Maruti Suzuki adds snob value to its India Biz

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Maruti Suzuki adds snob value to its India Biz
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Maruti is in an image revamp mode. India’s largest car maker in terms of volumes have been a trusted name when it came to sub 5 lakh cars in Indian roads. People willing to buy premium cars were earlier shying away from Maruti and were more invited by Honda, Hyundai and Toyota, thanks to their premium offering.

But things are changing for better for this Indian automaker.

The elites with shining wallet willing to pay for a premium car from Maruti would no more need to wait for their turns at showrooms jostling with Alto buyers as Maruti Suzuki is launching high end showrooms to market cars with a price tag above Rs 8 lakh.

The NEXA-branded showrooms, which will start operating from Phoenix Mills in Mumbai, Brigade Road of Bengaluru and Hyderabad's Jubilee Hills would not sell Alto , WagonR and would only concentrate on premium cars.

In a news report by The Economic Times, the upcoming premium crossover, S Cross, will be the first model to be sold through the NEXA outlets - the vehicle's launch is expected within a month. The company has already formed a new organizational structure in place led by Partho Banerjee and his team. The company will have over 100 new outlets under NEXA brand by the end of this fiscal year, a feat which has taken more than 3-4 years for its MNC rivals.
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The vehicles sold through NEXA outlets will carry a Suzuki logo, but won’t carry a Maruti Suzuki nameplate.

It hired more than 700 sales staff with experience in the hospitality and aviation sectors - people who are trained in the nuances of dealing with wealthy customers. They have their soft skills honed further by global experts like Dale Carnegie. The designing for the showrooms is done by Hakuhodo, the Japanese agency that has worked on Nissan's Infiniti showrooms in the US, the ET report confirms.

In May, ET had reported about Maruti's plans to have a separate NEXA channel to sell premium vehicles.

R S Kalsi, executive director, sales and marketing at Maruti Suzuki told ET, with an eye on achieving 2 million sales by end of 2020, the company is embarking on a new phase with NEXA. Kalsi says, in the first phase (1983 to 1993) of Maruti's presence, the company offered new products to the starved Indian buyers, between 1993 to 2003, focus moved towards offering complete solution of finance, insurance, accessories, buy back along with the car, with NEXA Maruti wants to take the buying experience to the whole new level

"The new channel is aimed at offering a very personalised experience of today's evolved buyers and we think S Cross is an ideal product to offer NEXA experience," added Kalsi.
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At launch, Maruti will have 30 NEXA outlets ready, thus covering over 65 per cent of premium end of the market.

Maruti intends to offer pick and drop facility from the customer's doorstep for a NEXA visit, something common in the luxury-car market. While the company is beginning with the S Cross, it may eventually add the Ciaz sedan and premium hatchback YRA to the sales channel.

Pradeep Saxena, ED at market research firm TNS Automotive told the financial daily, a separate channel will help Maruti Suzuki as the prospective buyers will be different and they will require a different kind of experience. He thinks the concept can work, people expect more attention and they will get more attention.
"We all know Maruti because of its distribution strength, through premium channel, you are forcing people to come to a specific shop. So there could be trade off between offering better treatment and in-convenience of traveling longer. So Maruti Suzuki will have to deal with it," said Saxena, while talking to the financial daily.

(Image : Reuters)

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