Car companies that have the best service centres in India

After sales service is the key for consumers to buy a car. For some, it can even be a deal breaker.

Marketing information services company J.D. Power conducted a survey to find out which companies have the best authorised service centres.

The company asked the car owners to rate companies based on their experience with an authorised service centre.

The study measures overall satisfaction in five factors (listed in order of importance): service quality; vehicle pick-up; service advisor; service facility; and service initiation.

Let’s look at car companies that have the best service centres.

Fiat

Rank: 13

At present, Fiat sells only two cars in India - Fiat Linea and Fiat Punto. The company, however, plans to launch nine new models in the next three years.

…

Fiat

Fiat India also plans to increase the number of its dealerships from 80 to 100 by the end of this year.

The company is also planning to bring two Jeep models in the country and introduce a rally car Abarth.

With new launches, the company is aiming at a 10-fold increase in its market share.

…

Ford

Rank: 12

Ford India has five cars in its portfolio. These include Fiesta, Fiesta Classic, Figo, Endeavour, and the newly launched EcoSport.

…

Ford

The car company is betting big on the country and has invested $2 million in its facilities in Chennai, its greenfield plant at Sanand, Gujarat, and global business services centres.

It also plans to introduce a slew of cars developed on global platforms with high level of localisation.

…

Volkswagen

Rank: 11

Volkswagen India has launched a slew of vehicles in the country recently and has about 11 cars in its portfolio at present. Some of these include Polo, Cross Polo, Vento, Jetta, New Beetle, Passat, Touareg, and Phaeton.

…

Volkswagen

It further plans to introduce new models in India from its global line up to revive its fortunes.

According to media reports, the company will soon restructure its existing dealerships to improve customer confidence in the brand.

…

Skoda

Rank: 10

The company has six cars in its India portfolio including Octavia, Fabia, Rapid, Laura, Yeti and Superb.

…

Skoda

The company consciously wants to focus on premium segment until 2016 and improve after-sales experience of the customers.

The next launch from the company could be the refresh version of its compact SUV Yeti.

…

Nissan

Rank: 9

Nissan has about eight cars in its portfolio including Terrano, Evalia, Micra Active, Sunny, Teana, X-Trail and 370Z.

…

Nissan

To boost its sales in India, and in developing markets, the company revived its brand Datsun. Nissan will launch cheaper cars under this brand to cater to mass market segment. The company has already unveiled the first small car, Datsun Go, which will be launched in India by 2016.

Nissan is also planning to develop a ‘made-in-India’ car in the next 5-6 years.

…

Chevrolet

Rank: 8

Currently, Chevrolet sells about eight cars in India. These include Spark, Beat, Sail U-VA, Sail, Captiva, Cruze, Enjoy, and Tavera.

…

Chevrolet

General Motors entered India with Opel brand in 1995. Later it introduced Chevrolet in the country to woo the consumers. One of the first launches under Chevrolet brand was Optra.

Also known as Chevy, the brand is popular worldwide but has failed to take off in India as GM would have expected.

…

Renault

Rank: 7

Renault has about five cars in its India portfolio. These include Scala, Duster, Pulse, Koleos, and Fluence.

…

Renault

The company managed to gain traction in the country with its swanky SUV, Duster. Buoyed by the success, the company has now set its sights on having a portfolio of 7-8 cars in India in the next five years. Renault is also developing an entry-level small car for India.

…

Tata

Rank: 6

Tata Motors has a wide array of products. Its portfolio currently comprises of 12 cars. Some of these include Nano, Indica, Indigo, Manza, Safari Strome, Sumo Grande, and Aria.

The company has been losing market share in the country. In July, Tata Motors revealed a new strategy to put its passenger vehicle business back on track. The company termed it as Horizonext.

…

Tata

The company revealed eight new simultaneous launches across five brands. These include new enhanced versions of the Tata Indigo eCS, Tata Sumo Gold, Tata Nano, Tata Indica, Tata Safari Storme and CNG variants of the Indica, Indigo and the Nano.

The company also plans to roll out improved dealerships across 150 dealers in 100 cities in the current calendar year and launch 11 new service programmes.

…

Toyota

Rank: 5

Toyota’s changed the multi utility vehicle segment in India first with Qualis and then with Innova. The company currently has nine cars in its portfolio. These include Etios Liva, Etios, Innova, Corolla Altis, Fortuner, Camry, Prius, Prado, and Land Cruiser.

…

Toyota

Toyota plans to increase its sales eightfold in India to 400,000 vehicles a year by 2015. To achieve its objective, the company will add new models, including a compact car.

Toyota Motor Corporation Managing Officer Satoshi Ohiso had earlier told PTI: “If you look at our portfolio in India, we have just one small car, Liva. We need more if we have to have big volumes in a fast growing market like India."

It also plans to open a new car with an annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles.

…

Mahindra

Rank: 4

Mahindra has considerably captured market share and is now the third largest automaker in the country with over 10 per cent market share. Currently, the company has about nine vehicles in the market. Some of them include Bolero, Rexton, Scorpio, Verito, XUV 500, and Xylo.

…

Mahindra

The company now plans to have a platform in each segment of utility vehicles (UV), ranging from compact SUVs to spacious, feature-rich multi-seaters.

The company plans to invest in new platform and launch cars across the market segments.

The company is also developing a new compact SUV through association with its South Korean subsidiary, which will compete against Ford's best seller EcoSport.

…

Honda

Rank: 3

Honda is the sixth largest car manufacturer in India with five models in its portfolio. These include Brio, Amaze, Accord, City, and CRV.

The Japanese auto major is all set with new arsenal for its Indian portfolio to expand its presence in the country.

…

Honda

There are about four to five models, refreshed as well as brand new, which are slotted to be introduced in the Indian market.

Honda will introduce face lift version of Honda City and new Jazz. It also plans to launch a Brio based MPV, which is christened as Mobilio. The biggest launch probably will be an entry-level hatch.

…

Hyundai

Rank: 2

The carmaker has managed to stay at the second position in India with exciting launches and being present across market segment.

Hyundai currently has eight cars in the market including the newly launched Grand i10, EON, i10, i20, Fluidic Verna, Sonata and Santa Fe.

…

Hyundai

The company plans to launch two-three new products every year, and it may also look at the SUV (sports utility vehicle) and MPV (multi-purpose vehicle) segment where it does not have a presence. It also plans to refurbish older models.

The company is also planning step up its marketing in the rural areas to further increase its market share.

…

Maruti Suzuki

Rank: 1

Maruti Suzuki is the undisputed king of the Indian automobile industry with over 50 per cent market share. It has over 15 vehicles across the segment and the best dealer and service network in the country. Some of the popular models include Alto, SX4, Swift, Dzire, Ritz, Eeco, WagonR, Ertiga, and Grand Vitara.

Among the top five cars sold in India in October, four are Maruti vehicles. These include Alto, Swift, Dzire, WagonR.

…

Maruti Suzuki

Maruti will update its portfolio soon with diesel version of WagonR, XA Alpha, YL7 hatchback and YL1 sedan.

According to media reports, the company is also planning to build its own family of diesel engines to power vehicles across segments. As of today, Maruti imports diesel engines from the Italian carmaker Fiat.