[h@r$h@l]

Nissan has made its entire range of cars available for purchase over the internet in India.

Link to News Article

[wilful]

Interesting move by Nissan.They also talk of introducing attractive deals for online customers. I guess they will send their staff to these online customers for the paperwork? The others will probably follow suit. One needs pretty high card limits though.

[mints21]

I have my serious doubt that this kind of model will work in India. As per media reports, most Nissan dealers are upset with Hover Automotive India and this is one of the major reason behind many dealers shutting shops. This will further reduce dealership interest in selling a car, which will only be routed through him. Nissan has excellent product range but the company can't wash its hands off by outsourcing marketing and sales.

We are used to a different kind of experience while buying a car. This will certainly not work. If at all, they still continue to focus on these areas then they must understand that the 10% market share ,they were dreaming for will remain a dream forever.

[ghodlur]

Is it just the online booking or the online tracking too right from booking till the delivery at the dealer? This will atleast bring in certain transparency as against what the dealer normally quote for the variants/models.

This will prevent the dealers from making a fast buck by offering the alresdy booked car to the customer who wants it urgently. Althought this wont be happening for Nissan cars atleast but still.

IIRC even Skoda or VW had started this online booking thing but didnt take off.

[Stryker]

How many customers actually buy the car outright? Most of us (there is no basis for this stat but I think I am safe in assuming at least 90%) buy cars via the loan/EMI route and that will negate the above completely. Of the remaining, most will want to visit a dealer to sit in the car, find out more about it, see what the dealer can throw in for free, etc, before actually writing a cheque. Once you have visited a dealer and you are satisfied with the car and the deal, there is some sort of (assumed, highly personal) obligation to buy it from him. On top of all this is the absurdly high credit limit that is required to buy even the lowest end variant of the lowest model on offer. How many of us have credit limits running to lakhs of rupees?

Considering all this, what exactly is Nissan's motive in doing this? I am not sure about what they are trying to achieve by this other than that fact that they offer the "you can if you want" option.

[Deep Blue]

Would it leave the local dealer fuming? Will he provide adequate service when the car needs to be serviced. Besides, I guess Hoover already had problems with Nissan dealers.

[aniketi]

Is COD (Cash on Delivery) option available?

Jokes apart, what is the reason behind this? How they are going to manage paperwork like registration, insurance, LBT etc? They need to involve local dealer for sure else its not possible. Also what about dealer commission? If dealer don't get anything, why he will provide service to customer? I personally don't think this model will get any success here in India, at least in near future.

Like all other e-commerce sites, will Nissan give any additional discount for buying online instead of buying in showroom?

[MaxTorque]

In my opinion, Nissan is just taking the booking process online. One can book the car online and it will be delivered at dealership. Nissan may pay the dealer for their service for getting the paper works done. The dealer will not be worried much as they are actually earning money from service, spares and accessories etc. Anyways a nice concept.

[Yeldo]

It would be very much appreciated if somebody provides the link for this online process. I do not see any link on the Nissan website. They do not even provide price info across various cities now, which they earlier did for the Sunny & the Micra. Or is there a separate website for this?

EDIT: Overdrive website says "The website URL and other particular details will be released on December 11, 2013". So that is settled.

[HillMan]

Good job Nissan. I am sure this works. I have got into the nitty-gritty but, it seems like a win win for Nissan and the dealer.

The booking amount is something most with a credit card buying a car can handle. If Nissan captures the buyer details online, there is low scope for errors in documentation as well. You need a local site for legal formalities, and that will be the nearest dealership.

For vehicle loan processing, you and your bank need to work on it, so there is not much the dealer has to do, apart from providing a per-forma invoice. The bank can release cheque in favour of Nissan

The dealer can send a bank representative home too and take a cut. Private banks do send representatives home/office for documentation.

The final step is with the dealer for the registration process. Need one visit to the dealer for PDI and documentation. Next for Vehicle pickup.

Most likely the dealer, based on their behavior and professionalism, will see the vehicles coming back to them for periodic maintenance. And the dealer didnt have to do any work except charging for registration process and gets paid for the PDI and delivery formalities by Nissan.

I definitely liked the idea. It saves a lot of time and visits to dealership. The best part, you will be dealing with Nissan call center, and not the dealer who has no idea of whats happening, or may be making you wait by allocating your slot to a friend or influential person.

[vvijay]

Forget about the online strategy of selling cars in India that is new with the mass market. I would rather see it as a welcome alternative for a manufacturer who is pathetically handling its very sales & service.

And Nissan - How unwise of utilizing all your resources in making an online shopping running, instead of beginning to deploy your own team to take care of sales & service, the eye of every manufacturer!

Or are you trying to make an interim fix to the entire dealer network fiasco by reaching out to customers straight as a short route?!

[shamanth]

This model will surely work in India in long term and is ideal solution to stamp out corrupt practices of dealers, just like it happened for TV and Refrigerator. Who would have thought 10 years ago Indians will buy these products online? But it happened. Even today we might go to showrooms like Croma and feel the product and come home and order in Snapdeal/Flipkart as we know we will get the same product in lot less price. If similar discounts are given by Nissan then it will work great.

Also if few dealers become unhappy and walk out there will be 100 others to take their place, as we know how much competition is there to take showrooms. They will surely be getting commission once they deliver the car. Customer could select which showroom to purchase also maybe.

Also booking and delivery if it happens under central process with Nissan, and dealers doing delivery at door based on this, will be truly great experience for customers.

[scopriobharath]

I dont think this will push sales up by 1% -

the percentage of people who buy a car just because it is available online is miniscule. People buy a car for its features or reputation.

It may be a friendly move or a caopy cat move from Tata Nano but surely would not bring any improvement in sales.

This could be added to the Sales head's portfolio / presentation to the board members as an "innovation" but in reality would mean nothing.

[Brishti]

Skoda has a similar setup but for them its more of online booking. One has to pay around Rs.5000 and then the rest of the amount to amount to the dealer of your choice. Its not really taken off but Skoda gets some bookings and they are happy.

[HillMan]

A lot of people buy based on word of mouth and have seen the product already with a friend or relation.

No manufacturer has sales penetration like Maruti. That's one of the reason people buy it. You have a showroom in every nook and corner.

A company like Nissan with 100 dealership can not give such convenience to book a car. The prospective buyers now have an opportunity to kick start a process without having to travel to dealership just for paying booking fees.

This is a very welcome move.