From modest middle-class mobility to conquering the world

My first car was a Maruti 800. This was back in the 80s, a time when I worked at the Maruti company. We took immense pride in being part of the auto revolution that was taking place. The Maruti 800 was then a state-of-the-art car—snazzy to drive, colourful, and vibrant to look at.

More importantly, it was accessible to many who hadn’t dreamed of owning a car before. Maruti, as a brand, symbolised inclusive upward mobility and the advancement of India as a nation. A car that brought India home, bringing Indians out of the rain.

As the market grew, the compact car still dominated the new car sales, but the modern sedan came in as well. The sedan brought in codes of stateliness and success, superiority, and higher stature.

From an archetypal lens, the compact car was the 'regular guy' archetype—a family car that democratised upward mobility. The sedan, in contrast, had codes of the Ruler archetype—stately, worthy of respect and admiration.

All that is long past. Compact cars now account for less than 30% of the passenger vehicle market, down from around 47% in 2017-18. The sedan numbers too have declined and no longer symbolise the Ruler codes.

The dominant 4-wheeler on Indian roads today is the SUV, accounting for over 55% of new car sales. The growth of this four-wheeler segment in India defies all logic and reason.

The Indian roads and parking facilities are unsuitable for these oversized vehicles, and the traffic congestion prevents them from achieving high speeds or sudden accelerations. Additionally, these vehicles are fuel-guzzlers in a market where consumers prioritise fuel economy when selecting a car. Clearly, logic and rationality are conflicting with desire and aspiration.

We used Kantar’s NeedScope system to decode this discontinuous shift in the market. NeedScope is a psychological framework based on fundamental human motivations. The system has been deployed to create meaningfully different brands around the world by crafting sharply differentiated positioning strategies. NeedScope AI decoder is a tool within the system that has been trained to decode symbolism in a brand’s communication. We tested advertisements of all three categories with the AI decoder.

Compact cars sit in the affiliative space of the model, representing inclusion, care, and harmony.

Sedans (of the past) were expectedly in the opposite space—a display of success and superiority.

The emerging SUV symbolism was a complete discontinuity from the past. The majority of adverts symbolise boldness, daring, adventure, even defiance and aggression.

The likeable regular guy of a decade ago is long gone. Even the formal, elegant, stately ruler is waning. What has emerged as the dominant code is the warrior archetype—the conqueror, the invader, the adventurer, the outlaw.

This raises several questions:

With everyone promising adventure and thrill, are auto companies creating a sea of sameness? Does this mean advantage—market leader? What does this mean for other competitors, the ones who entered the market later? How can they develop a strategy to challenge conventional living and driving in a category that is highly competitive?

As all companies look for a share of play, what does Mahindra do to draw territorial red lines that others find hard to cross? And conversely, given the SUV symbolism of power and potency, what does this mean for companies like Maruti and Tata—that have been built and loved for their inclusive progress narratives?

What is the optimal mix of the legacy SUV codes and those of style and sophistication, equally important to the Indian market? How can this be achieved without them negating each other?

And finally, how will this translate in the e-SUV market, where the dominant message is about mindful, conscious living? 

Have the 'regular guy' codes gone into hibernation? 

Do the shifting codes in the auto market represent a shift in societal values as well? Is the Indian high-power distance culture manifesting in a widespread grab for more power? Is the auto choice a metaphor for a more aggressive, competitive future that will move from the roads and permeate other aspects of our lives?

(Our guest author, Poonam Kumar, is a leading expert of brand strategy and development at Kantar. As a head of brand strategy domain, insights, APAC, KANTAR, she works with global, regional and local clients across a variety of sectors, spanning Asia, Middle East and Europe.)