Maruti Suzuki to start new showroom line for tier 2 and tier 3 markets
Maruti Suzuki | Photo by Milan Masnikosa on Pexels
Maruti Suzuki is planning to launch a new showroom line called “Nexa Studio” that will cater to tier-2 and tier-3 cities across the country, the company’s senior executive officer for marketing and sales, Partho Banerjee, told Business Standard.
Nexa Studio will be smaller in size than the usual Nexa showrooms and will also include service workshops and spare parts areas, he stated. One hundred Nexa Studio dealerships will be opened by March 31 next year.
Currently, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), which is India’s largest carmaker, sells its cars through two dealership lines: Nexa for the premium segment and Arena for all others.
“Generally, Nexa showrooms are much bigger in size, are present in big cities, and do not have service workshops. Nexa Studio showrooms will have space to display just two cars, one delivery area, one workshop bay, and one customer lounge,” Banerjee explained.
“This endeavour is to extend the same Nexa experience to customers in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, while optimising the size of the Nexa showroom,” he added. Cities such as Kolar in Karnataka, Gohana in Haryana, Hathras in Uttar Pradesh, and Paonta Sahib in Himachal Pradesh will be targeted by Nexa Studio.
MSIL has been rapidly expanding its Nexa dealership presence across the country. While it added just 22 new Nexa outlets across the country in the entire 2023-24 financial year, the carmaker added 119 Nexa outlets between April 1 and August 23 this year. The company inaugurated its 500th Nexa outlet in Bengaluru on Friday.
“By the end of this financial year, we plan to open 50 more Nexa outlets, taking their total number to 550. Moreover, by March 31 next year, we will open 100 Nexa Studio outlets. This implies that one new Nexa Studio will be inaugurated on almost each working day of the second half of this financial year,” Banerjee stated.
MSIL started its Nexa showroom line in August 2015. As of March 31 this year, MSIL had 381 Nexa outlets, 495 commercial outlets, and 2,987 Arena outlets.
In the first quarter of 2024-25, MSIL sold 427,000 units, recording a 1.2 per cent year-on-year growth, according to its majority shareholder, Suzuki Motor Corporation.
First Published: Aug 23 2024 | 7:45 PM IST