[avdhesh15]

I don't understand what is the NEXA experience. Please see below my experience at the Andheri West (Mumbai) outlet last week when I went to check out the S-Cross:

1. I was told to find my own parking on the road. I literally refused to do that and went into the showroom and got some senior fellow out. Argued what the heck is premium if there's no parking leave alone a valet! He then moved a Baleno and asked me to park my car there.

2. The showroom was quite empty as it was afternoon. I was standing with my dad for 5 minutes until some lady asks why I am there - I got the feeling that she thought I was trespassing "LOL"!

3. I then told her I was there for the S-Cross and was allocated a SA. The SA was quite disinterested and the entire experience was pathetic. There were no brochures to explain features, nothing shown on the tabs, etc. Just 1 photocopy of the price list was given to me. He didn't have a clue of what he was talking when I asked him a few questions.

5. No tea / coffee / water offered.

6. I was quite miffed till now and then just walked out. Couldn't stand to be there for another second especially when I was a prospective customer of the most expensive car in there!

7. Lesson learnt: will call the SA one of our fellow members recommended and coordinate with him and visit the showroom. Hopefully the experience might be better.

OT: Went to aam-aadmi Maruti showroom for the Ciaz (as my dad wanted to see a sedan as well) and the treatment was much, much better than NEXA.

As I have always said and maintained, NEXA is not a good strategy and I would rather get cars sold to me by friendly people from the industry rather than some fancy looking people from outside the industry.

[GKR9900]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

If the Nexa is built into a brand, it probably will be at par with Toyota, and the regular Maruti is a economy brand lying below that.

I had always found the NEXA thingy a bit confusing. First of all, there's no separate badging for Nexa cars. They're still branded as Suzuki. It's just the Nexa experience they are focusing on, which is pretty much limited to the showroom premises. Out on the streets, it's still a Suzuki. If Maruti was aiming at something similar to Toyota/Lexus or Honda/Acura, they should've branded those premium offerings as a separate badge. Look how Hyundai did it with the Genesis. I mean, wouldn't the customers who pay a premium prefer to be seen in a presumably superior badge than the budget brand that Suzuki is usually associated with?

Second, about the Ciaz. In a country where sedans are seen with much more respect than an equally capable hatchback, Nexa has ditched the Ciaz in favor of Baleno.
But all these haven't affected their sales, except may be for the S Cross!

[Eddy]

Does anyone know wWhat is the escalation matrix at NEXA ?

[a4anurag]

With the advent of Ciaz to NEXA, Here's what I feel:

Quoting volkman10's post from Ciaz Official Review Thread:

Maruti Ciaz to go premium with facelift in 2016, will join Nexa!

This concept needs to be revalidated by Mr. R S Kalsi. Not that it is bad or faulty but it needs tweaks/refinement. A bit polishing for better customer satisfaction.

What they have done is employed people from different fields where they have no idea is what a car buyer basically looks like.

They being from different industries, if one questions them a bit hard the response is "Sir, we are learning and please give me a moment, I'll clarify with my superiors and get back to you!"

Not that it is wrong but they aren't able to handle the crowd currently and with limited number of NEXA's in the country, it will be a choc-o-bloc once the Ciaz shares the showroom floors.

What Maruti Suzuki should now do is:

1. Expand as much as possible irrespective of this concept being in learning stages so that the reach of these showrooms are increased to cater to better sites of Ciaz and Baleno. S-Cross is not a seller anyway.

2. Get some regular showroom said guys as RM's to handle the crowd.

3. Build larger showrooms that can accommodate the 3 cars hereon.

4. Build the showrooms in such a way that there is no need to struggle for parking.

5. Recruit more staff so that no customer is sitting idle it loitering around - this isn't good for brand value.

[avdhesh15]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

What Maruti Suzuki should now do is:

1. Expand as much as possible irrespective of this concept being in learning stages so that the reach of these showrooms are increased to cater to better sites of Ciaz and Baleno. S-Cross is not a seller anyway.

2. Get some regular showroom said guys as RM's to handle the crowd.

3. Build larger showrooms that can accommodate the 3 cars hereon.

4. Build the showrooms in such a way that there is no need to struggle for parking.

5. Recruit more staff so that no customer is sitting idle it loitering around - this isn't good for brand value.

I still believe NEXA might not be the correct way and they should bolster existing Maruti outlets to handle the newer products:

1. If S-Cross isn't selling and Ciaz is anyway doing well through aam-aadmi Maruti outlets, why would you restrict the outreach of Ciaz by getting it from 1500+ outlets to ~100 outlets? That would be killing the only car giving the City sleepless nights.

2. Baleno sold 9k in November. This number might be production constraint but I believe if it were in Maruti showrooms next to Swift, this would have crossed the Swift sales quite easily. It's easier for people to compare 2 cars next to each other.

3. On the Baleno, apart from a couple of gimmicks, I don't see any premiumness in the product.

4. Am I buying a luxury product? No - I am buying a car costing ~10lacs. In this case, I would be much more comfortable dealing with a "regular" guy rather than an intimidating fellow in a suit. I personally know someone (a property broker) who bought a Ciaz and not S-Cross because he felt intimidated by the english speaking men in suits.

5. People aren't buying the cars from NEXA because it's premium, they are buying because it's a Maruti and therefore will be a breeze to maintain. When you go to buy a NEXA, the SAs themselves tell you that "sir, service will be from Maruti service center".

6. At least NEXA in Mumbai seems to have already lost the premiumness according to various posts by members.

I could go on and on with the strategy blunders with the NEXA move, but maybe another day!

Mods: Can we convert this to an opinion poll? Maybe something like: Do you think NEXA is a good move?

[Sheel]

When Hyundai can sell the Eon & Creta in the same sales floor, what wrong would MUL do if they offered an S-Cross and an Maruti Alto 800 at the same outlet?

They are investing their energy & resources in a negative way. It would have been a lot better to use the existing set-up & better it in other ways.

Fellow member's experience cements the same.

[romeomidhun]

I now guess the whole Nexa thing is part of a bigger ploy by Suzuki. Once the suzuki's gujarat plant is operational, suzuki may sell the cars produced there directly through nexa in addition to selling some of them to maruti which will be sold through regular showrooms.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

What Maruti Suzuki should now do is:

1. Expand as much as possible irrespective of this concept being in learning stages so that the reach of these showrooms are increased to cater to better sites of Ciaz and Baleno. S-Cross is not a seller anyway.

---

Now with Baleno doing brisk business at Nexa ( and still unable to cope up) and S Cross as expected doing ~ 3000 nos(avg sales), looks like the YBA (Vitara Brezza)is all slated to move to Regular Maruti sales network.

In wake of this could be that the face lifted Ciaz ( 1.6 only)will be given to Nexa. Will the face lift get the 1.6 MJD?( a very remote chance )

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Now with Baleno doing brisk business at Nexa ( and still unable to cope up) and S Cross as expected doing ~ 3000 nos(avg sales), looks like the YBA (Vitara Brezza)is all slated to move to Regular Maruti sales network.

In wake of this could be that the face lifted Ciaz ( 1.6 only)will be given to Nexa. Will the face lift get the 1.6 MJD?( a very remote chance )

Brezza moving to regular dealerships will be bad news for all compact SUVs. Limited Nexa outlets would have limited done interest but now no one will give it a miss if they are in market for new car.

[Latheesh]

Looks like whole NEXA thing is a stupid move by Maruti. They spent lot of money without much end result. Selling Baleno through NEXA itself was a bad move.

[passioncool74]

I fail to understand the entire idea behind NEXA. Beyond just dividing the Models into Showroom A (regular Maruti Showroom) and Showroom B (Nexa which has apparently better interiors), there is hardly any other feature worth experiencing or mentioning. Have visited other Dealers of various other car brands in the past and had a much better experience this this.
Visited Nexa @ Andheri last Sunday morning and it was like a Fish Market with absolute Chaos. There was no way of making out the Sales Personnel from the Potential Customers. Maybe they do not wear Uniforms on a Sunday or maybe they do not have Uniforms in the first place.... I really do not know! There is no concept of a reception area or registration. Just some random seating arrangements and Sofas where you can definitely take a seat if empty but there is no guarantee that anyone will approach you to help. Finally when nobody paid any attention for around 10 minutes, approached the lady behind a counter and requested for a brochure. Got a photocopied A4 size paper giving details of Pricing and Features. That was about it. Enquired about the Cost Break Up with Finance and was told that "Will it be alright if I mail the same to you later" When I finally showed my exasperation show and informed that I had come to get an idea of the total pricing and Down Payment and EMI involved, she informed that they were understaffed and it would be better if I could visit again in the afternoon when the crowd would be little less. I refused to come back again and then finally one Sales Executive was assigned to me after almost another 20 minutes wait. He was really helpful and gave me all the required information. But the overall experience at Nexa left me with a deep sense of disappointment. If this is the case everyday, I really wonder how long this is going to last.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Looks like whole NEXA thing is a stupid move by Maruti. They spent lot of money without much end result. Selling Baleno through NEXA itself was a bad move.

Pretty sure they are thinking a bit differently than just customer experience. For one, a separate brand could be better from a financial perspective. It's easier to spin off / sell / outsource. Also, brand delineation is easier and association with a specific outlet would be stronger for certain models.

Let's see if this experiment works. Maruti has enough first time buyers coming to their dealerships that they won't have to worry so much about a benchmark.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by Mad Max

Let's see if this experiment works. Maruti has enough first time buyers coming to their dealerships that they won't have to worry so much about a benchmark.

OK, let us start checking that;

Last 6 Months sales number
Average Monthly sales of Dzire (May-Oct 2015) = 21253
Average Monthly sales of Swift (May-Oct 2015) = 17690

Total Average Monthly Sales = 38943

November Sales number
Dzire = 18826
Swift = 11859
Baleno = 9074

Total sales including Baleno = 39759 (Increase of just 2%)
Total sales exluding Baleno = 30685 (decrease of 21%)

With a new 'premium' model and all NEXA drama they added just 2%

[Latheesh]

Now NEXA - Scross Sales Number

Aug - 4602
Sep - 3603 (-22% comparing to previous month)
Oct - 3017 (-16% comparing to previous month)
Nov - 2222 (-26% comparing to previous month)

Sales numbers are consistently falling!

@mods - please merge it with the previous post

[avdhesh15]

Even looking at Maruti overall in this financial year, the sales have been an average of 107k units. The only major spike has been in October due to festive season.

However, newer (and fancier) showrooms have opened thereby leading to increased overheads thereby reducing economies of scale. This looks like opposite of what was supposed to happen!

Apr-15 100709
May-15 102359
Jun-15 102626
Jul-15 110405
Aug-15 106781
Sep-15 106083
Oct-15 121063
Nov-15 110599

As Latheesh has mentioned, Swift + Dzire + Baleno has almost maintained status quo and S-Cross has sold 2222 units last month. Am sure that doesn't justify the premiumness.