American automotive giant General Motors (GM) has had a bumpy ride in India so far. It hasn’t made as much of an impact on India’s motorcade landscape as some of its competitors. However, despite the economic uncertainty, GM recently launched three new vehicles. Rajesh Singh, Vice President-Sales, Marketing & Aftersales, General Motors, India, says this reinforces GM’s commitment to India, and looks to build the Chevrolet brand and develop its connect with Indian customers
Q] General Motors entered India in the mid-90s. How has the ride been so far?
GM started its Indian operations in 1996 by introducing Opel, but saw limited success. The launch of the Chevrolet brand in 2003, however, led to the resurgence of GM in India. The company has since grown, from selling 12,000 units in 2003, to close to 1 lakh units last year. Today, GM India offers a whole range of products at different price points. Our focus is on building the Chevrolet brand and ensuring that its products meet the needs of Indian consumers. GM is committed to expanding its presence in emerging markets like India as this will help fuel its future growth.
Q] What does your marketing mix look like? Can you give us an estimate of your marketing budget?
We are working on an elaborate marketing plan for 2013. The idea is to create as many consumer delight points as possible. It is no longer just about the clichéd four Ps of marketing; we need to focus on other aspects such as onground experience and quality of training we give our employees to ensure a delightful consumer experience. Also, a lot of focus is being given to the processes we follow, right from awareness to advocacy of the Chevrolet brand. As for our marketing budget, we are fairly competitive and working towards maintaining a healthy SOV to SOM ratio.
Q] How are you leveraging the digital platform to promote various brands? What are you doing on the Online Reputation Management front?
We have identified pillars in owned, earned and paid digital media and are working towards optimizing our presence across all these pillars. Corporates have realized the importance of ‘timeliness’ in business, because of the digital platform. As far as ORM is concerned, I firmly believe it is all about delivering your promise and then a little more. So, minus the essence of timeliness, online is incidental here. The idea is to delight consumers and then they will ensure you are portrayed in the right light on blog posts, review sites and other forms of digital and social media.
Q] You are the official automotive partner for Manchester United and Liverpool (LFC). How are you leveraging this association in India?
We recently hosted a Manchester United fan party in Delhi where legendary footballer David May graced the occasion. We displayed the new Chevrolet Enjoy at the event and got a very good response. We are working towards extending this association to cricket now.
Q] It’s been a tough year for automotive companies with car sales falling in the past six months. Even GM, with a portfolio of eight brands at different price points, has struggled to stand out. What is your positioning and what initiatives are you taking to build a connection and improve consumer experiences?
Our focus is on building the Chevrolet brand. However, the market remains sluggish due to various factors such as high interest rates, high fuel and commodity prices, inflation, negative market sentiments and so on. In 2012, we committed to launch five new products, and we did just that. In the last six months, we launched three new cars—Chevrolet Sail Hatchback, Chevrolet Sail Sedan and very recently the all new MPV Chevrolet Enjoy. We are committed to launching our products on time, creating excitement in the market and building customer enthusiasm with new products.
Q] But what is the rationale behind rolling out new launches at a time when customers are putting off purchases?
Chevrolet India had a strong presence in Mini B1, MUV, lower medium and SUV segments. As part of our India strategy, we are committed to introducing new products in other growth segments as well. Product introductions are planned years in advance and we have maintained the launch timelines for all our new products. We are confident that our portfolio expansion initiatives are going to be appreciated by customers.
Q] What is your pricing strategy? Will affordable cars remain GM’s primary focus?
GM India is one of the very few auto companies offering a vast spread of portfolio entries across price bands, starting from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 24 lakh and above, and vehicle segments in a range of power-train options. Pricing is not the only strategy; we believe in creating and offering value to consumers across segments and are extremely value competitive in segments where we are present. We believe in cars that are attainable as well as aspirational for consumers looking for cars in each of our segments.
Q] Besides Chevrolet, GM has iconic brands like Buick and Cadillac. Are there plans to introduce these brands in India?
While we are open to exploring options for driving business growth, we are currently focused on driving the potential through the Chevrolet brand in India.
Q] What is your current market-share and what measure are you taking to improve this?
GM India expects to increase its market-share in tandem with the market’s growth. We should generate volumes also in tandem with the market growth.
Q] How many dealers do you currently have? What are your expansion plans and how are you looking at Tier II and Tier III cities?
We have 285 sales points and 278 service outlets in 215 cities. Our intention is to take it to 300 sales points and an equal number of service outlets by the end of this financial year. Primarily, the growth in distribution footprint will come in from Tier II and Tier III towns as they are turning into significant auto consumption centres, especially for small cars, MUVs & MPVs.
Q] What are the challenges faced in the Indian market? What initiatives are you taking to scale up your operations?
GM sees great potential in India. In fact, the reason we’re increasing our investments is because GM realizes that in order for us to remain a global leader, we have to make a serious commitment to expanding our presence in high-growth markets like India, and we have made a sizeable investment in India, over $ 1 billion. Additionally, we operate under the principle that we build where we sell; which is why we now have two vehicle manufacturing plants at Halol and Talegaon and a GM Technical Centre-India (GMTCI) in Bangalore.
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