Toyota has launched its 24X7 Roadside assistance program to help improve customer service. All Toyota vehicles bought after April 1,2010 are automatically covered under this scheme. Toyota has not published any information for existing owners but we think all Toyota owners can get covered after paying a nominal fee. The assistance covers all regular incidents like battery jumpstarts, flat tyre replacement with a spare, providing of fuel incase the vehicle runs out of fuel, retrieving spare keys, and also towing of immobilized vehicles to the nearest Toyota dealership/workshop. The customer would also be provided medical assistance or accommodation in case of injuries.

Toyota has also provided a toll free helpline number 1800-102-5001 which will attend to customer’s complaints. On the occasion of the launch of the Roadside Assistance Progrram, Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “In line withToyota’s philosophy of “putting the customer first” we will now provide road side vehicle service assistance, round the clock, to our customers. In case of unforeseen circumstances if the customer can not bring his vehicle to us, we will go to them”.

[Autocar India]

November has been a bright month for automakers in India. Hyundai nearly doubled its sales and Maruti, India’s largest automaker also reported strong sales. Lets not forget Mahindra, Chevrolet or anybody. Continue reading to know about exact sales figures and Hyundai’s exclusive press release. Skoda, on the other hand reported massive sales rise of 183%!

Hyundai nearly doubled sales to 28,162 units (a massive growth of 93% year-on-year) with total sales standing at 55,265 units (an increase of 29%). Sales of Santro, i10, Getz and i20 stood at 50,501 while Accent and Verna sold 4748 units (65% increase). Hyundai are better off bringing the new i40/new Sonata YF and the IX35 instead of the ageing Sonata Transform and Tucson which sold just 15 and 1 respectively. Read the press release at the end of the page.

GM, which is banking heavily on India and China to pay back its debts and looking at the sales figures, India would definitely live up to its name. It sold 7118 units, its highest ever in India so far. The Cruze has got off to a strong start selling 518 units while Spark sold 4202 units and the Aveo family sold just 963 units, much below all targets. Chevrolet’s flagship Captiva sold a decent 84 units under pressure from the Fortuner.

Mahindra and Mahindra ended up selling 21,387 units last month with surging demand from its Scorpio, Bolero and Xylo range. The improvement recorded was 105%. Total UV sales which includes were 15,193 units as against sales of 7,523 units in November 2008.

Market Leader Maruti Suzuki managed an awesome 87,807 units including exports of 11,448 units. It was a massive growth compared to 47,704 units sold in the same period last year. It is riding on huge success of the Alto, Swift and the Dzire (which managed over 7000 units even beating the Ritz!)

Skoda auto put up an impressive display reporting 183% increase in its sales. Its sales stood at 1,425 units against 504 for the same period last year. “The launch of the all-new Skoda Superb and the new Laura in the Indian markets have been the main drivers behind SkodaAuto India’s record increase in sales. The all-new Superb, in particular, continues to outperform expectations,” Skoda Auto India Board Member (Sales and Marketing) Thomas Kuehl said.

“We are considering a price hike between Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 on all cars in the coming month. This rise is being considered due to various inflationary pressures and increase in raw material costs,” Kuehl said. Skoda is the lone VW member with full force. VW will follow suit with the Polo while Audis are only assembled in India right now. The company has a network of 62 dealerships across the country and has sold over 79,440 units since November 2001.

Press Release

“Hyundai Motor India Ltd records highest ever sales

-      Domestic sales surge by 92.8%

-      Cumulative growth up 28.5%

New Delhi, December 1, 2009: Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the country’s second largest car manufacturer and the largest passenger car exporter registered record cumulative sales for the month ending November 30, 2009. The cumulative sales accounted for 55,265 units which reflect a 28.5% growth as compared to last November. The domestic market was the biggest gainer as it almost doubled its sales to 28,162 units this month registering a growth of 92.8% over the same month last year. The exports however showed a slight decline as it fell by 4.6% as compared to the same period last year. In September, 2009 HMIL had clocked cumulative sales of 53,802 units which had been the highest till now.

HMIL’s total sales for November, 2009 stood at an all time high of 55,265 units against 43,020 units in November, 2008 registering 28.5% cumulative growth. The domestic sales grew at a whopping 92.8% and accounted for 28,162 units as against 14,605 units in November, 2008 while the exports dipped marginally to 27,103 units as compared to 28,414 units last November – a fall of 4.6%.

Commenting on November, 2009 sales Arvind Saxena, Sr. Vice President – Marketing and Sales, HMIL said, “The overall economic scenario has been positive and this has translated in to more footfalls in the showroom and higher automobile sales as indicated by this month’s figures. We hope the economy will continue on a growth trajectory as it will help the Indian automotive industry to maintain a double digit growth figure.”

The segment-wise cumulative sales in the month of November, 2009 are as follows: A2 Segment (Santro, i10, Getz & i20) 50,501 units; A3 Segment (Accent & Verna) 4,748 units; A5 Segment (Sonata Transform) 15 units; and SUV Segment (Tucson) 1 unit.”

Source 1, 2 and 3

J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2009 India Customer Service Index (CSI) Study has been done in five different aspects like service quality; vehicle pickup; service advisor; service facility; and service initiation and measured on a 1000 point scale.As usual the higher score  is better performance.This years study also indicated that customers are now more loyal to authorised dealership than non-authorised one comparing to previous year.

Maruti Suzuki scored 824 points out of 1000, while Honda and Mahindra managed to score 791 and 757 respectively.The industry average stood at 785 points.The scores indicate that Maruti is way ahead of it’s competitors and others can learn a lot from Maruti Suzuki in customer service area.Skoda Auto is rated at  bottom in the rating, they scored  only 722 out of 1000 points.Another interesting point is our very own Mahindra and Tata Motors ranking above many Global biggies.

The detailed score card has been appended for all other brands for reference.

Do you have some personal experience that backs above results? Share it here!

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Source:J.D.Power Asia Pacific

The CSI study measures the quality of vehicle,service set-up of the dealership and in service quality. Maruti scored 820 out of 1000 well above the industry average of 780 and all other contenteders.In words of JDPower official Maruti employed many low cost but high impact measures at their dealer ships even after number of vehicle serviced per day is increased from 47 to 55 over a year.

The JDPower Asia Pacific India CSI 2008 study also revealed another important fact, compared to 2007 the operating cost of a petrol powered vehicle incremented seven percent but in case of diesel vehicle there is only a minimal increase. This year’s study concluded after interviewing 5994 vehicle owners also included 41 veriety of vehicle models.

There is one more important trend of falling repurchase and loyalty in low scoring category.So its time for manufacturers below the industry average to take a call.

Jagadish Khattar the iron man behind today’s Maruti Suzuki is not planning to enjoy his post retirement holiday.After a short break he is ready with his new venture Carnation, a network of multi-car sales and after sale service outlets.Carnation plans to pumps a whopping 1000Cr for developing it’s business model.

Carnation planning to focus on sales,service,lease and finance multi-branded cars.Also they are planning to sell value added products and accessories like batteries,tires etc. Carnation already have roped in PremjiInvest and IVCF for capital requirement. Mr.Khattar’s vision to rewrite customer experience at vehicle sales and service outlets by imparting his broad experience in automobile manufacturing.

If everything going well by next year Carnation will roll out its first set of Automobile Service Hubs in different cities. We wish him the very best in this endeavour!

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