Maruti Suzuki looks to revamp outlets in image makeover bid

Two years after Maruti Suzuki India Ltd introduced the Nexa sales network in an effort to become a premium brand, India’s largest car maker is set to revamp its remaining 1,800 showrooms, 3,000 workshops and as many as 1,000 preowned car showrooms under the True Value brand.

It is another effort to change popular perception of the Maruti brand by the auto maker, which will also introduce exclusive service outlets for cars sold through the Nexa network.

Unlike for the Nexa network, where Maruti along with its dealers spent large sums for promoting and building the brand, the investments on revamping the older sales channel will be made solely by the dealers, adding to their costs.

The carmaker is of the view that dealers will ultimately benefit as satisfied customers return to buy Maruti cars.

On average, it takes around ₹1-2 crore to revamp a car showroom in a metro city.

“We started Nexa in 2015. After two years have passed, it seems like customers have accepted this kind of approach,” Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and chief executive of Maruti Suzuki, told the media on Monday. “Through that we learnt a lot of things. We are trying to spread that kind of experience. We will introduce those kind of things in the existing network...”

Maruti Suzuki’s decision to create a separate sales network in the form of Nexa was prompted by consumers choosing other brands when buying bigger cars as Maruti had traditionally been associated with small cars since it introduced the Maruti 800 in 1983.