At a time when the automobile industry is undergoing one of its worst slowdowns, the marketing strategy of Mahindra & Mahindra will be to focus on investing in its new brands, particularly the XUV300, Marazzo, and Alturas.

The push will be towards brand building and augmenting its visibility, said Vikram Garga, Vice-President (Marketing) - Automotive Division - M&M Ltd.

“The new launches across the market are doing pretty well. So one of our strategies would definitely be that our new products are made much more easily available, seen and tested by consumers...These new products have actually helped us in overcoming the dent in the market in terms of growth, and we will continue to invest behind our new brands, while ensuring that we leverage our existing brands (like) Scorpio and Bolero and make them available to customers as widely as possible,” Garga told BusinessLine .

The slowdown beleaguering the auto industry has been a prolonged one, with passenger car sales plummeting every month during the past year, with October being the sole exception.

“We will balance our portfolio in such a way that we continue investing in the new brands, while we leverage our other brands because of their already strong appeal and access in the markets.” “Even if the number of people making the choices (of buying new cars) are reducing, we need to ensure that the brands are seen and visible,” added Garga.

Tech-related initiatives

M&M will also focuss on technology related initiatives, with plans to introduce its ‘World of SUVs’ — a new digital format of dealerships that uses virtual reality, and involves the integration of such digital technologies at its physical showrooms — in the company’s total number of 450 dealerships — in the next six months.

Currently, the ‘World of SUV’ format is available in 300 dealerships, which were set up in the past 6 months, though the company has been making investments towards the same in a phased, continuous manner over the past three years.

M&M will also continue to push its retail sales, which are the sales made to the end-customers as opposed to the sales made to the dealers. “ As an organisation, we are fully geared and working towards a stronger retail focus than ever before,” he said.

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