WagonR turns 21: Remembering the tall boy's odyssey, looking ahead and more

The first few years were a bumpy ride for this ‘tall boy’ on Indian roads, when it first launched in 1999. But WagonR soon overcame the hurdles, pushing hard with sustained television campaigns and by using familiar faces as endorsers. All of this, plus design adaptations to appeal to a wide setof buyers, soon catapulted the car into the league of star brands from the Maruti  Suzuki stable. Now as WagonR turns 21, in the first year of a new decade, the car that once found its niche among young car buyers is looking at ways to keep the faith with a whole new batch at the wheel.
 
A brand refresh is underway. It kicked off with creating more space, making the car lighter on the road and new-look interiors and lights. A campaign, currently playing out on television and digital platforms, is positioning WagonR as a family car for young households.
 
The new car, Shashank Srivastava, executive director, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India says, has been positioned as a powerful brand inside-out, with strong looks and stronger character. The efforts appear to have paid off, over a lakh units of new WagonR were sold in less than a year since the new and upgraded model hit the road. In comparison, after its launch in 1999, it had taken WagonR five years to clock the same numbers.
 
By undertaking these measures, the brand is driving down familiar roads. Srivastava says WagonR with its bold looks and spacious interiors has continued to be the most loved tall-boy car in the country. Ranojoy Mukerji, an automotive writer and analyst believes that Maruti played a trump card with the WagonR when it introduced the brand in the Indian market. The space it offered was a key selling point.
 
No wonder then that the same values are driving the brand refresh. Is that wise though? Car buyers are not lining up for the familiar, and while looks and space still matter, they want theirbrands to serve a higher purpose. The challenge would be to adapt to the new demands withoutlosing its core promise.
 
It has done so in the past. When WagonR launched, the boxy design set up a jarring tone in the fleet of sleek models that were rolling out around the same time. And then a year later, sales were cannibalised by sibling brand Alto that went on to become a runaway success within a year of launch. After an advertising blitz that highlighted WagonR’s spacious interiors and the strength and stamina of its engine, sales began inching up. In 2017, WagonR hit the 2-million cars sold mark. Since then, four lakh more buyers have jumped on to the wagon.
 
The company had to work hard to ensure that the tall boy design found acceptance. A former employee who was involved with the WagonR launch and marketing says the company stepped up its communication and engagement activities to create the connect, experience and reliability with the customers and to communicate the benefits of this uniqueness in shape and the overall value the car offered. Regular updates helped too.

 
The company measures it success by the fact that over 25 per cent are repeat buyers. “All three generations of WagonR have received widespread acceptance because it has kept pace with changing times and is constantly being upgraded,” says Srivastava.
 
 “WagonR, with its new positioning has reached a stable position for MSIL and going forward our endeavor will be to target new customer segments, to further strengthen the brand,” says Srivastava. To do that the brand may need to spin a newstory too.