Suzuki Motor Corp. is eyeing tripling the number of its dealerships in India to 9,000 to retain control in one of the world's biggest auto markets, Chairman Osamu Suzuki told Kyodo News in a recent interview.

Suzuki, which on Sunday celebrates a century since its establishment, is a top brand in India. Local subsidiary Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., which currently has about 3,000 dealers, sold 1.72 million units in the business year ended March 2019 to claim half the share in the country's passenger car market.

(Osamu Suzuki)

Sales have stagnated in recent months amid India's economic slowdown, but the 90-year-old chairman said it has helped him fish out Maruti Suzuki's weakness, pointing to the need for more dealerships to be set up in less-populated suburbs to meet potential demand.

"India's population is around 10 times (that of Japan) so we need to have around 9,000 dealers there," Suzuki said, citing Suzuki's network of 900 distributors in Japan.

"(Maruti Suzuki) might have reached the limit in creating hubs that can catch big fish like tuna. They should also be building ones for smaller fish like sardine."

The chairman expressed confidence in the production capacity of the unit, which is scheduled to reinforce its plant in the western state of Gujarat.


(Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.'s luxury six seater van XL6)

At home, Suzuki has been trying to regain consumer trust after investigation by outside lawyers found last April that uncertified employees had checked car brakes before shipments and some certified workers had falsified inspection records between 1981 and January 2019.

Faced with new challenges of the industry to adopt more advanced technology, Suzuki signed a comprehensive tie-up agreement with Toyota Motor Corp. in 2017. The chairman said he is "extremely grateful" for technical cooperation with Toyota.

The chairman, who has been at the helm of the automaker for over 40 years, also indicated that retirement is the furthest thing from his mind, saying, "I intend to contribute to society by working for the whole of my life."


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