The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) will kick off its debut annual convention in New Delhi on September 4. This will be held at the ITC Maurya, just next to the Taj Palace, where SIAM and ACMA have their own conferences in the following days.
FADA is clearly keen to show that is is an integral part of the automotive ecosystem. It has already been making news quite frequently in recent times thanks to the massive spate of job losses in the current slowdown. Dealers have had a hard time with nearly 300 showrooms already shut down and two lakh jobs on the line.
The investments in dealerships is also considerable and recovering them is a nightmare especially in these times when footfalls are increasingly becoming elusive. For dealers in big cities, this is a killer blow considering they have to cough up high rentals and a host of other overheads. Not surprisingly, many of them are downing their shutters.
In their turn, companies also realise that big showrooms can give way to smaller setups where a digital play can add to the overall customer experience. Volkswagen, for instance, has gone in for pop-up stores while Groupe PSA will have in place La Maison Citroen for India. This will be a manageable showroom with a couple of vehicles and a digital ecosystem to help out interested buyers. Clearly, companies are thinking big with small outlets.