Kenichi Ayukawa: Driving On The Success Track
There is one thing that puts cricketer M.S. Dhoni and Maruti Suzuki CEO Kenichi Ayukawa in the same league. They both are as cool as a cucumber, build team spirit, foster innovation and are very astute in gaining victory. But what sets Ayukawa apart from Dhoni is that the Suzuki veteran is a Japanese who has the knack of enculturating himself to whichever country he has been posted in (including Pakistan). When he was appointed as the managing director of Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) in April 2013, the company was plagued with issues such as labour unrest, economic headwinds, sagging volumes, declining marketshare (to less than 40 per cent), disruptive forces, etc. However, with his sheer team management skills and remarkable acumen, the country’s largest passenger vehiclemaker has regained its marketshare (at 50 per cent) and is now gunning to double its sales to 2.5 million units per annum by 2025.
“The first thing that strikes me about Ayukawa-san is that little smile on his face. He personifies calmness and measured reticence very rarely seen in most CEOs in the auto industry,” says Avik Chattopadhyay, founder of Expereal, a brand strategy firm.
Apart from helming the Indian operations, Ayukawa has been an Executive Vice President of its parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation since 1 July 2017. For Suzuki, India is the cash cow as this market is its highest contributor to its consolidated profits ad volumes. Thanks to Ayukawa’s dogged determination, MSIL has metamorphosed itself from a minicar specialist to a passenger vehicle maker having a wider gamut of product lines. The company rolled out Nexa, a chain of premium sales outlets selling premium cars such as S Cross, Baleno, Ignis and Ciaz under Ayukawa’s leadership. With premium cars accounting for roughly 15 per cent of its overall volumes during 2016-17, MSIL is now anticipating to garner around 20 per cent of its annual sales from the Nexa network during the recently concluded financial year.
“Ayukawa’s leadership has enabled Maruti Suzuki turn around as an organisation. It has made a strong comeback, regained its market share and became a stronger organisation with regular competition,” says Puneet Gupta, Associate director at IHS Markit, a sales forecasting and market research firm. Ayukawa’s long term vision has even forced most of global OEMs rethink their India strategy. MSIL also has been able to retain the best of talent with them and have excellent HR practices. Thanks to Ayukawa for putting India on global map as the 4th biggest automobile market in the world, adds Gupta.
While product launches and network expansion are an ongoing process, Ayukawa is now bracing himself up for the most challenging tasks of his career -- controlling costs while bringing in new technologies for the upcoming emission and safety norms. He is also deliberating on strategies for his company’s maiden electric car, which will hit the market by 2020.
