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-   -   Maruti opens NEXA dealerships for premium cars (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/159943-maruti-opens-nexa-dealerships-premium-cars-8.html)

Some more NEXA points :

• All showrooms will either have a dedicated customer parking area, or more likely valet parking.

• The interior design theme of the showroom is mostly black & white, with only the car in colour (keeping the focus on the cars).

• Information & transactions will be paperless as far as possible.

• NEXA showrooms will have a dedicated delivery area. Deliveries won't be done in the traditional (cracking a coconut) way, but instead the customer will get to choose what music they want playing whilst taking delivery.

• Each customer will get a Relationship Manager (RM) that stays with them through the entire buying as well as ownership experience.

• The RMs are from banking, airway and even premium car dealership backgrounds. They've undergone training (including staying in the JW Marriot for 7 days) to better understand the level of service their customers will expect.

• The relationship managers will be the 1-point contact for when you send your car for servicing as well.

• Service will be conducted at the same Maruti service centers as other Maruti cars. Later they *might* consider a separate service setup, if feasible.

• At the moment, the Ciaz and other higher positioned Maruti offerings will not be moved to NEXA dealerships.

• NEXA dealerships will not be directly operated by Maruti. They will be dealer owned & operated.

• NEXA dealers will *probably* follow the naming format of "NEXA <area name>" (eg. NEXA Whitefield). They will not include the dealership name. (However, recently I saw members referring to "Bimal NEXA" -- though i donno if that's the official name).

• There will be 35-40 NEXA dealerships at the time of the launch of the S-Cross.

The NEXA demo station:

Nice updates regarding NEXA dealerships, thanks Rehaan.

Yes, probably along with other members, I did mention the showroom was going to be called Bimal NEXA. This is how the RM I discussed with said it would be named. He also shared their website - www.bimalnexa.com [this will be the showroom for Bangalore East is my guess - (Mahadevapura is where the showroom is being constructed)].

Maruti has probably gone very new age with all things NEXA I suppose. The entire first discussion with the RM was on whatsapp only. :D (but yeah, no problem at the very early stage).

OT

Isn't that a TATA Prima truck? They removed Tata logo and placed NEXA instead

TATA can advertise Prima like - "TATA PRIMA taking Maruti Suzuki to the next level."

Appreciate the efforts put by Maruti Suzuki on setting up separate Nexa shpowrooms and it should succeed. At least looking at the pictures the setup appears plush and has a typical upmarket feel. Hope it entices the buyers to purchase the product itself.

Some Maruti showrooms IMO have a very hospital like, general department store and boring appearance. Maruti is trying real hard to shed off its image from the 'Meri Sapna, Meri Maruti' ad days and now wants to get into the premium phase badly which Honda was in the early 2000s.

With the slew of premium launches MS should sell decently in their respective segments even if they wont be blockbusters perhaps owing to their safe and predictable designs these days.

Find it weird that the car doors cannot be opened comfortably by potential visitors.

Maruti would just have to show them their sales figures compared, and that would end that advertising campaign quickly :)

I'm not sure exactly what this demo was for. I think it was just for the press to get a quick taste of the NEXA experience. I don't think it's intended to be a traveling showroom.

This is hilarious. :D

I personally feel if the NEXA cars which Maruti sells, for example, the S Cross are not a hit, NEXA dealers will be counting birds the entire day waiting for someone to come in, very dangerous proposition that.

Not sure if it is only me, but I am still not convinced with the whole NEXA thing. From the looks of it, it will act only as a sales point and service will happen in the normal service stations. So, the buyer will get a premium Sales experience but not a premium service experience - At least for the time being.

I am not sure how Maruti plans to handle customers who visit a non-Nexa dealership and enquire about the S-Cross. If the same dealership has a Nexa showroom, then it is less of a problem. But if it does not have one, it could lead to tricky situations.

If I own a shop and a customer comes to me asking for a product, I will find it very tricky to tell that We do not have the permission to sell it, but yes, our competitor can sell it - Why don't you reach out to them. What will happen if I tell the buyer, S-Cross is just a big hatchback. In fact, you will get the Ciaz - a sedan with the same engines for a similar price - Why don't you go for that? Agreed that the customer is staying with the Maruti brand, but a capable car is most probably being let down here by making its market-reach severely restricted.

Now, NEXA is only for premium products - S-Cross is called the Premium Crossover and I am pretty sure the upcoming YRA will be branded as the Premium Hatchback. But in the process, aren't they openly admitting that Ciaz is not a premium offering? Shouldn't that offend a Ciaz owner / potential owner??

I am no management pundit, but if you ask me, Maruti should have continued selling all products in the normal showrooms and also have premium Nexa showrooms for selling only premium products - but those showrooms need to have premium service centers as well. That will make sure that the premium products reach the wide customer base and also give assurance that the Maruti A.S.S backing is always there. Nexa will handle the customers who like a premium treatment.

You have to experience it to get convinced. I have gone through the whole process of booking through NEXA and more than satisfied:)

I think Maruti is doing this to actually UP their image in the market.
Maruti has always had an impression of being an "affordable" brand.
POSSIBLY the reasons that their premium cars such as the Vitara and Kizashi did not do well at all.

A common man planning to buy a maruti wagon-R(just an example) would not hesitate to get into a maruti showroom thinking that its not premium.
For him its a company which is trustworthy and offers a car which fits his budget.

And to be honest most of the Maruti cars are brands themselves.
If we ever notice, only Matuti 800 is called a Maruti, rest of the cars are very well known by their own names(alto, wagon-r, swift etc..)

EDIT: Regarding the service, Maruti can keep a couple of people dressed in the NEXA coloured cloths... and I think that's it.

If I get a "NEXA" treatment while buying the vehicle, I would expect the same to be continued on to the after sales service as well. While its a good change that they are bringing in dedicated RMs for their NEXA customers, they should provide priority service as well.

According to Maruti, they have deviced an incentive program for regular dealerships to guide the customers to NEXA outlets. As long as the incentives are lucrative enough, this shouldnt be a sticky situation.

Today I got a call from Relationship manager, Nexa Bangalore. I asked him where is the showroom and was told its in Museum Road, opposite SBI.
He was insisting to meet me tomorrow to discuss the features of the car and also to book the car @11k. I said I want to see the car in flesh and also contemplating b/w Scross and Creta. He started saying that Scross is miles ahead in terms of features and he can get the car in 4~6 weeks while Creta will take 6 months. He was repeatedly pleading to pay advance stating that it is 100% refundable on cancellation. I said I am not in hurry and will decide once I see both the cars and also I would prefer an AT. I will be visiting the Nexa this weekend.

That is really nice Volkman. I am happy you are satisfied!!! Just that I am not convinced does not mean it is necessarily bad. What I meant is I am not fully convinced with the whole concept and the execution. As I said, I am not a management pundit and if such a decision was made by the experts, they have definitely seen something that I have not. Don't worry, I will be convinced when I see that :) Waiting for Maruti to prove my doubts wrong. After all, I own a Maruti and am also considering the S-Cross now.

I also have the same reservations about the whole Nexa thing. If some one like Skoda, who is not particularly known for their top quality ASS, started a new initiative like this I can understand. But for Maruti, one of the main USP is their distribution and service network. Why would they handicap themselves with restricting the sales through only a limited number of outlets?