Mahindra’s major expansion of road service network

Delhi-Mumbai corridor to be strengthened with 27 touch-points

Setting new benchmark in customer servicing with each passing day, Mahindra Truck and Bus Division (MTBD), in a bid to enhance its commitment to customer service, opened 27 service points comprising of 93S dealership, 10 authorised service centres and eight mobile workshops on the 1500 km long Delhi-Mumbai corridor. With this, the company promises to reach a truck requiring attention within two hours or guarantees to pay Rs. 500 of every additional hour lost. The network will ensure that the service is available at every 60 km across the long industrial corridor.

Mr. Nalin Mehta, Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Truck and Bus Division, and Managing Director, Mahindra Truck and Bus Ltd. and Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President and Chief Executive, Truck and Powertrain Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., addressing the press conference in Mumbai

These service centers on the corridor will carry out emergency repairs, part replacement and health check-up of vehicles with service guarantees, to assure customers of Mahindra’s service availability along the entire route. MTBD will soon launch a campaign to build awareness and to educate its customers about all the facilities available at the service points along the service corridor. Besides, the company also will have seven MPARTS Plazas at strategic points across the country, which will now be further strengthened to 26 such plazas by the end of FY18.

Addressing the media, Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President and Chief Executive, Truck and Powertrain Division, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., said: “At Mahindra, we have always believed in making a difference to our customers through high levels of customer centricity and service support and commitment and this new initiative is a testimony to the same. It comes on the heels of the highly successful superior mileage guarantee and 48 hours uptime guarantee, and is part of our endeavour to introduce a disruptive and unprecedented after-sales guarantee to further reinforce our Customer Value Proposition. With these initiatives, we take one more significant step closer to our goal of becoming the Most Trusted CV brand of India.”

Mr. Nalin Mehta, Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Truck and Bus Division, and Managing Director, Mahindra Truck and Bus Ltd., said: “The Delhi-Mumbai stretch accounts for nearly 30 per cent of trucking traffic in the country. Considering the importance of this route, MTBD decided to launch the service corridor to enable customers get prompt access to quality service and spare parts. We can now guarantee that we will reach a customer’s truck, in case of breakdown, within just 2 hours on the corridor, else we will pay a penalty of Rs. 500 for every extra hour of delay. Additionally, from 1st March 2017, we will also make the 150 fast moving spares, that are identified as essential maintenance parts, available 24×7 at the MPARTS PLAZAs. If not available on demand, we will supply them free of cost! We hope that this will result in reduced downtime for our customers, leading to higher uptime, more trips and better earnings”.

Business post Blazo

Mahindra’s Truck business is well placed with one-third of its business coming through repeat orders. “The market for the light commercial vehicles (LCVs) have been growing and we have been growing faster than the market. In heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs) until now the overall market has degrown, but we have improved our market share both in LCVs and HCVs”, he added.

For the uninitiated, MTBD launched the Blazo series of trucks and gave guaranteed experience of fuel efficiency. MTBD promised two unique guarantees with the launch of the new Blazo at Auto Expo 2016. The first one is ‘Get More Mileage Than Your Current Truck (From Blazo) Or Return The Truck!’ The second one offers a service guarantee. ‘In case of a breakdown, MTBD will get the truck back on road in 48 hours or will pay the customers Rs. 1,000 per day’.

It is understood that the mileage guarantee is a clear resolve to provide better value proposition to the customers and the service guarantee is the outcome of MTBD’s strong focus on developing and collaborating aftersales network through various touch points. MTBD can offer this claim on the back of a new fuel smart technology that will be seen in all the variants of the new Blazo.

Undoubtedly, on the back of these guarantees Blazo’s sales soared. Said Mr. Nalin Mehta: “Almost 40 per cent of the sales have been Blazo and just in last month or so, nearly 70 per cent of orders have from the Blazo series of trucks. Guarantee is the main experience that we want to take forward for our customers.”

As per the company, more than 25,000 HCVs and more than 125,000 LCVs from Mahindra stable are running on the road. They are supported by 82 3S dealerships, 120 authorized service centers and 2900 roadside assistance point and spares network of 2069 retail outlets. Mahindra was also the first company to offer 5 years or 5 lakh km transferable warranty in the Indian trucking industry.

“Mobile service vans are housed on each of the 27 touch-points”

– Mr. Nalin Mehta, MD and CEO, Mahindra Trucks and Bus Ltd.

Excerpts:

Are the service touch-points and MParts Plaza company owned or franchisee based?

Nalin Mehta: On the Delhi-Mumbai corridor, we have associates, and one such associate is running 14 out of the 27-touch points and almost all the service vans. Then there are also our existing dealers who are participating in our initiative. MParts Plazas are through our distributors, and we are partnering them to make sure that the guarantee is assured.

Q: Mr. Mehta, to maintain the high quality of your vehicles are you pushing only for CBU’s or are also open for chassis and cowl sales?

Nalin Mehta: Our focus is only Completely Built Up (CBU) products and in fact our focus is on cabins. While we do offer chassis and cowl, majority of our sale is cabin. Our cabin is state-of-the-art as we are providing the highest level of comfort to our drivers. Whether it is the seating or ergonomics or the 4-Point suspension on which the cabin is seated, the 10-bar braking that we provide and the overall NVH we provide, almost on every level we have provided comfort to the drivers.

Q: Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat seems to be driving larger sales for Mahindra Truck and Bus Division, is it the reason you have the service corridor covering these regions first?

Nalin Mehta: Our sales are well-spread across PAN India and not just these three locations. When we look at zone wise HCV is evened out geographically as well as segment wise. So, whether it is car carrier or cement carrier or steel carrier it is spread across well. No doubt, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi are big markets. The TIV itself is bigger there and should be in the range of 40 per cent and we are selling in the same range.

Q: Are the mobile service vans attached to 3S dealership facility or authorized service centers, whom do the drivers or fleet operators call in case of break down?

Nalin Mehta: Drivers just have to call one single help line number that can speak seven languages which are not just manned by call center people but by technicians. The mobile service vans are housed on each of the 27-touch points, some are vans and some are workshops made on larger vehicles which can assist in bigger problems, if any.

By R. Natarajan, Managing Editor & Publisher and Rajesh Rajgor