[GTO]

High Points

- Ford opens 45 Sales and Service Outlets at 35 locations in one day across India. Remember the last time they did something like this (link to thread)?

- Of the new sales and service outlets inaugurated across India, 20 will offer full 3S (Showroom, Sales and Service) facilities, while 14 will be service workshops, providing a full line of after sales services and 11 standalone sales showrooms.

- With the new openings, Ford India has strengthened its pan-India network to 230 sales and service outlets in over 123 cities.

- Over 40 per cent percent of the sales and service network is in tier II and III cities.

- New facilities have opened in New Delhi, Noida, Rohtak, Sonepat, Panipat, Kanpur, Lucknow, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Alwar, Bikaner in the North; Rourkela, Agartala, Kolkata in the East; Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Gulbarga, Hyderabad, Belgaum, Thanjavur, Tirupur in the South; and Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Goa, Jabalpur, Indore, Sagar, Solapur, Bhillai, Jamnagar in the Western region.

[ricky_1605]

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[libranof1987]

Inaugurating 45 in a day is quite a task! Are these stand-alone dealers or part of a larger group (a la Sai Service for MS, Concorde for Tata etc.)?

In line with their upcoming vehicle launches, it is a good move to have a larger network for sales and service.

Even better is spreading the network in Tier 2 and 3 cities.

On a lighter note, why do it over a single day?

[VW2010]

On a lighter note, why do it over a single day?

1)its more of a marketing stratergy where the news of opening 45 centres firstly drives some of us to see where they have opened

2) The impact of adding 45 together out weighs adding one centre a day.

3) General mindset of people to react to such a news is positive and may create an impact in sales. I personally went through the list of 45 centres to see where all they have sss now.


Tier2 and Tier 3 mostly stick to Maruthi mainly because of service. I am sure these changes will see an impact on sales.

Indirectly it challenges comapnies like VW where their service centres are not wide spread and buyers decision may start tilting.

For a buyer where the primary decision is based out of service centre a Ford becomes an options over VW.

For buyers where the primary decision is based on country of origin where service plays secondary role, may get mildly impacted where they may start now comparing the cars at same level (Fiesta with Vento) and the decision may shift towards fiesta purely because of service centre.

[BeamerBoy]

I love my Fords. Still retain 2 in my garage.

I have been a silent victim of their After Sales Service Apathy. With my Ford Fiesta, I had a policy of giving an Open Jobcard i.e. besides the job I specified, they were allowed to repair/fix/detail whatever they feel like. Believe me, I even struggled to get the basic repairs completed despite of leaving my car at the workshop for 1 to 2 weeks. Touche'

Tried 3 service outlets. Gurgaon, Delhi and even drove to Karnal to get my window winder fixed. Still I crave to find a shop that can restore my Fiesta or my Ikon. :(

To me, it looked like people issue throughout. Nice facility, service reception, interactive service bay but nobody worth interacting with on the interactive service bay!

And now, they open 45 centers in 1 day! Where do they find people to man them? Who qualifies them? Somehow, this news scares me more than it excites me.

[Deep Blue]

Sigh! How I wish my town was in the list. I still have to trudge 60kms to Mangalore for service or any issues. They do hold service camps in Udupi, now twice a month. But I am not too confident to give the car for service at these "camps".

Ford sales and service seem to be given area wise to a single organisation. For e.g., Cauvery ford runs all the outlets in South Karntaka except for two others in Bangalore. I suppose Cauvery Ford would be the first choice if a service centre were to open in Udupi. So a lot would depend on their willingness and ability to open more service centres too.

[rajeev k]

Kochi gets the second Ford dealership. This is required considering the increasing sales of Ford cars, especially Figo and proper & economical customer centric services are the need for Ford to retain customers.

[mkumar79]

Originally Posted by BeamerBoy

To me, it looked like people issue throughout. Nice facility, service reception, interactive service bay but nobody worth interacting with on the interactive service bay!

Each car manufacturer has its own training center and some of these centers are obviously doing sheer paper work. More than the quality of the car, it is the quality of training that gets reflected in their customers' feedback.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by GTO

- With the new openings, Ford India has strengthened its pan-India network to 230 sales and service outlets in over 123 cities.

This means Ford now has the 4th largest sales/service network in India - after Maruti, Tata & Hyundai. Chevrolet too has around 200 outlets.

[kingofmyworld]

Originally Posted by VW2010

I personally went through the list of 45 centres to see where all they have sss now.

Thats a good news that ford opened new SSS outlets.

Can you guide us through the link where we can have a look at the newly opened up stores?

[mayankjha1806]

This is good news, but i guess all in one day to catch some headline news, and this too soon after the 75K refund fiasco. Would love to see the list as i believe many would be second centers in the town.

Its the opening in smaller towns and villages which really helps more as it would make travelers get support in far off places.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by BeamerBoy

Tried 3 service outlets. Gurgaon, Delhi and even drove to Karnal to get my window winder fixed. Still I crave to find a shop that can restore
To me, it looked like people issue throughout. Nice facility, service reception, interactive service bay but nobody worth interacting with on the interactive service bay!

This is problem across all dealerships of all manufacturers. There ain't much qualified and capable technicians and during service many a checks are given a go by and this is a recent development.
Getting labour for any work, for that matter, is very difficult in Kerala these days. Guys fresh out of colleges and institutes are out there at these centre's to cause hardships to customers.

[ghodlur]

Thats great news.

Opening so many outlets in a single day does give Ford a greater penetration into Tier 2 and 3 cities, this will definitley increase their sales. Is this being done keeping in view the proposed launch of Eco Sport? Is Ford thinking ahead of time anticipating an XUV like hype for the Ecosport?

Apart from this I think they should also start surveying the existing outlets and provide an option to the customers using their facility to rank them. Long time back I had written to Ford regarding this unfortunately could not get a response.

@Kingofmyworld - here's the link to check for the new dealers.
Ford India Private Limited - Locate a Dealer

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by GTO

- Of the new sales and service outlets inaugurated across India, 20 will offer full 3S (Showroom, Sales and Service) facilities, while 14 will be service workshops, providing a full line of after sales services and 11 standalone sales showrooms.

Accidently landed up in one of these showrooms (MPL Ford, Pallikaranai - Chennai) yesterday (Went to check out Figo. Since the showroom had banners and all up few days back itself - I was under the impression its already opened.)

Was a grand event. Lot of people, chairs, balloon etc. Unfortunately - they were all too busy to attend to a prospective customer. Walked out and went to their old showroom (which had a really deserted look and only 2 staff).

[condor]

smartcat : This means Ford now has the 4th largest sales/service network in India
ghodlur : Opening so many outlets in a single day does give Ford a greater penetration into Tier 2 and 3 cities,

4th is notional - it is the actual reach that will count. Hopefully, the next round will provide better coverage.

For eg, in Karnataka, most of the dealerships are in BLR. There are some in other regions, but they will need places like Hassan, Davangere, & Karwar.