labels: passenger cars, hindustan motors
Click-n-customise your car news
Usha Somayaji
17 September 2001
17 Sept 2001

Pune: You are planning to buy a car and you have already decided on the make and the model. But a snag persists. The auto showroom does not have the right colour, the right interior and the right accessories you cherish.

Here is the chance to choose the colour, interior and accessories of your dear, dream car. Mitsubishi Lancer has come up with a scheme that allows you this unique opportunity. Hindustan Motors, which makes Mitsubishi Lancer car, has set up kiosks in six cities from where you can pick and choose the colour, the interior, the accessories and the wheels of the car you would like to possess.

The kiosks are fitted with computer terminals displaying the features of the 1500 cc petrol and the 2000 cc diesel versions of the three Mitsubishi Lancer models - GLX, SLX and SFX - to choose from. You have to just click on the colour, the interior, the wheel and the accessories of your choice. And, presto! Your made-to-order car will be delivered to you in three weeks.

Hindustan Motors has so far installed 11 kiosks with computer terminals operating on intranet offering this facility for the first time in the country. Soon, the facility would be available on the Internet, making Hindustan Motors the first car-maker to offer such a service to its customers. Overseas, car-makers like BMW are offering such a choice to customers over the Internet.

This service allows us to stay in close touch with the customer, says Hindustan Motors general manager (sales and service) S Vasudevan. The initiative came following the customers requests for non-standard features and colour.

After the launch of the programme, we have seen a 4-per cent rise in the market share of the Lancer, says Vasudevan, comparing figures before and after the launch. The company has invested Rs 25 lakh in the software, developed by Satyam. Rs 1 lakh was spent on each kiosk, a cost shared by the dealer and Hindustan Motors.

The facility is available in New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Pune. The company intends to install 16 such computer kiosks at its dealers premises across the country by the end of this financial year.

The company, which sold 7,635 units last year, expects to cross the 8000-mark this year.

Vasudevan said the company plans to lower the price of spare parts across the board, making them 20 to 50 per cent less expensive. Around 75 items would be thus priced, in order to ease the burden on the customers. The objective is to make affordable all the spare parts routinely used for maintenance, which would be imported in bulk from Mitsubishi, says Vasudevan.

 

 search domain-b
  go
 
Click-n-customise your car