Millard Filters made its debut at ACMA Automechanika, showcasing a full range of high quality commercial vehicle filters. The company has set up its wholly-owned subsidiary Millard Filters India Pvt. Ltd. in September 2016 and has been serving the Western and Southern regions thus far, currently expanding towards the Central and Northern parts of the country. Working with a ‘Global Quality’ strategy, Millard Filters is looking at the Indian market with a long-term gameplan, keen on helping the market evolve with its unrelenting focus on product quality and customer support.
Mr. Juan F. Marcet, Director, Millard Filters, says: “We see India as an important emerging market with tremendous potential and strongly believe the market is evolving in quality as well. We are a quality brand and that is how we would like to position ourselves here. We understand that ours is not a filter for everybody and that the market is known for its price-sensitive nature but we believe there is room for a high quality brand like ours and freedom of choice.”
Mr. Munish Sharma, Director – India Region, Millard Filters India Pvt. Ltd., states: “We offer our products only for the aftermarket and currently have around 15 distributors across the country. We are serving the commercial vehicle segment at present and plan to expand into the passenger vehicle space by mid-2017.”
One quality worldwide
“Everyone in the Indian market who has used our products has clearly understood that Millard is a quality conscious brand, so they move away from discussing on the price”, remarks Mr. Marcet. “We play only in the quality segment which is surprisingly considered a niche in the Indian market. Our Global Quality is our main USP, so the filters we sell here are exactly the same as those we sell in mature markets like Europe and America”, substantiates Mr. Sharma.
Having tasted good success in developed markets such as Europe, America and others, Millard has just entered one of the two fastest growing economies in the world – India. And what about China? Millard is yet to set foot into the Chinese market, giving it massive potential for growth and expansion once it decides to.
“We are not in China yet; we will take India first and then look at China in future. From a global perspective, India is probably the market with the highest expectation and potential for us right now and we think this is the right time for us to be present here. Of course we wish for faster growth but India has its own timing and pace and we have a great Indian team that understands it well and tells us what to do”, explains Mr. Marcet.
Given Millard’s experience in markets like Europe, its products are compliant with BS-IV and even BS-VI, indicating a bright future ahead for the company in the Indian market. With the right kind of products to offer, backed by a well-defined gameplan built on ‘quality’, where would Millard’s focus be for the current year? The Indian Director responds: “We want to expand our presence in the market and improve the brand awareness of our product. We have been conducting education programs for our business partners, mechanics and retailers, with the aim of spreading knowledge about the importance of a filter in the whole system, and will continue to focus on such initiatives. Customer support is another area where we will maintain our focus on. We are a company that listens to our customers and have seen it makes a big difference in the market.”
Given the highly competitive filter space in the Indian auto aftermarket, what position would Millard like to reach by 2020? The Global Director concludes by saying: “We would like to be among the top three brands in the filter space in the Indian market by 2020.”