Multi-brand car dealerships coming!

[GTO]

Currently, and as a potential hatchback customer, you would have to travel 30 minutes to test-drive a Santro. Then another 20 to get a feel of the WagonR. And yet another distance to drive the Chevy Spark.

First, Tata shows the way to commoditise a car with the Nano. Now it’s the turn of the manner in which cars are sold in India with Ex-MUL CEO Jagdish Khattar and his proposed multi-brand car dealerships. Think about it, when was the last time you bought an electronic item (refrigerator, TV etc.) from a single brand store? He intends to rope in large real estate players for the infrastructure, and insurance companies to make these as their preferred workshops. Rumors suggest that Khattar will most probably start with service facilities, and then venture out into car retail. I don’t think so; it would be best for him to start with retail as well as service from day one. Single brand car dealerships can be unprofitable in small towns, which could be the ideal starting avenue for these multi-brand dealerships.

Potentially, there is immense additional value to be had by the customer. Not only can you test-drive multiple cars at the same location, but you could expect an unbiased attitude from the sales person as well. When brands are competing on the same shelf, better prices are a given! The downside is the non-specialised nature of these dealerships. How well would salesmen know the attributes of 5 hatchbacks, when most of them don’t even know a single brand well enough? In-depth training will be crucial, along with strong ethics to resist pushing a particular product, only because of relatively higher incentives.

To the dealership owners, it only gets better as the fixed and operating costs are covered across various brands. Existing dealership owners are plain frustrated with the costs and wafer-thin margins on sales. On the flip side, smaller dealers would get thrown out of the market, unless they receive some lifeblood from the manufacturer.

Multi-brand dealerships must excel at customer service and comprehensiveness in product range to succeed. Khattar will require a significant amount of support from car manufacturers; question is whether they will extend this to a multi-brand? Such a concept gives more presence…..yes. But those manufacturers with an inflated price tag or a compromised product may not be that keen to participate, for obvious reasons. Also, some of them exercise so much control that they don’t even sell spare parts in the open market. Will they let Khattar used the all-too-important "authorised" tag. Will they extend warranty coverage to these outlets?

We will surely see this concept work in the smaller towns. But it is in the metropolitan cities where the doubt lies. Challenge : Put simply, would you rather get your SX4 serviced at a dedicated Maruti workshop, or at a multi-brand one that has a more general attitude?

Source : FAI

[BUSA]

I would always prefer to get my car serviced at the dealership of the company rather then a multibrand one.

There is a multibrand car showroom, which has cars from Aveo's, Logans, City's, Innova's to Hummers, Porsches, LRs, Merc's, Bimmers. Lexus and what not. Check this for a article on the Total Car Mall.

[chaxy]

There is one big Auto mall coming up in Hyderabad on the Hyd-Pune highway beside BHEL. I guess its something similar to this.

[elfhelm]

Even now, there are multi-brand dealerships, atleast I have seen some in Thane, FortPoint Motors is one I think.

But yes, I ended up going to the Maruti Authorised Dealer in Thane (the one that shows up on MUL website dealer list) to buy my WagonR.

However a chain of multi-brand car dealerships would give people more options, it'll become more of a buyers market since the authorised dealers might not get preference - atleast on price comparisons. For servicing people might still prefer the authorised workshops, I know I would.

[khanak]

Originally Posted by chaxy

There is one big Auto mall coming up in Hyderabad on the Hyd-Pune highway beside BHEL. I guess its something similar to this.

There was an auto mall comming up at Gurgaon too.

[tsk1979]

I think it will be more like a mall where there will be dealerships of different manufacturers side by side.
For example on Mathura road in Delhi, there are dealerships of around 6 biggies within a km from each other, ranging from Porsche to Tata.

Such a concept would be great.
Imagine going to something called "Automall" where there are dealerships of various car guys side by side.

[girishbhat]

It is really good concept. But it may not work in the way it is proposed. The Auto Mall should do only the sales and leave the service to the respective company service stations. Like if you buy a Sony TV from a multi brand showroom you have to go to Sony service station to get it repaired, or it will be sent to the service station from that multi brand showrooms. Because for any Multi brand Auto stores it is nearly impossible to have a separate team for each brands. And definitely a Merc owner don't want his car to be serviced by a Mahindra or a Maruti guy..

[Sahil]

Great concept...but doesnt it already exist? JMD is a multi-car showroom

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by khanak

There was an auto mall comming up at Gurgaon too.

True and I heard that one can get everything related to automobiles under one roof, be it car show rooms, finance institues, RTO, after market accessories etc. Everything in one mall.
But this news is not about these type of concepts mall.
I would rather love to see multiple brands under one dealership but still go for dedicated service center.

[VBV]

I personally prefer a multi brand dealership. For me, a car is a car irrespective of its brand. And a car needs to be serviced. It is in the service that I find a lot of variances and niceties. If I can share this service across brands, then my choices will increase.

To illustrate this, today I have a Maruti car, and I have a great service guy looking after the car. But if I want to buy a Toyota tomorrow, I am going to lose out on that. With this, I am going to get continuity in service.

VBV

[GTO]

Originally Posted by BUSA

I would always prefer to get my car serviced at the dealership of the company rather then a multibrand one.

There is a multibrand car showroom, which has cars from Aveo's, Logans, City's, Innova's to Hummers, Porsches, LRs, Merc's, Bimmers. Lexus and what not. Check this for a article on the Total Car Mall.

Originally Posted by Sahil

Great concept...but doesnt it already exist? JMD is a multi-car showroom

The primary difference between this, and the existing examples, is the "authorised" tag. Plus, Khattar intends to create a nationwide chain of his multi-brand dealerships.

[amit27]

This a nice concept and will actually help car companies in their march to Category B & C class metros for reach and ***.

[bblost]

actually one of the best ways to test out many cars is to go to a second hand dealer and checking them all out.
Not only do you get to drive different cars under one roof, but you also get to see how the car will age.

Of course you cannot do that to a just released car.

[adya33]

Originally Posted by girishbhat

It is really good concept. But it may not work in the way it is proposed. The Auto Mall should do only the sales and leave the service to the respective company service stations. Like if you buy a Sony TV from a multi brand showroom you have to go to Sony service station to get it repaired, or it will be sent to the service station from that multi brand showrooms. Because for any Multi brand Auto stores it is nearly impossible to have a separate team for each brands. And definitely a Merc owner don't want his car to be serviced by a Mahindra or a Maruti guy..

Spot On!
And now with many service centers being located out of city it will turn out to be a big head-ache for consumers.
Although this can be overcome by very close tie-up between such mall and service center.

But imagine this situation, for whatever reason a person get say defective car at time of delivery and mall refuses to take action saying it is no longer responsible where as service center will refuse saying the issue was when car was delivered. Poor customer "will" suffer in between.

[sujaylahiri]

I can already see Tata, FIAT, Land Rover and Jaguar under one roof in a couple of years.

In fact some of the major manufacturers can themselves work like that in the bigger cities in India.

I mean companies like GM and Suzuki, Ford and Mazda, Chrysler and Mitsubishi who work together in North America can also have common dealerships in other parts of the world if its economically viable.