Aggressive plans for north-east on anvil
VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd. (VECV), a Volvo Group and Eicher Motors JV, has opened its modern and contemporary dealership for Eicher branded trucks and buses in Guwahati to strengthen the company’s resolve and commitment to provide sales and after-sales support to the rapidly growing customer base of Eicher in north-east India. The dealership sales showroom and spare parts distributorship is in Dispur and the service centre is located at Amingaon. The workshop is equipped with six bays spread over 30,000 sq. feet with contemporary tools and equipment. The service personnel have been trained at the Eicher Regional Competency Development Centre (RCDC) in Howrah.
The dealership would be managed by the Gargya Group which is in the automotive business for the past 14 years. It is headed by Mr. Rahul Dev Sharma who is an indigenous entrepreneur of North East, an engineer and who has also done his management studies from the Asian Institute of Technology. A seasoned team of professionals from the commercial vehicles industry will be operating under Mr. Sharma.
Eicher has 250 touch points nationally and two dealerships in the north-eastern region. The spares parts division of Gargya Motors Pvt. Ltd. has already appointed 25 retailers covering the entire north-eastern region.
Eicher Trucks and Buses over time have been trusted and proven as the best-in-class fuel efficient vehicles. Fuel efficiency is a critical parameter in purchase decisions of Commercial Vehicles as fuel constitutes over 50 per cent of the running cost for the customer. Eicher brand has always been associated with fuel efficiency and the same has been proven through various trials and actual usage by the customers. Using state-of-the-art technology, innovative design and engineering, an Eicher vehicle consumes less diesel as compared to others leading to more profitability for the customers.
At the inaugural function, Mr. G. Sekar, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, VE CV, commented: “We want to get closer to our customers and ensure that they are able to get their products serviced much easier and faster. We are continuously enhancing the standards of our workshop facility so that we provide best-in-class service and uniform customer experience”.
Eicher today has transformed itself into a complete CV manufacturer with a wide product range from 5t to 40t GVW trucks and 15 to 65-seater buses. It is making strong inroads into the heavy duty trucks segment of 16T-40T with the “VE” series of fuel-efficient heavy duty trucks. With more than 21000 VE series, the trucks have received very good response from the market with its promise of delivering enhanced value to customers.
As part of aftermarket differentiation, there has been significant improvement in after-sales infrastructure. With successful commissioning of the VE parts distribution centre, parts availability has improved across the board. Also, to enhance parts reach, Eicher genuine parts are available in more than 2,200 multi-brand parts retail outlets.
Apart from this, the concept of “Eicher Genuine Parts” counters was rolled out last year to enhance geographical spread, and as a result of that more than 60 EGP counters are up and running supporting customers across the country.
Apart from 250+ sales and service touch points and more than 1,600 service bays, the company has initiated an innovative site support model for its customers through deployment of container set-ups for off highway customers and these container set-ups are deployed at more than 15 remote locations across the country. It also rolled out Genuine service processes in the dealerships to provide uniform service experience to customers across the country.
To optimize the maintenance cost for customers, “Freedom – Service Agreement” an annual maintenance contract in different packages based on the customer needs and applications has been institutionalized. Similarly, insurance tie-ups with insurance companies provide cashless motor insurance to customers, thereby helping Eicher become one-stop solution provider to customers.
“Eicher On-road Service” (EOS) provides en-route breakdown assistance to customers 24×7, 365 days on pan-India basis. Eicher Promise is an assurance to the customer that in the event of a truck or bus breaking down pan-India, the vehicle will be brought back to motorable condition within 48 hours.
The driver training school, a special initiative taken to promote road safety, runs specialized “fuel efficient driving” program to sensitize the drivers on the importance of fuel saving and thereby increase profitability of customers.