Honda Cars to revamp entire sales network in next three years

Auto major Honda Cars India plans to revamp its entire sales network over the next three years entailing an investment of up to Rs 270 crore in collaboration with dealer partners, a senior company official on Monday said. The adoption of a new corporate identity will cover over 400 dealerships which is expected to be completed in the next three years.

"We have embarked on revamping all our dealerships and new outlets in the pipeline as per what we call as our new corporate identity of Honda on the retail front. In very simple terms we are changing the look and face of the dealerships," Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) Senior Vice President and Director Marketing & Sales Rajesh Goel told PTI in an interview.

The idea is to improve the retail experience of customers and to make them identify with the premiumness of the Honda brand, he added. Elaborating on the exercise, Goel said the company started planning the process two-years ago and has now initiated it nationally.

"It will take around three years to modernise the entire network... we will do it in a progressive manner and by the end of three years our entire 350 dealerships and another 70 odd outlets which we are planning to open will be revamped," he said.

When asked about the planned investment on the initiative, he added, "Over the next three years, between Rs 250-270 crore is estimated to be spent towards this exercise". The investment per dealership would be in the range of Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1.10 crore per facility and would be put in by dealer partners with contribution from Honda, Goel noted.

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The company, which sells popular models like City and Amaze sedans, currently has 350 facilities in 239 cities spread across the country and plans to have another 70 odd outlets over the next two years. The company is initiating such an exercise after 8-10 years, necessitated by the change in customer behaviour over a period of time.

"In retail and restaurants business you need to continue innovating and evolving... now the challenge is greater (for us), as customers already know about the product when they go into a showroom," Goel said.

Customers now visit a showroom to touch and experience the product and take a final call because that is a trigger; so it is very important to provide them the right buying environment and ambience, he added. "To feel very nice and premium, but still warm and welcome; and not intimidating, that is the purpose of our moving into this new corporate identity," Goel said.

As part of new corporate identity, the company will have new colour scheme at dealerships, interiors will be seamless and clutter free and futuristic with digital aspects brought in, he added.

The company will use various things including 75-inch LED screen for video driven product explanation, accessory and colour configurators plus the iWorkshop would help provide real-time updates and a more holistic after sales experience, Goel said.