[edunata]

Very nice and detailed interview. Thanks to ChiragM. May be this interview will open up a new category of TeamBHP forums.
I have one question in mind. In many posts I have read that after a customer book a car of specific variant and colour, the dealer order it from OEM, as per the customer's choice of colour and variant. If this is the scenario, then how unsold stocks build up at dealer's inventory ?

[scorpian]

Originally Posted by edunata

If this is the scenario, then how unsold stocks build up at dealer's inventory ?

You cannot always wait for a customer to place his order and then process it in DMS,some customers are walk ins and who directly buy cars,its a risk the dealership has to take to maintain some stock to ensure his volume target is met.
Some variants are sometimes ordered and remain unsold for various reasons such as color etc and that's how inventory pile up happens. They are then categorized as vintage after 6-9 months and additional incentives are offered to sales executives to push the stock out.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by edunata

I have one question in mind. In many posts I have read that after a customer book a car of specific variant and colour, the dealer order it from OEM, as per the customer's choice of colour and variant. If this is the scenario, then how unsold stocks build up at dealer's inventory ?

Inventory build-up can also come from scenarios like this:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-...ng-thread.html (The "I cancelled my booking" thread)

[pf007]

Hey GTO, apologies for not reverting earlier, I was stuck with COVID and the gravity of 2nd wave is known to all.

Heartfelt thanks for posting the content and giving me the opportunity to interact with other petrol heads on TeamBhp platform. I hope the elements add to the knowledge of forum members.


Thanks
Priyank

[pf007]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Loved reading this interview from the 'other side'. Thank you Priyank for sparing your time and sharing your perspectives. It helps us as buyers to understand your constraints and challenges better. As an ex-businessman they way I saw it was that car dealerships require a significant investment in capex, a large investment in inventory and the challenges of dealing with customers who are edgy about the second most expensive purchase in their life. Not an easy business.
Interesting take there on waiting periods (and hence perceived value) increasing the demand for a car.

I think this industry interview is a swell idea and Team BHP should make it a regular monthly feature interviewing key folks from the OEMs, designers, dealers maybe even the folks from the RTO or Ministry of Road Transport.

Thanks Narayan, pleasure is equally mine. Yes this business is a capex oriented business but still you have 100's of applicants at any corner of our country specially for 4 wheeler dealership.
We Indians follow herd stature, hence waiting released to perceived value.

[pf007]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Fantastic idea, made worthwhile by a candid interviewee. Kudos to all involved!

Thank you Chetan, appreciate your support to go this on AIR.

[pf007]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

What a delightful and insight interview. A big vote of thanks to Priyank for all the details and information shared. I echo @V.Narayan's point of making this more of a running series, albeit the availability of folks to give time and details on their related profession in the automobile industry. There are so many other professions / areas that can be explored to open up the understanding of one and all into these professions / businesses (e.g. bhpians who are in the business of ancillary parts & services / multi-brand outlet owners / automobile journalists / designers etc.).

For instance, I would love to get more clarity on how customer issues (/complaints) with regards to possible dealer related issues and/or warranty related issues are seen from the other side. I'm sure considering a 3-way situation with the OEM, customer and dealer playing their parts, a dealership view would be extremely insightful to hear and understand the difference a more 'reasonable' OEM makes as compared to one that is lesser focused on resolving customer issues.
Excellent work @TBHP! Looking forward to more such articles in the near future.

Thanks for your appreciation, I am glad the content was a worth a read to our members.

All OEM has their own way for complaint handlings, the first contact is offcourse the call centre followed by escalation emails to dealers staff and moving onward till DP's. These days all OEM's take the complaint utmost seriously and you get havoc alerts even on a in-genuine shout.

[pf007]

Originally Posted by akash_v12

Big ups to everyone who was involved with this idea!

Loved reading the detailed interview from Priyank, especially the Behind-The-Scenes at the dealer level. No one except those who are embedded with the OEMs & Dealers will be able to give us a better idea about the industry. These kind of interviews bring in a fresh breath of content for all, especially, teenagers like me who are not very sure about what they want to pursue in the future.

Big thanks to Priyank as well for giving the time for this interview!

Chirag, GTO & all mods, please continue this series. It is very enjoyable to read.

Akash, there are lot of young people perusing careers in Automotive these days. The passion helps to get through the gate along with mandatory eduction requirements. I see the young guns who visits us from OEM's are more dedicated and willing to take the extra mile approach.

[pf007]

Originally Posted by Highh5

This interview came as a fresh breath of air, on team-bhp in terms of content.

Enjoyed reading it thoroughly, questions addressed almost each and every ask I had in my mind, another key thing was I find the answers really honest and apt.
It's always good to know both sides of the coin.
Thanks Highh5, I tried my best to put the real story for all to understand a bit on this business.

Keep it up moderators and GTO, must say commendable job. And I fully agree with @V.Narayan Sir point, that interviews from veterans of other industries will add another dimension and people will be able to see the complete chain rather than just looking at one part of it i.e, the car ownership process.

Originally Posted by TrackDay

Nice crisp interview

It made for a good read with informative content, as well to know the pain and efforts taken from the dealer side. At the end of the day, dealers are indeed an important part of the ecosystem in the automobile world. Looking forward to more such content.

That's a welcome appreciation, thanks. Unfortunately we still have to deal with lot of un genuine complaints on daily basis and issues beyond a dealer par se are raised. Like the famous delivery commitments complaints

[pf007]

Originally Posted by ashlil

Man... I read every line of the interesting interview. Great stuff. Thanks Priyank for your insights. Thanks team-bhp for making this happen. Quite interesting statement that waiting period helps in sales. I heard that Hyundai initially instructed dealers to quote huge waiting period for Creta, just to boost sales. And it worked!

Thanks man, I am surprised that the waiting period quotient is such an unusual statement for our members. I guess its a human behaviour specially for Indian's and the herd mentally we are born with.

[pf007]

Originally Posted by scorpian

You cannot always wait for a customer to place his order and then process it in DMS,some customers are walk ins and who directly buy cars,its a risk the dealership has to take to maintain some stock to ensure his volume target is met.
Some variants are sometimes ordered and remain unsold for various reasons such as color etc and that's how inventory pile up happens. They are then categorized as vintage after 6-9 months and additional incentives are offered to sales executives to push the stock out.

Hey, we cannot disrupt the law of economies in mass market brands. Every car cannot be produced on customer's demand unless it's a highly Niche product like RR. Sales planning is a vertical responsible at OEM to predict variant & colour wise demand of every product launch much in advance.

Originally Posted by ashis89

Inventory build-up can also come from scenarios like this:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-...ng-thread.html (The "I cancelled my booking" thread)

Its one of the factor but not a major factor.

Originally Posted by edunata

Very nice and detailed interview. Thanks to ChiragM. May be this interview will open up a new category of TeamBHP forums.
I have one question in mind. In many posts I have read that after a customer book a car of specific variant and colour, the dealer order it from OEM, as per the customer's choice of colour and variant. If this is the scenario, then how unsold stocks build up at dealer's inventory ?

The production schedule for any assembly line is put N-3 months to say the minimum. No mass market cars are produced on customer demand but yes dealers allocation's are based on DMS booking data. Sales planning also reads and analyse the data from DMS but in the end nothing is 100% correct, It's the customer who wins every time and decide the fate of any product.

Sales planning must have done their job in case of Nissan EVALIA. We all know the result.

Originally Posted by hondafanboy

I have to say this was really a enjoyable read and more importantly very informative. As a customer it makes you to think. There is definitely need for us as a customer to be more knowledgeable and at the same time also considerate. Clearly there are lots of moving parts when it comes resolving customer complaints. Also, carmakers, dealership , service centres needs to bring in a lot more transparency in all aspects. Thanks Priyank for sharing all the good information. Best wishes !

Thanks Fanboy and appreciate your consideration to our side as well. In INDIA its very easy to find negative comments / complains specially with the increasing trends on social media. I believe this has forced to change modus operandi for OEM's which is good for customer but percentage of happy feedbacks still have has a long way to go. I remember MMT and few other website gives you points on posting feedback's.

Originally Posted by Warlock

Enjoyed reading this interview very much. Appreciate the candor as well.

One thing I've always wondered about is how can a customer get a good deal? My friend and I once bought the same car (same year, model, color and same dealer, and we both got it on the same day as well). However, he got a little more thrown in that I did (wasn't a big difference, less than INR 3,000), but that was a bit odd. Curious to know how dealers determine these giveaways.

The dealer did deliver the cars a few hours apart, but we compared notes, which is how I found out.

Hi Warlock, the difference in deals are shed from the dealer margins. Sometimes its customer negotiation skillset sometimes it's a relationship factor and few times pressure on converting an instant sale. You will find the cars on waiting has the same deal though specially after GST wherein same EX Showroom across India.

Few OEM has a policy on no discount above company scheme but normally the economics lands in customer favour.