Maruti to start service workshops for cars sold at Nexa showrooms

When some senior officials of the country’s largest passenger car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), decided to start Nexa showrooms for premium cars, there was some scepticism within the company about its success. However, these apprehensions were proved wrong within a few months, when the company successfully started selling premium crossover S-Cross, which was launched in August, and premium hatchback Baleno in October last year.

The company has already opened 150 Nexa showrooms to sell these cars and plans to open another 100 (to reach 250 outlets) by the end of this financial year, RS Kalsi, Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, MSIL, told BusinessLine .

The Nexa will turn one year next week (July 23) and the company has already sold one lakh units of Baleno (70,000 units) and S-Cross (30,000 units) till now, Kalsi said, adding that “this is just the beginning of Nexa and there’s a lot more to do.”

As part of the phase-II plan, MSIL will start workshops for Nexa customers in the next few months. Till now, it was servicing Baleno and S-Cross at Maruti’s 3,000-plus common workshops.

“We are at a drawing-board stage and will do some pilot workshops in a couple of months. These workshops will have a different experience, with special lounges with free Wi-Fi, high-quality entertainment systems, beverages and providing great services to our customers,” Kalsi said.

Kalsi said the workshops will have better skilled mechanics to handle premium cars.

Apart from servicing cars, the workshops will also provide mobile service vans for minor check-ups at a customer’s residence. Pick-up-and-drop facilities will also be provided to customers who want to save their travel time to these workshops, he added.

In addition, MSIL is launching ‘Nexa Lounge’ at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (T3) in New Delhi next month exclusively for customers of Baleno and S-Cross and the upcoming Baleno RS and Ignis to be launched during the festive season and early next calendar year, respectively.

MSIL had started Nexa outlets to reach out to a wider range of customers.  The number of relationship managers at Nexa showrooms will also go up to 5,000 from 3,500.

 Nexa is one of the major initiatives by MSIL to achieve its target of selling two million vehicles a year by 2020, out of which Nexa would provide 15 per cent of total sales from 10 per cent at present, Kalsi added. 

COMMENT NOW