Maruti Suzuki tops reputation benchmark study

April 4: Maruti Suzuki enjoys the most favorable reputation in the inaugural ‘Reputation Benchmark Study’ released by Bluebytes Industry Reports today. The country’s largest carmaker is followed by Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors. The study is based on media coverage of 20 car companies in during the October 2011 to March 2012 period.

“We chose print publications (newspapers and magazines) in two major languages – Hindi and English – and extracted over 75,000 articles covering 25,555,767 square centimetres. There were a total of 30 different variables measured for over 200 brands and companies put together,” says Piyush Jain, business head, Bluebytes.

Among the brands surveyed, Mahindra & Mahindra’s XUV500 scored 14,000, followed by Tata Nano at around 7,000 in the brand reputation score index. The Maruti Dzire came a close third.

As competition hots up in the car market, the reputation of a brand or a company is becoming an increasingly decisive factor in the buying process of a car buyer. Bluebytes says it decided to conduct a study of the media as plays a very important role of a “transmitter”, which is a key factor in building a positive or negative reputation.

SUMANTRA BAROOAH