 "Maruti Suzuki")
Maruti Suzuki | Photo by Milan Masnikosa on Pexels
Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) is planning to launch a new showroom line called “Nexa Studio” that will cater for Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities of the country, company’s senior executive officer for marketing and sales Partho Banerjee told Business Standard on Friday.
Nexa Studio would be smaller in size than usual Nexa showrooms and have service workshops and spare parts areas in them, he said, adding that 100 Nexa Studio dealerships will be opened by March 31 next year.
Currently, 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 in them. Nexa Studio showrooms would have a 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 -3 cities, only optimizing 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 rapidly been expanding its Nexa dealership presence across the country. While it added just 22 new Nexa outlets across the country in FY24, the carmaker opened 119 new 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 would be inaugurated on almost each working day of the second half of this financial year,” Banerjee stated.
MSIL had started its Nexa showroom line in August 2015. As on March 31 this year, the carmaker had 381 Nexa outlets, 495 commercial outlets and 2,987 Arena outlets.
In the first quarter of FY25, MSIL sold 427,000 units, recording a 1.2 per cent growth year-on-year (Y-o-Y), according to its majority shareholder Suzuki Motor Corporation.
First Published: Aug 23 2024 | 7:45 PM IST
