More than just a Maruti 800

The Maruti 800 was one of the biggest game-changers of the 1980s. It was only natural to get sentimental when the company recently announced that it would stop producing the car. After all, the 800 changed the definition of mobility for those used to the Ambassador and Padmini. Overnight, it became the most fashionable thing on wheels.

But then the ‘80s was just not about the 800 for India’s auto sector. This was also the time when the Japanese got into the motorcycle arena and a host of alliances were forged. Suzuki joined hands with TVS while Honda opted for the Munjals of the Hero group as its ally. Yamaha signed up with Escorts while Kawasaki got into a technical tie-up with Bajaj Auto.

Nobody would have thought at that point in time that this was the beginning of the motorcycle wave in a country that swore by the traditional geared scooter. Bajaj was the monarch of the market and continued to dominate for another decade till customers gradually started shifting to motorcycles.

Yet, there was an interesting trend happening in scooters thanks to the coming together of Honda and the Pune-based Kinetic group. Women in India of the ‘80s discovered that they finally had the solution to their mobility woes with the new gearless scooter. It was not as if men scoffed at the product but this was the macho era of motorcycles and those who opted for this scooter were quickly labelled sissies.

And while the Maruti 800 took the car market by storm, Kinetic Honda became the hottest revolution on two-wheels. The Padmini and Ambassador were still sought after, as was the Bajaj geared scooter, but India’s mobility canvas was rapidly changing. Honda was on its way to becoming the top shot brand in bikes and scooters. The ‘80s were seeing a dramatic transformation in India which would, over the next decade, define new leadership positions.

There was one Indian company which stood up to the Japanese in the ‘80s and this was in the less glamorous space of commercial vehicles. The likes of Mitsubishi, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota promised plenty with their range of pickups but Tata Motors (or Telco as it was then called) literally blew them away with its 407. For the Japanese, it was a valuable lesson on the importance of localisation because their products just could not take on the 407’s competitive costing structure.

The ‘80s were a heady era in India’s automotive history which went beyond the 800. It is to Maruti’s credit that it grew from strength to strength and continues to be the market leader three decades after it set shop here. The Japanese two-wheeler script went slightly awry as alliances snapped but Honda stood tall and is now aiming for the top slot over the next two years.

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