With over 8 servicing outlets across the northern region, the Delhi-based BNT Motors is the largest area dealer for Volvo Buses in India, the brand that redefined long-distance luxury travel and is celebrating 10 years of association with the Swedish marque this year.
After moving to Delhi, I realised that the summers here are not just unbearable but exhibit a tedious lack of variety. Any convectional weather with overcast skies and mild rains out of the blistering heat are surely a snooze fest! So, you either have to find solace by juggling between air-conditioned environments, or take a break off to the other side for a Himalayan retreat. The hill stations of Manali, Shimla, Kasol and Dharamshala and places like Katra near Jammu and Dehradun are all open for the Delhities during this season. I had no other options either. Got my car loaded with my folks and stuffs, and embarked on a trip to Manali last month. Being a motor nut makes driving the only dignified job I can do on any travel, the 570-odd km route was decent and fun enough.
While returning back, it was around 6 pm, that’s when I noticed something strange in my driving landscape. A slew of Volvo buses dominated the road, descending downhill with greater speeds and precision, with briskish overtakes and brilliant manoeuvres, much to my envy. They are awesome machines. I have seen them perform on highways before, but on a meandering road hosted along the valleys and deep gorges? Those guys have a better left-extreme frontal visibility and clear lighting than me in my Nissan Terrano, coupled with greater stability and powerful horses inside their engine hatches. Their mammoth size hardly matters, it seems!
It’s a pan-India phenomenon. Brand Volvo is synonymous with luxury bus travel, setting new standards for the bus industry that still seems unfathomable for many of its rivals. Entering the market by the dawn of millennium, the buses were not an instant runaway hit, but picked up slowly as the industry matured. The southern region was its forte, and is still is, thanks to the company’s location at Bengaluru and better road connectivity among southern cities and market viability for luxury bus travel.
The north Indian market slowly unfolded only around 2006. Since then, it is one of the fastest growing, especially the Delhi NCR region, owing to the opening up of Himalayan tourism in the adjoining States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Volvo Buses is consistently leveraging on this development, with its sales growing steadily over the last decade. This success feat cannot be solely attributed to the popularity of the brand, and the role and reputation of its local partners taking care of dealership and service can hardly be ignored.
Established in 2007 on the Delhi-Chandigarh NH for a mere number of 90 buses plying in the region, the BNT Motors may have seemed venturing into untested waters. But as a part of the BNT-Talbros Group consisting of Talbros Engineering (axles), Talbros Sealing Materials Pvt. Ltd. (cork and rubber sealing materials), Talbros-Penray (chemical additives and fluids for workshops) and AUTOBIX (software solutions for dealerships), the company had access to the rich heritage of entrepreneurship from the founders of its parent company that helped in devising a roadmap into the future.
Ten years on, BNT has over 610 buses in its fold and is keeping pace with the demand by expanding its capacities and reach in the region, including workshops and site support at Gurgaon, Ballabgarh, Faridabad, Kaushambi, Sahibabad, Lucknow, Manali (first of its kind in the entire Himalayan region), Chandigarh and Jalandhar.
Since Volvo sells its buses directly to its customers from Bengaluru without an intermediate dealership, the company is into aftermarket servicing of the fleets full-time, enjoying a market share of 83 per cent, with a monthly footfall of approx. 510 units on an average at all its locations. A half of its fleet customers are State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs), including the Haryana Roadways, Himachal Road Transport Corporation, Himachal Tourism and Punjab Roadways while Uttarakhand Roadways and UP Roadways are under PPP (Private Public Partnership). The rest are private operators. In terms of product range, a majority of the buses plying in the region are of single-axle B7R platform, while a considerable amount of multi-axle B9R are also present. Volvo 8400 low-floor intra-city buses are limited in number in the Delhi NCR unlike other metros, thanks to the CNG-oriented policy for the capital. BNT Motors has won the prestigious ‘Volvo Customer Satisfaction Award’ 2014 from the automaker for a cumulative performance score of 98.5 per cent and has stood second in the Business Excellence Award 2017.
‘Hub and Spoke’ model to reach customers
Its Managing Director today, Mr. Kartik Talwar joined the family-owned firm in 2010 taking over the baton from his father Mr. Rakesh Talwar. Hotelier by profession, he consciously took a decision to carry forward his family business, backed by entrepreneurial skills and passion for automobiles. His hospitality-based ethos from his previous job runs through the working of BNT, who still works as consultant for the hotel industry. “If my customer needs to reach me, I need to reach him”, says Mr. Kartik, who came up with a “hub and spoke” model for the workshop business, envisioning a BNT flag for every 300 kilometres in the region, with the Delhi unit as centre.
Once a driver leaves Delhi NCR for a trip, he should not feel insecure due to lack of workshop support in the hinterlands. Even if our support centre is far away, he should be confident that our mobile support team (Volvo Action Service, as they call it) will come to his rescue, continues Mr. Kartik.
Picking up another thread from the hospitality industry, Mr. Kartik says that the bus drivers are the pillars of his business and warrants a good rapport, who act as ambassadors to his clientele. BNT calls them as ‘coach captains’ and workshops are equipped with cafeteria and air-conditioned driver’s lounge with a balcony view of service bays for their benefit. “Once a driver hands over the bus to us in the morning, we provide him a comfortable ambience for resting, while all the service concerns on his bus are being addressed, before we issue gate pass for his vehicle in the evening”, he adds.
His team is in constant touch with the fleet operators and even conducts regular health checks at their parking, thereby begetting happy relationship with the customers. BNT received the ‘Volvo Bus Centre’ status in 2012, a set of guidelines and model code for all services, including technical infrastructure and customer hospitality, to provide all services under one roof.
Infrastructure and technical expertise
The Delhi unit of BNT Motors is the largest, comprising 13 service bays, six body refurbishment and accidental repair bays and two dedicated paint booths – all modern, state-of-the-art facilities. They are neat and well organised as any luxury car service station may look like, I was totally taken by surprise. I was told that BNT undertakes the highest number of body shop-related cases after Bengaluru, accounting for a significant share of revenue. The facility features a dedicated engine overhaul room that can treat two engines a day. An automated engine oil-filling and disposal system is in place, while advanced HUNTER and RAVAGLIOLI wheel alignment and balancing systems attend to wheel related issues. A well-stocked parts store organised on the lines of Toyota’s FMS inventory management system is yet another big feat of this facility.
On the strengths of his personnel, Mr. Kartik says that almost 80 per cent of them are Module 5 competent, as per Volvo’s dynamic training modules, while citing several instances when Volvo called his technicians for consultation. A specialised training room at the unit, equipped with computer access and ‘Volvo Impact tool’, provides virtual learning experience for its technicians. Interestingly, the BNT folks showed me an engine which they had assembled from scratch out of worn-out parts and scrap! The showpiece has a makeshift fuel tank, a radiator, gas pedal, and an instrument cluster, and even came to life once they fired it. “This lively exhibits our technical competence and capabilities”, he claims.
Yet another area of BNT’s expertness is in offering value-added accessories to his fleet customers. This includes dealership of OE-specified Michelin Tyres, and infotainment and utility systems (approved by Volvo) like 9-inch VOD system and USB chargers for each seats, on-board Wi-Fi networks, and innovative dry-cleaning for the buses.
Mr. Kartik says that BNT pioneered in the on-board individual infotainment systems for the buses, kicking-off the popular statement of “TV-waali bus” in the region.
Association with Volvo Buses and future plans
“Reputation of the world-class brand in terms of technology, design and safety of the buses sustains the trust that the customers have on BNT Motors”, cheers Mr. Kartik. The support system of Volvo Buses and their caring attitude is phenomenal, one of the best in the industry. After working with Volvo, you may not want to work with any other MNC, he proclaims. The brand’s auto-making expertise globally seems to have impressed him greatly, he even drives a Volvo XC60! That’s perhaps the reason why every other player in the bus segment may continue to find a tough time with Volvo, he predicts.
As for the new BS IV-compliant platforms B8R and B11R, he believes that they are likely to be significant game changers for the brand in India. The service schedule for the new buses has been pushed to 50,000 km (from 30,000 km earlier) and fuel efficiency improved, which is phenomenal, he exclaims. So far, over 30 B8R buses have reached the roads in the region, while the first B11R multi-axle model is scheduled to be delivered shortly. BNT expects around 60-70 BS IV-compliant buses to be sold in the region by the end of this year.
On BNT’s future plans, with the Chandigarh unit being expanded to a proper workshop, the company’s reach in the newly emerging tourism hub will be tapped. The next establishment in the upcoming years is most likely to be either in Agra or Varanasi, says Mr. Kartik, adding that his plate is full right now for any expansion beyond. Yet, he keeps the future open for any opportunities, and is confident with the patronage from both the sides – Volvo buses and his clientele.
Service Station at Manali: A shiny feather in BNT’s cap!
BNT Motors commenced its operations at Manali in 2014 to cater to the growing number of their clientele plying to and fro the hill resort. Located amid the domineering beauty of Himalayas at an altitude of over 8,000 feet, the 4-bay facility is best termed as ‘Green Workshop’ that is completely environment-friendly. The unit is powered by solar energy and an automated oil replacing system makes sure that the sensitive ecosystem is not spoiled. The workshop sees an inflow of around 5-6 buses a day and up to 72 buses a month in a peak season, says Mr. Kartik Talwar. Interestingly, his facility at Manali even had visitors from Sweden sometime back – a team with a Volvo test truck trialling at high altitudes and got its clutch plate replaced at BNT’s facility.