In a hyper-competitive domestic commercial vehicle market, managing a dealership network is a herculean task. But there is one shining example of Tata Motors’ CV dealership, which has weathered every headwinds and have come out with flying colours. We are talking about Pasco Motors, which is a leading dealer of Tata commercial vehicles in North India and is looking to sell 30,000 units by 2020. Below are the edited excerpts of an exclusive interaction with Mr. Sanjay Passi, Chairman & Managing Director, Pasco Group.
Kindly tell us about your association with Tata Motors.
We started our association with Tata Motors in 1967 and are basically running its CV in Northern part of India. My father started this business and I joined in the late 80s. It took me 10 years to grasp the business and from 2000 onwards, we started expanding. We originally started in Chandigarh and thereafter, established our dealership at Ropar in Punjab in 2000. We then went to Yamuna Nagar in Haryana in 2004 and to Udaipur & Rajsamand in Rajasthan in 2012. In 2014, we came to Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana. All along, we have maintained our loyalty to a single brand. In the passenger vehicle segment, we have joined hands with Maruti Suzuki and are running their six dealers (3 Maruti and 3 Nexa).
What is the compelling proposition that you have found in Tata Motors?
Tata Motors is a globally recognized brand and I feel very proud in associating with them for over 50 years. In order to focus all my energies on Tata Motors, I did not opt for any other brand. It is a homegrown brand and I feel very attached to it. They don’t consider us to be just their dealers but their channel partners. They have an open door policy towards its dealers so anyone can just walk into any senior officer’s (of Tata Motors’) office there.
What is the USP of your dealership network and what privileges are you offering to your customers to retain them?
Keeping customers as our primary focus, we operate with the sole objective of offering highest standards of sales and services in the automobile dealer fraternity. We have always believed that sale is not the end of a relationship but the beginning of a relationship.
We are offering Telematics, Insurance, AMCs, and other value-added services. We offer tailormade solutions to our customers. The group management has also provided the best of training to its sales and service personnel. Our every DSE have the I Pad through which DSE have all the track record of the customer from enquiry to invoicing, all the model details, price & completion models as well, which has proved a major attraction for the customer. Each and every showroom of ours is air-conditioned, well-designed and provides a very good ambience not only for the new customers but also for their drivers who bring their vehicles for servicing. The amenities provided to the truck drivers have also earned us a very high reputation. Unlike a traditional CV dealership, we have 3D Cinema halls inside our dealership outlets for customers, drivers, etc. Just to give you an anecdote, Mr. Gunter Butschek (Tata Motors MD) once walked into my Faridabad dealership and complimented me by claiming that he is yet to see a CV dealership of this stature in his entire life span. He spent two hours at my dealership outlet during that time.
How do you see the Indian CV market evolving over the years? And what are the growth drivers for the industry?
Earlier, it was the sellers’ market. It has now become a buyers’ market for the last two decades. The competition has become so severe that we don’t wait for the customers to walk into our showrooms. In fact, we go to the customers’ site and try to promote our products. We have a dedicated team of 800 employees who are highly disciplined and well trained and are professionals in their own respective field. Furthermore, I personally look after the key accounts of vehicle owners and also write to them handwritten letters. Some of the major growth drivers for the CV industry are our Govt.’s industry friendly policies, the upcoming vehicle scrappage scheme, etc. Due to the building of highways and setting up of infrastructure (by the Govt.), the movement (of goods) has become very fast. The e-commerce boom is also very positively impacting the CV industry.
What is your biggest challenge in your business?
The biggest challenge was and still remains the availability of drivers. We hope once this is taken care of, the industry will get a massive push.
How has the business been last year and what are your projections? What is your long term vision for the company?
Our business last year has been very good. We did 14,800 units of Tata Vehicles during last financial year 2015-16. This year, we hope of achieving around 17,500 units (of Tata Vehicles). That comes to around 16-17% growth. By 2020, I should be selling 2,500 trucks a month. In financial terms, we registered a turnover of Rs. 2,000 crore last year 2015-16. This financial year we are aiming for Rs. 2,500 crore and are looking for a turnover Rs. 6,000 crore by 2020. We are planning to open more dealerships to achieve my vision of 30,000 units per annum. We want to go pan-India and are already talking to Tata Motors on how to go about it.