagonR looked like a plain big metal door. It was straight and the number plate was at the bottom. Suzuki engineers worked on it to give it a more stylish look. It was post these changes that the sales of the car picked up.

In 2010 the headlight design was changed and blue tinted parking lamps were introduced. And this gave it the moniker 'the blue-eyed boy'.

In 2019, it offered two petrol engine options - 1.0-litre and 1.2-litre. With this upgrade, it launched the 'Dil Se Strong' campaign. While it retained its tall boy look, it became bigger than before.

Last year, it launched a new model with an engine that enables the vehicle to achieve higher fuel-efficiency with lower emissions.

CNG fuelling growth

Even when the car was not doing well in the country, its sales had picked up in Delhi (where Srivastava was in-charge of sales). Two and a half decades later, Delhi remains its biggest market, followed by Mumbai. The growth in these cities is fuelled by CNG as they are strong CNG markets. Maruti Suzuki's market share in the CNG segment is about 75%.

In 2010, WagonR introduced a CNG option for fuel. Today, it’s about 40-44% of its total sales, the highest in the segment. This consists of both fleet/taxi operators and the personal segments. 

In the recent years, WagonR has become a preferred choice for taxis. Srivastava attributes it to the massive market share that they enjoy and also the fuel efficiency it offers.

But has that impacted the brand's image or dented its sales in the personal segment?

Srivastava admits that it had worried him initially. However, he says that India has a mixed type of consumers. "While some may stay away because of this, many consumers feel that if something is running as a taxi, it must be really reliable, sturdy and fuel efficient," he says.

WagonR in growing SUV market

India is fast developing into an SUV market (43% of total market last year). At 35%, hatchbacks are the second largest segment. How does WagonR manage to hold its own? 

"Last year, we sold almost a million hatches (9,50,000). So it's still a very important market. Also the demography of our country favours hatches. 62% of our population is below 35 years, it's a growing economy and public transport is not so well developed. The requirement for personal transport will be there and not many people can afford larger cars. So the demand for hatches has to remain very strong. Last year it grew 20 percent," he says.

Srivastava says the only question mark on this segment is the affordability factor. The growth in consumers' income in this segment has not kept pace with the increased price level in this segment. "The consumer is more sensitive to price changes in this segment. Admittedly, in the last few years, the affordability has gone down and that had lead to a decline in the hatches," he explains.