Volkswagen has decided to work on its strategy for India after posting low sales figures since the past few years. It is determined to change the notion people have towards the VW brand.
Many of my relatives and friends have asked me which hatchback to buy in a budget of around Rs. 8 lakhs? The love for German quality and attention to detail has made me recommend the Volkswagen Polo every time. Aren’t Volkswagen cars expensive to own and maintain? is the next question and this is a tricky question to answer. While some customers have been lucky enough to get excellent experience pre-sales as well as post-sales, the other customers haven’t been as lucky. The below average service experience at most dealerships ruins the ownership experience for the customers and leads to bad publicity for the brand.
To improvise things, Volkswagen has taken some steps in the past to improve the service levels. But sadly it hasn’t worked well for them. However, the launch of facelifts of existing cars and the addition of newer variants has helped it gain a bit of attention. Low volume models like the GT twins of Polo have become popular amongst the enthusiasts and the sales have taken VW by surprise. But, such variants aren’t instrumental in increasing profitability for the brand. The automaker now plans to launch new cars in the country every 4-6 months for the next 2 years.
Dealerships are the face of the brand as the customer deals with them directly. A happy dealership shall be able to provide a better experience to the customer which in turn leads to better perception about the brand. Volkswagen’s core focus is to provide more benefits to the dealers. They plan to offer around 10-12% of the car’s price to the dealer as commission which will ensure that the dealers do not indulge in malpractices like overcharging on servicing which has been a field of concern since quite some time. Putting up prices of all the spares online and checking all service bills for overcharging will soon be done to ensure transparency.
