Maruti Suzuki to go for new-look showrooms

New Delhi, Aug 30: Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday announced the upgrading of its retail channel for better customer service as the re-branded 'Maruti Suzuki Arena' that will require its dealers to invest in redesigned showrooms over the next five years.

"Besides providing a more comfortable ambience for buyers, key to the new-look dealerships is the digital connectivity offering a seamless experience of the car going from online to offline at the showroom," an official of India's biggest car maker said here at the launch event. The company website has been suitably upgraded.

The investment in re-doing the more than 2,000 dealerships across India would be made by the dealers themselves who have readily agreed to it, said R.S. Kalsi, Senior Executive Director (Marketing and Sales).

"About 80 showrooms of the 2,050 in India will be converted to the Arena within this financial year," he said, adding the other "partners" will upgrade to the Arena format within three to five years.

"With today's launch, the company will have four distinct retail channels -- Arena, Nexa, Maruti Suzuki Commercial and True Value. Arena is set to usher in a new chapter in our sales journey and help attract new buyers," said Chief Executive Kenichi Ayukawa.

Kalsi explained that Maruti would provide the technical and design support to renovate the dealerships. The company is in the process of acquiring land, which would then be leased out to dealers or be used to set up service centres.