The TVS-Suzuki Break-Up

However, the group was particularly successful in its automotive component and two-wheeler businesses. By 2001, with around 25 companies in its fold, TVS emerged as one of India's leading two-wheeler manufacturers. Sundaram Clayton was the flagship company of the group and owned a controlling stake in TVS. Suzuki's history dates back to 1903, when Michio Suzuki founded Suzuki Loom Works in Hamamatsu in Shizuoka, Japan. For the first 30 years, the company focused on the development and production of complex machines for Japan's silk industry. In 1937, the company diversified into manufacturing cars for the Japanese market. It stopped the production of cars and concentrated on the manufacture of the looms during the Second World War.

By 1954, the company was producing around 6,000 cars per month and in the same year its name was changed to Suzuki Motor Co. Ltd. By March 2001, Suzuki's net sales were ¥ 1,600 trillion² and it was one of the top 5 automobile manufacturers of the world. The company had 57 production centres spread over 26 countries all over the world and its vehicles were sold through 134 distributors in 175 countries. (Refer Exhibit I). Suzuki entered India through the TVS Suzuki joint venture, originally incorporated as Indian Motorcycles Pvt. Ltd in 1982.³ The company came out with a public issue in 1984 and was named as TVS Suzuki. In the same year, the company launched its first 100-cc motorcycle, Ind Suzuki,⁴ which was received well by the market...