[GTO]

I think this is one way of forcing a showroom upgrade / renovation down the dealer's throat. We have to realise that most of Maruti's showrooms are now really old and starting to look outdated.

Originally Posted by Avikbrio

Then what is the difference between this and Nexa now?

Nexa was never about 'premium'. It was to expand the existing sales channel. They couldn't open up another Maruti showroom within 200 meters of an existing Maruti showroom, but they surely could do so with a new 'Nexa' outlet. To keep existing dealers happy, they were offered the Nexa showroom first.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Arena 'noun' : a place or scene of activity, debate, or conflict. I guess they decided to make it descriptive based on the high number of angry customers

[RaghuVis]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Look at the Ignis pricing sold through Nexa in the name of premium experience. The most overpriced car today I feel.

I hope you meant most overpriced among MSIL cars. If not you are totally wrong mate. There are much more overpriced yet successful cars. The best example would be the golden goose of Toyota, Innova Crysta

I am not sure why people are so put off about MSIL going a bit premium in showroom looks. It's not that they have announced increase in prices of car now. No matter they show gloss or not, they are going to increase prices in future and people are still going to lap it up.


Do we have a thread to discuss the most overpriced car on road?

[vidyanand]

Originally Posted by GTO

I think this is one way of forcing a showroom upgrade / renovation down the dealer's throat.

Hope this is a reason.

Originally Posted by RaghuVis

No matter they show gloss or not, they are going to increase prices in future and people are still going to lap it up.

Maybe they want to take Hyundai as a competitor.

After Hyundai said they cannot beat Maruti in their game (read segments), Maruti decided to take on Hyundai in Premium segment.

[abhishek46]

Personally, If I were a dealer, I would rather invest in better training of mechanics, and improving marketing and behavioral skills of sales personnel, rather than shiny & flashy Wall/Floor Tiles.

A good customer experience (Sales & Service) will make the customer come back again and again, Not wooden Finish and High Gloss Wall Tiles or some free coffee!

[manishkapadia]

The Nexa initiative earlier and the Arena thing now are for two reasons.

1. Keeping the customer engaged and interested in the brand. Lots of people who using the cheaper Altos earlier have moved higher up in life and the premium thing helps MS retain them within the Maruti ecosystem. Contrary to belief the first time car buyer would go to Maruti anyways. Once they upgrade few years down the lane, its more challenging to keep them hooked to Maruti. This strategy does exactly that.

2. As Marutis numbers shift from the cheaper cars to the more expensive cars, this is something thats needed. The revenue / profit margin per car is going to expand. Leave aside their fully depreciated WagonR platforms that will sell no matter how the showroom looks. For selling the Breeza and Ciaz things have to look more presentable.
Maruti in a way is trying to churn out more expensive cars ( read higher profir margin ) from the assembly line . As a business this results in more topline growth ( read as higher sales ) as well as bottomline growth ( read as more profits ) , while manufacturing in the same factory.

My guess is their next segmentation is going to be for the transport/ taxi sector. No nonsence showrooms at pre decided lowest costs with best rate finance available for the Uber/Ola Drivers. And No nonsence service stations for them as well. As years go by this segment would have the maximum growth. They anyways have the Dzire Tour which targets only this segment. They could add more products for Taxi only once they have made enough money selling it to end customers

Globally Suzuki may be a weak company, but as far as India goes they have everything in place to keep market share and increase it as well. They will even get electrics and hybrids in collaboration with Toyota when the time is right and the volumes will justify investments.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by RaghuVis

Do we have a thread to discuss the most overpriced car on road?

We dont. I checked after I made that comment. And agree with Innova but Innova has established legacy. What does Ignis have?

[sudeepg]

Unless & Until they really improve their services, their NEXA brand is no different than the existing showroom with sales folks in better clothing and a tablet.

My RM never contacted me about the rear brake caliper recall or even once about my service experiences till date. I have written several times to NEXA about spare parts availability problems and issues related to service, I always got redirected to the dealer. They really have no useful information other than a lip service.

Finally the APP, its just too basic and totally useless.

Finally, the reward point system was very hard to get through.

They sold the car and they forgot about it. So I believe GTO when he says NEXA was just a mechanism to expand their showroom, nothing else.

Recently I serviced my car with Bimal on Whitefield road, Bangalore and boy, my experience there was terrific. The SA Hemaprasad is a real gentleman, listens patiently and did a fantastic job

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

A video showing the finer details of the new Maruti showrooms.

Some more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5ZpKQFcC0U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB3Pu-53Mxw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlNLqzkX05I

Regards,
Shashi

[iamahunter]

Way to go Maruti..!!!

I really appreciate what Maruti's doing here.
Read many comments bashing Maruti about increasing the premium and costs. But honestly looking at the competition in the market, its a good start from Maruti.

I know, many will differ and say that Maruti should rather concentrate on the real product than investing in the showrooms and stuff. But guys, aren't we the one cursing when the company launched 18lac Kizashi. Tho over priced, it was a CBU, else it would have been in the 13-15 L territory.

We Indians have always been cursing the company to come up with a cheap product as we don't want our Marutis to be expensive. At the same time we all so curse the company for giving us substandard products. But aren't WE missing the sweet spot, which Maruti has spotted? FORTY_EIGHT % of the market share guys, At-least ONE car selling at the top in every segment Maruti has products.

Let's compare. A normal JOE wants to buy his first car. He goes to Hyundai for EON, Maruti for the Alto. (considering only these 2 brands as they are our most common 1st car brands). Now, JOE gets impressed by Hyundai compared to substandard experience at normal Maruti showroom. Come in the new Maruti showroom. Now JOE is equally impressed by the experience at Maruti. Now, there's a high possibility that JOE might go in for the Alto, or even upgrade to a Wagon-R. This plays in the favor of Maruti. Even in 10 out of 100 such JOES get converted to a Maruti customer, it still benefits.

So I say its a good strategy from Maruti.

[RaghuVis]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

We dont. I checked after I made that comment. And agree with Innova but Innova has established legacy. What does Ignis have?

Well you are almost justifying the daylight robbery done by Toyota. In the same logic, MSIL has built their reputation for decades with their customers and if they start going premium and people are ready to pay then who are we to complain?

Coming back to the main topic, there are close to 2500 dealerships for MSIL. As per reports all the showrooms are going to be converted to new model. Isn't that too daunting and ambitious a task? Maybe they can reduce their advertisements since they are going to be all over the news for the next couple of years just for this!

[androdev]

Originally Posted by iamahunter

Way to go Maruti..!!!

I really appreciate what Maruti's doing here.
Read many comments bashing Maruti about increasing the premium and costs. But honestly looking at the competition in the market, its a good start from Maruti.

I know, many will differ and say that Maruti should rather concentrate on the real product than investing in the showrooms and stuff. But guys, aren't we the one cursing when the company launched 18lac Kizashi. Tho over priced, it was a CBU, else it would have been in the 13-15 L territory.

We Indians have always been cursing the company to come up with a cheap product as we don't want our Marutis to be expensive. At the same time we all so curse the company for giving us substandard products. But aren't WE missing the sweet spot, which Maruti has spotted? FORTY_EIGHT % of the market share guys, At-least ONE car selling at the top in every segment Maruti has products.

Let's compare. A normal JOE wants to buy his first car. He goes to Hyundai for EON, Maruti for the Alto. (considering only these 2 brands as they are our most common 1st car brands). Now, JOE gets impressed by Hyundai compared to substandard experience at normal Maruti showroom. Come in the new Maruti showroom. Now JOE is equally impressed by the experience at Maruti. Now, there's a high possibility that JOE might go in for the Alto, or even upgrade to a Wagon-R. This plays in the favor of Maruti. Even in 10 out of 100 such JOES get converted to a Maruti customer, it still benefits.

So I say its a good strategy from Maruti.

JACK buys only Maruti because of overall low cost appeal. He always suspected cars sold in glitzy showrooms because he knows all the glamour comes at a price which he doesn't need. He now sees Maruti no longer values no-frills customers like him, and things are not as cheap as they used to be and he might as well buy that Hyundai which he always fancied.

[Deep Blue]

Whatever its intentions, you got to give it to Maruti for being constantly on it toes, rejigging something here or there to hold consumer interest. Compared to that, the Ford's showroom in my town opened about a year back looks so stingy. The service area is in the basement parking lot of the same building.

[AYP]

While I agree with the fact that Maruti or any other company should concentrate more on the real product than investing in showrooms and other stuff, there is no denying that better designed showrooms/service areas or any workplace in general makes your experience better. Also, it gives you a satisfaction that the services you are getting is better and 'premium'.

I for one am brand conscious, and a better looking showroom and service area will have an effect on me when it comes to taking a buying decision, though the main product itself will be the main priority. Maruti has been struggling with its 'cheap' car maker image for quite some time. These steps are being taken so that people get over that image of Maruti. The people who see Maruti as being a 'cheap' car maker will not just start buying it after the advent of these showrooms, but in the long run, Maruti may just be able to shed its budget image. Shedding their image might not be too important for their current offerings, but it is much more important for their future offerings. If Maruti aims to give us a car costing more than 1.5 Million, then it is definitely not unwise for Maruti to try and form a new and better image for itself before bringing out its new products.

[veyron_head]

In the last few times I serviced my car, Maruti gives me an estimate of a cool 10k per service for my humble Altok10 (run around 75k kms). Everytime I need to fight tooth and nail, go through the estimate with a hawk's eye and try to reduce the bill. I once managed to reduce some 2000 bucks in a 8k estimate! They also put in a new perfume and charge 200 bucks for it. I promptly returned and reduced the money from my bill last time.

I know this is a little OT, but the point I am trying to drive here is Maruti is looking for every opportunity to milk my pocket. This premium experience I strongly suspect is another attempt to make the service/product charges even more 'premium'.

[jazzy47]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

Personally, If I were a dealer, I would rather invest in better training of mechanics, and improving marketing and behavioral skills of sales personnel, rather than shiny & flashy Wall/Floor Tiles.

A good customer experience (Sales & Service) will make the customer come back again and again, Not wooden Finish and High Gloss Wall Tiles or some free coffee!

i fully agree to what you have said . At present the investment is only on the infrastructure, flashy lights, apple ipads but there is a lot of scope on the soft skills and the behavioral part. my opinion and i found most of the staff members are not passionate. Customer should come out from NEXA and just say WOW it was different. Customers are more demanding these days and competition is tough. for car companies this is a real challenge. Anyway Maruti has taken a step forward and it will take a while to get the things aligned to get the brand image working. Best wishes to them.