The marketing battle between Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor India is refusing to die down. The two leading domestic car manufacturing companies are at loggerheads yet again after Maruti Suzuki, in an apparent reply to Hyundai's earlier negative marketing campaign against its model, Ritz, launched a scathing attack on the Korean company in an advertisement showing Hyundai's best-selling compact car, the i10, in poor light.
According to Hyundai, Maruti Suzuki - which is India's leading car maker with a market share of almost 50 per cent - made unfair comparisons between its A-star and the i10 in a newspaper advertisement appearing in two of Mumbai's tabloids on Saturday.
The comparisons between the two models were made on eight different aspects, including mileage, features, security, control, safety, performance, technology and looks. According to Maruti Suzuki, the i10 'failed' to pass the parameters set by A-star.
When contacted, a spokesperson at Hyundai said: "This is a deliberate attempt by Maruti to make our models appear in bad light when, in fact, they are doing exceedingly well. There is also a big error in communication regarding the mileage they have quoted for the i10."
Maruti has sourced the mileage figure for the A-star from the Automotive Research Association of India, which is at 19.6 km/litre whereas, for the i10 the figure has been sourced from an automotive magazine, which pegs it at just 12 km/litre.
"If you are taking the ARAI figure as the benchmark for fuel efficiency, then you have to use it for our model as well. The i10 delivers a much better fuel economy than the quoted figure. Besides, our model's (i10's) monthly sales are three times more than their A-star," added the spokesperson.
Maruti officials were not available for comments.
A little over two weeks ago, Hyundai had launched a critical marketing drive against Maruti's newly launched Ritz, using findings and comments made by European auto magazines and auto experts.
A tougher demand outlook for the next couple of months following the onset of the monsoon has forced many auto companies to increase their discounting schemes on car models in order to lure buyers.
This has led to a rise in the battle for market share amongst car models like the A-star and the i10, which compete in the same B+ segment. The i10 (1.1-litre) is priced at Rs 346,000, while the A-star is priced at Rs 358,000 (ex-showroom Mumbai, both base variants).
Both models have near-identical power of 67 BHp, although the i10's engine is marginally bigger than the A-star's.
This is not the first time the two companies are engaged in a catfight over marketing their own car lines. Less than three years earlier, Hyundai had approached the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission after Maruti Suzuki had used the findings of a disputed market study done by TNS/TSC in newspaper advertisements.
The MRTPC bench, then headed by Justice O P Dwivedi, subsequently asked both the auto giants to avoid targeting each other in advertisements.
Prior to this, Maruti had strongly objected to Hyundai's advertising brochure, labelled as "Xing ahead of the Swift" and had also asked for an apology, terming the campaign as "false, misleading and deceptive".
Maruti then (in 2005) had introduced the best-selling Swift in the Indian market, while Hyundai had launched a face-lifted Santro, called Santro Xing, prior to that.
