“Quality, Service, Cleanliness, and Value” is a cardinal ethic that American professional speaker and businessman Cavett Robert prophesied. Interestingly,
the slogan is best suited for those businesses dealing with automobiles, whether you drive a cab, own a dealership-cum-service station, or rent a fleet. A clean vehicle or sales floor is always a virtue – a kind of rolling equilibrium that is hard to stay in excellence forever. That’s perhaps why cleanliness remain an aspect of idealism most of the time! Tidiness begets a ‘feel good’ impression in the minds of customers, engages them on an emotional connect with your product or service, especially when you want them to come over to you again and again. Whether what you offer is superior or not in its own terms, diligence in making clean impression is sure to throwback some gains!
The German-based Kärcher is the world’s leading provider of cleaning solution, applicable for almost all verticals, including automotive. It has been a successful manufacturer of washing bays and other installed systems for decades internationally, making Kärcher an experienced partner for any vehicle dealers, service centres, or even for small washing kiosks, auto spa, and mobile service vans. Its products are renowned for water and energy efficiency, and are labour-friendly as well. Moreover, the company promises to offer flexible concept and solutions tailored to customers’ specific requirements – from planning to the individual design. Although their products are available in India for over two decades through dealers, the company established its direct subsidiary for India in 2011 with a well-founded dealership and service network across the country.
A brief Q&A session with Mr. Ravi Ahuja, General Manager (Auto), Kärcher Cleaning Systems Pvt. Ltd., leading provider of automotive cleaning systems in India, gave us insights on the company’s new products, business scenario, and new prospects in the automotive vertical.
Excerpts:
How was business for Kärcher last year and in the first half of 2017? What are your expectations from the rest of the calendar year?
The business was quite good in 2016, thanks to about 20 per cent growth over that of 2015. In particular, we had excellent response for our automatic car wash plant and other standard products at the 2016 Auto Expo. This year is encouraging as well, with an approximate 11 per cent growth against the same period last year. With renewed market interest, we expect the growth to pick up in similar pace for the remaining period this year.
Have you introduced any new product or technology recently? What is the customer response to them in the automotive vertical, especially commercial vehicle segment?
We are betting seriously on our automatic car wash plant, as it is a product for the future. This washer has been designed specifically for Indian conditions, and can also be extended for buses and commercial vehicle applications. Apart from this, we have also introduced floor cleaning machine (BD 43/40) for workshop showroom floors, with very aggressive pricing. Besides, a portable backpack vacuum machine for cleaning of 
seats and carpets of large vehicles has also been launched. Apart from washing systems, Kärcher also offers wide range of chemical and cleaning detergents, tailor-made for automotive applications.
Customer response from the automotive sector is quite encouraging. We are behind major automotive corporates to get product approvals and maintenance contracts for their dealer and service networks. They evaluate our products based on technology and value for money. It is absolutely important for us to provide the best possible after sales service to ensure renewal of such corporate approvals. For instance, brands like Maruti-Suzuki Nexa, Hyundai, Renault, Honda two-wheeler, Piaggio, Hero Motorcorp, Jeep, etc., have approved our products for their dealers and workshops.
After establishing ourselves in passenger car and three-wheeler segments, we have begun emphasis on the CV space as well. Commercial vehicle manufacturers and dealers find our product quite useful and appropriate for their specific applications. For instance, we provide washers that deliver a pressure of over 250 bar, can absolutely remove any type of dirt in heavy trucks including those employed in mines. We have already signed contracts with companies like Tata Motors, BharatBenz, and Volvo, and are in the process of reaching out to more firms in the CV space including Scania, Ashok Leyland, and Isuzu.
Have you pursued any State Transport Undertakings (STUs) for washing bays and other installed cleaning systems for buses? How do you fit your products for such cost-conscious buyers?
We are in dialogue with the Karnataka State Transport department for setting up automatic buses washer plant at their facility. Bus transportation has evolved into a more premium service in the recent times, therefore cleanliness is a part of their business strategy now. That’s why they perceive our products quite well. In terms of costs, value-for-money and long-term hassle-free maintenance should be the convincing point. Even though out products are premium in terms of pricing, the durability of products and service capabilities of our teams can hardly have any parallels.
Industry was subjected to a roller-coaster experience in the past 10 months, especially with demonetization, BS-IV norms, and GST implementation. How was Kärcher’s experience in this regard? Any positive or negative impact on your business?
Demonetization did hampered our growth for a while. Many of our customers are small car washer centres, who were greatly affected by this move. However, I think we have recouped from its impacts. While BS-VI emission norms had no impacts on our business, GST has definitely affected our sales in July. Delays in getting GST registration, especially by small players who constitute a major chunk of our customer base (about 40 per cent), was the primary cause for the negative hit. But I firmly believe that this could be not last any longer, and optimistic that the market shall pick up subsequently.
How strong is your distribution (sales & service) network across the country? How are spares supply and technical assistance to customers managed? Any new investments or initiatives to strengthen them further?
As of now, Kärcher has 13 offices located at various cities pan-India. Besides, we have over 50 dealers spread across the length and breadth of India. All our offices and dealerships carry adequate stock of spares and trained technicians to ensure timely service to our customers. It is, perhaps, our outstanding service that contributes for the growth of Kärcher. Further, we are planning to add at least 10 new dealers in by the end of this year.
We participate in service meets of various corporates to make presentation and conduct training programmes both for sales and services. The end-level 
operators need constant training for optimum use of the products and their prolonged life. We also conduct service training programme for our technician, sales executives and dealers periodically, by trainers who gets trained at our parent co., i.e., Kärcher Germany.
How is the Union Government’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ initiative on cleanliness advancing your business?
As a provider of cleaning systems and solutions, this initiative is definitely a boon for us. The growing awareness shall definitely help us to grow at a faster rate. Apart from its positive impacts on the cleaning industry, the initiative is a major boost for the entire society.
What are Kärcher’s targets for 2020? How’s your progress so far, in spite of market stagnation and uncertainty in the recent times?
Our parent company has drawn out Plan 2020 for all its subsidiaries across the world in 2015. Kärcher India proposes to increase its sales by 175% by the year 2020. We aim to remain the leader globally as far as cleaning business is concerned.