The Hindu Business Line : Pamper shops for Mercs

In keeping with the rising demand for Mercedes Benz cars, DaimlerChrysler has identified India as a pilot market, which status requires dealerships to upgrade to the company's international standards.

MERCEDES BENZ AH250 certified workshop of Trans Car, Chennai. — S. Muralidhar

With increasing demand for super luxury marques such as the Mercedes Benz and Audi, including the fully imported models in their portfolio, the need for improving the quality of after-sales service has also been rising in tandem.

DaimlerChrysler India, manufacturer of the Mercedes Benz brand of vehicles, has quietly been beefing up its after-sales and servicing networks in the country so as to benchmark them with similar outlets set up internationally.

Starting from signage, presentation and interior décor to equipment and servicing technology in use at the new service outlets, a total of about 2,000 modifications are said to have been made by DaimlerChrysler India (DCIL) to enable these after-sales centres to meet the international dealer standards set by the German parent.

In keeping with the rising demand for Mercedes Benz cars in the country, DaimlerChrysler has identified India, along with China and South Africa, as a pilot market. The pilot market status requires dealerships to upgrade to the company's international standards.

DaimlerChrysler's dealer standards differ based on the size of the market and so different markets also have a differential grading system of standards. So, while countries such as China have AH800 or AH1200 ranked dealers, Indian dealerships and service outlets are graded lower in the AH250 and AH100 categories.

AH is short for Auto House (Mercedes' lingo for a dealership) and the categorisation depends on the volume of new cars sold in a year by the dealership. A typical AH250 service centre of DCIL will have a workshop floor area of about 1,500 square metres, storage facility of about 4,000 square feet and a capacity to handle about 16-18 cars for repair per day.

The equipment and capacity standards specified by Mercedes for an AH250 category workshop include 16 workstations, 12 mechanical repair bases and four body and paint bases. The numbers specified for an AH100 workshop are about half as many.

First in India

DCIL claims that its AH250 workshops are the first in India to adopt so many international standards for its service outlets including a common global format for front display area, workshop layout, wall and display colour scheme, flooring, furniture type and front office layout.

So, if a customer walks into a Mercedes AH250+-certified service outlet anywhere in the world, they will all be identical to look at and be able to offer similar service quality.

There are a total of five AH250 certified workshops for DCIL in India — two each in Delhi and Mumbai and one in Chennai.

While these three cities represent the major markets for Mercedes Benz cars, the company's after-sales network includes 23 other cities in the country, where 13 AH100 certified workshops are also present.

In addition, Mercedes Benz-authorised small service centres called `Spokes' with two workstations for emergency care have also been set up in satellite towns near major markets. All showrooms and workshops of DCIL are ISO9001:2000 certified. In keeping with its policy of incorporating environment-friendly work techniques, AH-certified workshops also feature dust-free sanding equipment, central exhaust venting, an advanced paint booth and a four-stage wastewater treatment plant.

Mercedes' luxurious cars have all along pampered their car owners. Now, it is as easy to keep their cars pampered.

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