Benchmarking
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1) Selection of vehicles:
The vehicles were selected with careful consideration based on Mr. Pughazhyendhii's requirements, he wanted a car that could seat 5, is suitable for daily city driving and 500 km driving once a month, and should fall within his budget of 8-10 million. He mentioned that he likes big cars and since he lives in Bangalore where the road conditions are terrible, only a compact SUV was chosen. The selected vehicles for comparison are:
- Nissan Magnite (XV Turbo)
- Maruti Suzuki Brezza (ZXi)
- Mahindra XUV 300
- Hyundai Venue (1.0 Turbo iMT)
2) Benchmarking:
Benchmarking is the process of researching the market for suitable products, in this case, the products are vehicles that would be in competition with your product. Benchmarking is done to better understand what is currently offered in the market and what your product should ideally offer or go above and beyond to ensure that the product being launched will hold up well against the competition.
Benchmarking takes place during the first phase, which is the preliminary design and development phase, the development phase of any product. It is usually done in several stages to ensure that the final product concept will offer similar or more features than its competitors.
The first phase of benchmarking is usually done to understand what the competition is offering in the market. This is the stage where the competition for your product is decided. In this case, we compare the car, so we find out and compare the prices, the features offered and the specifications of the competition to decide what our product should have in these criteria.
The second stage of benchmarking is that it is compared at the level of individual components to see how much a more powerful car can be developed, or in another way to see how much weight could be reduced.
Some of the criteria that will be used in the second phase of benchmarking are the number of stamping parts used, the weight of these parts, the weight of the metal used, the average thickness of the chassis coating and the like. These criteria will shed a better light on engineers on how and where to reduce or increase the weight of the vehicle's components and how to possibly reduce the number of parts used compared to its competitors.
3) Comparison of the Selected Vehicles
The table below shows the basic figures and stats of each vehicle :
| Vehicle Name | Price | Power (bhp) | Torque (Nm) | Fuel Effeciency (Kmpl) | Weight (Kg) | Seating | Transmission |
| Nissan Magnite (XV Turbo) | 9,18,000 | 99 | 152 | 17.7 | 1039 | 5 | Automatic (CVT) |
| Maruti Brezza (ZXi) | 9,42,000 | 103 | 138 | 17.03 | 1120 | 5 | Manual (5 Gears) |
| Mahindra XUV 300 | 9,87,000 | 109 | 200 | 17 | 1400 | 5 | Manual (6 Gears) |
| Hyundai Venue (1.0 Turbo iMT) | 9,11,000 | 118 | 172 | 17.8 | 1200 | 5 | Automatic (iMT) |
This table gives a basic overview of what the vehicle is capable of and it can be seen that all the vehicles chosen are just under the 10 Lakh mark as the highest possible trim was chosen for this comparison.
Next, we compare the pros and cons of each vehicle to get a better understanding of them and to hone in on the best choice for the customer :
- Nissan Magnite
| Pros | Cons |
| Comes with a CVT Transmission | High-speed driving is not as good as the competition |
| Spacious and feature-loaded cabin | Interior quality is not as good as its rivals |
| Peppy engine | The presence and service network is less than other brands in comparison |
| Quirky design that makes it stand out |
- Maruti Suzuki Brezza (ZXi)
| Pros | Cons |
| The seating is higher than competitors | The ride is quite firm at low speeds |
| Light steering provides an ease to drive | Fit and finish is sub-par compared to the rivals |
| Maruti has an extensive service network throughout the country | The engine gets noisy after crossing 2500 RPM |
- Mahindra XUV 300
| Pros | Cons |
| Very roomy cabin with good head and knee room | Boot space is not adequate. Definitely too small for an SUV |
| Light steering, clutch & gearbox make it a breeze to drive | Petrol options do not have an automatic gearbox on offer |
| Petrol and Diesel are very refined | The interior fit and finish aren't the best |
| Although not as extensive as Maruti, Mahindra themselves have a fair good service network throughout the country |
- Hyundai Venue (1.0 Turbo iMT)
| Pros | Cons |
| The very unique gearbox is on offer. The iMT gearbox provides the best of both an automatic and manual transmission | Cabin space is not as adequate as its rivals |
| Very good low and mid-range, which ensures comfortable driving in traffic | Top spec variants get too expensive |
| Petrol and Diesel are very refined | |
| Comes loaded with features such as the creep and hill hold functions |
4) Conclusion:
Based on all the above points and above comparison numbers, I would like to conclude by saying that Hyundai Venue (1.0 Turbo iMT) is the best choice for Mr Pughazhyendhii as Venue is a car that fits his budget and comes second. the cheapest among the options, but at the same time it is also the most powerful vehicle in the given variants. Since Mr Pughazhyendhii will primarily be driving around town, an automatic transmission car would be ideal, and Hyundai offers an iMT hybrid transmission that would be ideal for both city and highway use. This car is packed with more features than its competitors and also offers the best fuel economy. The only downside is that the cabin space isn't as good as its competitors, but given that Mr Pughazhyendhii travels long distances with his family only once a month and his child doesn't require the space of a full adult, the pros are far outweighed. cons and that's why the Hyundai venue is the best car for his needs.