Maruti's experiment with logo badging not the first in the country

Maruti Suzuki’s plan to use only the S logo to brand its premium cars follows the lead of most luxury car makers, which use logos and not names on vehicles.

Hyundai Motor India, Maruti’s closest competitor, has made this a standard practice in many of its models. Hyundai stopped using the company badge in some models from the end of 2013. Its uses the circular H with the model name.

The country’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki, controlled by Japanese car maker Suzuki, uses the Maruti Suzuki company badge, along with the S logo and the model name on all its cars. To appeal to premium customers and make vehicles clutter-free, the company plans to drop the Maruti Suzuki badge from its top-end models, beginning with the S-Cross, due for launch in August.

The branding exercise does not hold any financial implications for Maruti Suzuki, which paid a royalty of 5.7 per cent of 2014-15 net sales to Suzuki. As part of the exercise, Maruti Suzuki will sell premium cars through a network called NEXA.

Hyundai has stopped the use of the name badge in the Grandi10, Elitei20, i20Active, and Xcent. Creta, the company's upcoming sports utility vehicle, also had only the circular H badge in the preview last month.

Till 2013, the City, the highest-selling sedan in the country, used to sport the Honda logo. However, it now uses the Honda name along with the logo.

Mercedes-Benz only uses a star and Audi its four-ring symbol in their vehicles.

NEXA, the first attempt by any domestic car company, is being launched by Maruti Suzuki to provide a different experience to customers. “New customers have new expectations and the only way to meet their aspirations is to deliver an entirely new experience,” said a company statement. NEXA will only sell premium vehicles. The company will launch a hundred such dealerships in 30 cities by the end of the current financial year.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited