[tbppjpr]

In the course of major rebranding step, Maruti is planning to differentiate it's premium products range like Ciaz, S Cross and XA Alpha etc from mainstream small cars. They have started realizing that the tag of small car manufacturer is affecting sale of premium cars offered by them. Thus they are planning to open separate showrooms for their premium cars.

Maruti plans separate showrooms for premium cars : ET



In another news, they are planning new sales network for their LCV as well.

Maruti Suzuki To Set Up New Sales Network For Y9T LCV

"The company feels that their passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles will both cater to a completely different set of buyers and hence the company doesn’t want to sell both the product types in the same showrooms.
While Maruti Suzuki is looking out for new dealers for its LCV, the company doesn’t mind if existing dealers too want to set up separate showrooms to enter into the LCV sales business. Also, the Y9T will be launched in limited cities initially to gauge market response and there won’t be any all-India launch."

[Carpainter]

Wow, separate showrooms for Ciaz and the likes? It's acceptable to open separate outlet of passenger cars and LCV. This way they can sell the Y9T and other non-passenger vehicle (read Omni, Dzire Tour etc.) separately from their mainstay products but a separate showroom for the likes of Ciaz, S cross etc. is a bit stretching in my opinion. These are hardly any luxury offerings. B2 and C1 segment cars don't need a separate showroom to differentiate them from their B1 sisters. If it was Kizashi, Vitara etc, it still would have made sense. Now that they have discontinued both of them (correct me if I'm wrong), there is no logical explanation to this move.

[1lokesh]

Classic case of prescribing paracetamol for throat infection :-D

[GTO]

Naah, I don't buy this rumour. It's an ET article, best taken with a pinch of salt.

For one, Maruti sells thousands of Omnis & Eecos to the commercial sector through its existing dealer network. Fact is, one of the main reasons behind their success is the network, and it will be the same for the upcoming Y9T LCV. When you have over 1,000 dealers in every nook & corner of the country, why bother with building a new one?

Also, the Ciaz is hardly a 'Lexus' (which required Toyota to have a separate sales network for the brand). It can easily coexist with the likes of the Dzire etc. In fact, the Ciaz' presence brings a bit of premium'ness to Maruti's otherwise economy showrooms.

Related Thread: Link

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by GTO

Naah, I don't buy this rumour. It's an ET article, best taken with a pinch of salt.

For one, Maruti sells thousands of Omnis & Eecos to the commercial sector through its existing dealer network. Fact is, one of the main reasons behind their success is the network, and it will be the same for the upcoming Y9T LCV. When you have over 1,000 dealers in every nook & corner of the country, why bother with building a new one?

Also, the Ciaz is hardly a 'Lexus' (which required Toyota to have a separate sales network for the brand). It can easily coexist with the likes of the Dzire etc. In fact, the Ciaz' presence brings a bit of premium'ness to Maruti's otherwise economy showrooms.

Related Thread: Link

+1

Also, why will Maruti need a display space for commercial vehicles? Once in the market, they will be sold on order basis. The target consumer will seldom want to go to a showroom for 'touch and feel'.

[kothamasi]

A separate showroom is not going to help because Suzuki is not really a contender in the premium car market. The USP of maruti cars is economic pricing. In the premium segment, customers are going to go for brands like Honda, VW etc.

[volkman10]

As Maruti aims to double its volume to two million cars in the next five years the company plans to start a new range of premium dealerships across India to focus on sale of new niche models.

The new network would help the company to prioritise its models range for the Indian market and would initially target big auto markets like Delhi and Mumbai.
Around 30 to 35 such new dealerships are expected to come up in major cities in the next one year

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/46350085.cms

[amtak]

Mahindra Commercial and Passenger variants are mostly sold from the same showroom (albit different staff). So, I think it is definitely not needed.

[vipul_singh]

I wonder if this is linked to the recent ads in newspapers asking for applications for dealerships. One of the reasons there may be a linkage is because the additional dealerships are in areas already well represented. So...who knows?

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by amtak

Mahindra Commercial and Passenger variants are mostly sold from the same showroom (albit different staff). So, I think it is definitely not needed.

Actually good point in a different way. It reminds me now that Mahindra has segregated the physical service centers for their XUV range from the rest of the cars. So while you can buy Rexton and XUV at the same showroom where they also sell Quanto and Boleros they service the Rexton and XUVs separately from the rest. At least thats how it is here in Hyderabad.

By the way, I have never seen M&M sell their commercial range of pickups and people movers like Maxximo from the same showroom as their passenger cars.

[Prafful_Rathod]

Also the question is will it be a viable option from dealer profitability point of view if they are going to set up exclusive showrooms only for Ciaz and likes. I am sure the dealer margins are not as high as some of the luxury cars in the market. In metros like Mumbai, Delhi, the overheads will eat away all the profits.

[sgiitk]

Globally there are separate showrooms for the Premium vehicles, but thr carry a different tag. Chevrolet-Cadillac, Ford-Lincoln, Honda-Acura, etc. I think Maruti needs an image makeover to gets it premium labels going. They will need a different label, and also must really try and differentiate. It has to be more than just a different hall with the same brand and back end.

[GTO]

Received this insider information from a Team-BHP Fan who prefers to remain anonymous. Thanks for sharing it with other enthusiasts!

Maruti plans to open/upgrade 100 "Premium Showrooms" in FY 2015. Each store will have 5 LED TVs & 6-10 Tablets (depending on the number of sales people).

[Tushar]

Recent reports revealed Maruti’s plans to introduce exclusive dealerships for its premium cars. Team-BHP has now learnt that the premium car dealerships are going to be named ‘Nixa’. The first showroom will be coming up at Dwarka, Delhi and Nixa dealers will be launched in the top 20 Maruti cities (by sales).

Link to Team-BHP news article

[sourav9385]

Um, what premium cars?

Which Maruti is a premium car? Each and every car in their line up is as premium and luxurious as a barn!

Compared with the rest of the competition, Maruti is stone dead last when it comes to offering a premium feel, let alone a premium car.

And, what's the point of equipping showrooms with TV's & Tablets if they don't have premium cars to sell?

Please don't tell me they're going to consider the Ciaz as a premium offering .