Honda in two-wheeler, Bajaj in three-wheeler and Eicher Motors in commercial vehicle hold pole positions in respective segments
Recently, a report based on the results of Dealer Satisfaction Study 2021 was published on our website. The survey was conducted by Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) across the country and shows the extent to which auto dealerships in India are satisfied with their respective OEMs.
The study was conducted in association with a Singapore-based consultancy firm- PremonAsia. While the previous article focused on dealers of the four-wheeler segments, this story will concentrate on the rest of the segments including two-wheeler, three-wheeler and commercial vehicle (CV) segments.
At the Overall Industry Level, Dealers attach high importance of 27 percent on Business Viability, making it a highly critical aspect where OEMs need to exhibit greater sensitivity, particularly since the current satisfaction level on this factor is weak. On the positive side, dealers feel that products, both in terms of quality and range, by and large, meet the expectations of end customers’ current needs though, its evolution in the future will require more frequent refreshes.
Two-Wheeler Segment
The two-wheeler segment scored a dealership satisfaction index of 626 out of 1000 which is below the average industry index of 657. The biggest concern in this segment highlighted by the study is that OEMs are not open to Dealer inputs in terms of improving dealership cost structure from a viability and policy point of view. Apart from this dealers complained that there is no support from OEMs on buyback of dead stocks of parts.
On the brighter side, however, dealers were satisfied in the way OEMs were fair in acceptance and rejection of warranty claims. While Honda lagged far behind in satisfying the expectations of its dealer partners in the four-wheeler segment, it fared decently enough by topping the charts with 693 points. Surprisingly, Royal Enfield was the least favourable of all two-wheeler brands with a dealership satisfaction index of meager 540.
Commercial Vehicle Segment
Commercial vehicle segment also didn’t perform exceptionally well with a dealership satisfaction index of only 621. The study revealed that OEMs in this segment need to guide dealers in improving sales efficiency & controlling cost of sales. On the positive side, though, dealers are happy about the overall product range and quality of fully built vehicles.
Dealers are also satisfied since they could directly communicate with OEMs senior leadership team for discussing business viability and long-term policies. Eicher Motors secured the maximum dealership satisfaction index with 669 points while Force Motors lagged behind at the last spot with 570 points.
Three-Wheeler Segment
The three-wheeler segment scored the least dealership satisfaction index of only 610 with Bajaj Auto outscoring other brands. While exact causes of concern have not been revealed in this report, it can be assumed there are plenty of concerns for dealers in this segment that need to be addressed by respective OEMs.