Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country’s largest passenger carmaker, has begun to focus more on the sale of spare parts and accessories to boost revenue at a time when car sales are slowing down.

The company, which saw domestic sales decline 1 per cent in October, has introduced 350 new accessories and spare parts to boost overall sales, R.S. Kalsi, Executive Director, Spare Parts Business, told Business Line .

It has also set up standalone retail stores that now number 290, and there are at least 80 distributors supplying parts to dealers and retail outlets, he added.

These efforts have paid off.

In the first quarter, the company posted a 5 per cent drop in net sales at Rs 9,995 crore, but its revenue from the sale of accessories and parts grew 20 per cent.

In the second quarter, it maintained the same growth.

The company has also initiated a new scheme, wherein it bundles several spare parts into a kit for a particular service.

This is to ensure customers do not have to visit the workshop often.

Each of these kits is priced between Rs 750 and Rs 1,950, depending on the car model.

These initiatives have helped the company bring down the waiting time for spare parts, Kalsi added.

Earlier, a dealer workshop had to keep a large inventory to service cars, but it is much easier to do so now because of the retail network.

“We have been able to bring down the service time. Also, the linkages in different streams are strong and this is helping the company combat slowdown conditions,” Kalsi said.

For fence-sitters

Maruti has also launched limited edition models of some of its cars packed with special features to make them attractive for fence-sitters.

In 2011-12, it did not launch a single limited edition model, but in the succeeding year, it launched seven, and so far this year, it has launched five.

giriprakash.k@thehindu.co.in

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