In India, the word Maruti is often an emotion. Maruti Suzuki is the most loved car brand of India for its great value, fuel efficiency and huge service network. And this has helped it become the dominant leader in the automotive industry in India! As per reports, the brand controls over 45% of the Indian car market with its small cars. Products like Maruti 800, Zen, Alto, Swift have helped Maruti build a relationship on trust and reliability. In India, a first car more than often simply needs to be a Maruti Suzuki car. And even hugely successful cars like the Hyundai Santro, Ford Figo have not been able to inflict a significant dent in Maruti’s love affair with its Indian customers. Yet, every time Maruti tried to come out with a car targeting the premium customers, it failed. Kizashi in spite of being a decent vehicle, with a better than average design never really managed to impress the crowds who had the ability to spend on it.Which is why merely 1-3% of Maruti’s total sales could be accounted to the car market priced above 9-10 lacs. And Maruti plans to answer this with Nexa!
They realised that the customer who was buying an Alto would not be the same as a customer who was planning to buy a vehicle costing upwards of 8-9 lac. With the higher price tag also came the higher expectations in terms of buying experience, product quality, delivery and the most important aspect: Branding! The basic idea? Develop an exclusive brand through which Maruti Suzuki would sell its premium upmarket cars, thereby setting these vehicles apart from its basic range. The target? High-end consumers who have gone beyond their first cars and are now looking for an experience. Nexa aims to offer a high level of sophistication and is based on the principles of exclusivity, pampering and listening to the consumer. Hakuhodo, A Japanese Advertising firm shouldered the responsibility for developing the brand from scratch. And the challenges were many. To position yourself as a premium car maker, when the perception is the exact opposite, to provide an exclusive buying experience by improving hospitality, establishing exclusive retail outlets were just a few.
The Nexa retail outlets simply had to be perfect. Right from the lighting, to the showroom ambience, placing of the car and its view from both inside and outside the showroom, customer-executive interactions and so much more. Executives from hospitality industries were brought in and trained on the automotive sector to bring the refinement necessary for the premium experience. The theme of the outlet was kept black and white prestige monochrome. The idea was that the only spot of colour in the showroom should be the vehicles displayed in its full glory.Only one model per car was to be kept. The entire showroom was designed to be paper-less. Nexa and its vehicles simply could not afford to retain the usual attributes linked to Maruti Suzuki apart from its reliability. The vehicles coming out of the Nexa Brand had to be significantly classy. Till now, the only vehicles are the S-Cross and Baleno. A substantial difference is noted in terms of safety features, as vehicles sold from Nexa outlets come standard with dual front airbags, along with ABS (Anti-Lock Braking System). Two more models will be launched via the Nexa outlets – Ignis, a compact sports utility vehicle, and Baleno RS, with a 1-litre boosterjet petrol engine. Prior to the launch of the Nexa brand, Hakuhodo (the brains behind the entire concept) felt that a major hurdle would be to remove confusions as to whether Nexa was a car or a retail brand. After all, this was the first time an automotive major was directly publicising a retail network rather than the car itself. A year since its launch however, Nexa has grown steadily and has successfully hit the sweet spot. Initial months of tepid growth are long gone. Recently, Baleno sales crossed the 1 lakh mark.
“One year ago, people were looking at us with scepticism, saying that the Nexa strategy is a gamble… but the strategy has worked well for us,”
-R. S. Kalsi, Executive Director (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Suzuki.
Next in the queue: Maruti Suzuki Ignis!
And there is reason to be confident. In the past year, Nexa sold over 1 lakh vehicles pan India, already accounting for a tenth of the Maruti Suzuki vehicles sold. It was not an easy decision to venture into such an uncharted territory. Maruti with its immense brand value and extremely successful supply network had no apparent need to develop Nexa. It also had to make sure that Nexa would not hamper its current supply chains and dealerships. But it has been able to steer past those difficulties. Kalsi believes Nexa will contribute upto 15% of the total sales by 2020. Yes. There are hurdles. Vitara Brezza being sold at existing dealerships in spite of being a premium vehicle is baffling to many. But the success story of the Nexa outlets in such a short time is striking. Today, Maruti has a portfolio that offers vehicles that are premium, and the reliability that comes with the Maruti tag. And that’s exactly what the brand was meant to achieve. With 150 outlets in 94 cities, the future could only be brighter!
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