Was Sending The 2024 Dzire To GNCAP Just A Marketing Gimmick?

Back in 2020, Maruti Suzuki’s Senior Executive Director, CV Raman, boldly declared that the company would never send its cars to GNCAP for crash tests. 

Fast forward to 2024, we have a fully functional government-led crash test agency, the BNCAP. Yet, Maruti Suzuki voluntarily sends several units of the 2024 Dzire to GNCAP, and it scores a full 5-star safety!

A full U-Turn this time, and we would like to classify it as one of the best marketing dramas the Indian Automobile Industry has ever seen!

In this case, GNCAP is a privately funded and independent crash-test agency based out of the UK, and it mainly focuses on testing cars from the Indian and African car markets. GNCAP also has a history of advocating for #SaferCarsForIndia.

>Here's An Article About All Types Of Crash Test Agencies In The World

Most importantly, no matter how safe a car one manufactures, it can’t earn a 5-star safety rating unless the carmaker is sponsoring the test. 

For years, GNCAP has been testing Maruti Suzuki models from their end, and as we all know, none of those cars scored well, except the Vitara Brezza. All of these cars were sourced by GNCAP, not sponsored by Maruti Suzuki. 

In the meantime, brands like Tata, Mahindra, VW Group, etc., focused on sending their cars to crash tests and earning the best possible GNCAP ratings. This has been the most crucial marketing aspect of such brands. 

All the while, Maruti Suzuki and its products earned the tagline of “Tincan” because of their poor performance in both GNCAP tests as well as real-life incidents. As expected, even though Maruti Suzuki had the largest market share in India, it started to decline slowly but effectively. 

The Comeback No One Expected!

In recent times, Maruti Suzuki has cars like the Grand Vitara, which can easily score better in crash tests as they are based on the same platform as the Brezza. The carmaker could’ve quickly gained a good rating earlier by sending the car to BNCAP or GNCAP. 

But that’s not what they did. Maruti Suzuki sent several base-spec units of the 2024 Dzire to GNCAP for all types of crash tests before even launching the new Dzire! And the rest is history!

8th November 2024-

“New Dzire From Maruti Suzuki Achieves 5-Star Rating In GNCAP Voluntary Test!”

The GNCAP-posted YouTube video goes viral, accumulating over half a million views itself!

And that’s just one post; there were hundreds of creators on various social media platforms who shared the news of Maruti Suzuki’s historic achievement, reaching millions of Indians through their smartphones!

What’s Even Crazier?

Maruti Suzuki didn’t even have to advertise the new Dzire’s 5-star safety! They released front-page ads in various popular newspapers, but there were no mentions of the safety rating at all!

So yes, it was historic, but it was done for the sake of making a statement to the Indian consumers that Maruti Suzuki is still Maruti Suzuki yet, safer than even the costlier German counterparts!

In conclusion, we will say that the #safercarsforindia campaign by GNCAP has finally made the ignorant giant listen to its consumers’ voices and manufacture affordable cars that are actually safe! 

This might be one of the greatest marketing moves ever in the history of the Indian car scene, but it is also one of the biggest wins for the Indian consumers who have always craved better cars on the road.