Benchmarking

Car Recommendation using Benchmarking Techniques

Benchmarking is a procedure in product development that involves a comparative study of specifications, dimensions, features, and attributes of similar products or brands in the market. Meticulous market research, literature survey, and research on relevant products are carried out as a first step, in order to obtain a large information base on the product to be designed. This large set of information is later categorized and prioritized, based on the scope, business strategy, and constraints which serve as the primary requirements of the product. This information serves as the basis of benchmarking wherein the similar products are scrutinized for the primary product requirements. A detailed comparison of the products in the market aids in setting a target value or target range for the most important specifications of the product. This can be based on performance, product competitiveness, durability, etc - whichever is most important for the designer. (Reference Book: Product Design and Development by Ulrich and Eppinger).

Customer Requirements and Needs:

With reference to the above practice of benchmarking, it is important to gather information on the design problem first. The problem at hand is to suggest a car for a customer to suit his personal and transport requirements.

The basic customer requirements that are stated in the problem as follows: These are the primary needs of the customer and let them be named with 'P'.

P1. A big car that is suitable for a crowded city

P2. A car that can accommodate four passengers comfortably

P3. A car is suitable for both long drives and short commutes

P4. A car that fits the budget of 8-10 Lakhs

The other important requirement of the Indian market are as follows: These are the secondary needs of the customer and let them be named with 'S'.

S1. The car should provide good mileage and exhibit good fuel efficiency compared to other cars in that segment.

S2. Maintainance of the car should be economical.

S3. The car should have the best safety features that can be bought in the desired budget and in that car segment.

S4. The car should look good

S5. Good boot space

Other requirements a customer might expect, if it fits in the budget: These are the tertiary needs of the customer and let them be named with 'P'.

T1. Automatic Transmission

T2. Good Legroom

T3. Sun Roof

T4. The higher variant of the same car

Based on the requirements gathered, specifications of the car can be traced as follows based on each customer requirement:

Customer Requirement Number	Need	Related Car Specification
P1	Big Car, city use	Car Dimensions turning radius
P2	Comfort	Legroom car dimensions Ride quality provided from suspension - the type of suspension
P3	Performance	Horse Power Engine Volume Diesel/Petrol/electric/hybrid car Fuel Capacity Range, Mileage Handling Quality - ABS, KDSS, EBS available?
P4	Cost	8 to 10 Lakhs?
S1	Mileage and Fuel Efficiency	Mileage Fuel Capacity Range Kerb Weight
S2	Maintainance Cost	Cost of spare parts servicing policy
S3	Safety	Crash Rating Are airbags available?
S4	Appearance	Colour Shape Brand
S5	Luggage Space	Luggage Space Car Dimensions
T1	Automatic Transmission	Automatic Transmission or Manual?
T2	Legroom	Car Dimensions Legroom
T3	Luxury	Brand Sunroof Legroom Seat Controls, Seat cushions Interior design
T4	Higher Performance for the same budget	can higher variants be bought in the desired budget?

These are the specifications for which the cars would be compared with.

Market Survey

At this point, information about different cars available needs to be gathered from conducting a market survey. A general superficial survey can be initiated by searching for cars under 10 lakhs which have a seating capacity of 5 and above. From 'Carwale.com' website, almost 45-50 cars satisfy these requirements. Now, this can be further streamlined or filtered by choosing the best-performing cars among them, as the next important need was of good performance. This brings the choice to a number of 20-25 cars. However, benchmarking of all 25 cars would be very time-consuming. Hence, it is essential to further rule out some of the cars. The secondary needs are now taken into consideration. Since the customer is fond of big cars and has a family that goes to tours often, it is better in terms of space and safety that they choose an SUV or MUV or a crossover. So, this leads to a total of 8 cars to benchmark excluding hatchbacks, compact cars, and sedans. The list is given below.

1. Ford Ecosport

2. Maruthi Suzuki Ertiga

3. Mahindra Marazzo

4. Maruthi Suzuki Vitara Brezza

5. Maruthi Suzuki XL6

6. Renault Duster

7. Hyundai Venue - Automatic/Manual Variant

8. Hyundai Creta - Deisel and Petrol Variant

Benchmarking

	Unit	Ford Ecosport	Maruthi Suzuki Ertiga	Mahindra Marazzo	Maruthi Suzuki Vitara Brezza	Maruthi Suzuki XL6	Renault Duster	Hyundai Venue	Hyundai Creta
Car Dimensions	mm^3	3998*1765*1647	4395*1735*2740	4585*1866*2760	3995*1790*1640	4445*1775*2740	4360*1822*2673	3995*1770*2500	4300*1790*2610
Turning Radius	m	5.3	5.2	5.25	5.2	5.2	5.2	5.1	5.3
Seating Capacity		5	7	8	5	6	5	5	5
Luggage Space	Litres	352	209	190	328	209	475	350	433
Engine Volume	cc	1498	1462	1497	1462	1462	1498	998	1493
Horse Power	bhp	98.96@3750rpm	103@6000rpm	121bhp@3500rpm	103.2bhp@6000rpm	103.2bhp@6000rpm	104.55bhp@5600rpm	118.35bhp@6000rpm	113.42bhp@4000rpm
Fuel Capacity	Litres	52	45	45	48	45	50	45	50
Mileage	kmpl	21.7	17.99	17.3	18.76	17.99	19.87	18.15	18.5kmpl
Kerb Weight	kg	1309	1170	1650	1140	1190	1160	1251	1367
Crash Rating		4	3	4	NA	3	3.5	4	4
Airbags		2 at front and sides	2 at front	driver and passenger	driver and passenger	2 at front	2 at front	2 at front	driver and passenger, front and side
Sunroof		yes	no	no	no	no	no	yes	yes
Avg Maintainance cost per service	Rs.	4734	3949	8083	3658	5061	3858	2643	3516
Automatic/Manual		Manual	both	manual	both	both	Manual	both	both
Variants?		Petrol and diesel	Petrol and CNG	diesel	petrol	petrol	Petrol	both	both

Reference: Cardekho.com and specific car brands website.

Benchmarking Results:

Mahindra Mazarro can be ruled out as it is too big for a five-member family.

For a family car, although the customer has not mentioned, safety is the highest priority. Hence, it is better to buy cars with a higher safety rating among the above 8.

Hence, Ford Ecosport, Renault Duster, Hyundai Venue and Hyundai Creta are good options. All four of these have similar specifications. However, Hyundai Creta has more airbags than other cars, a sunroof, better luggage space, better fuel capacity and optimum service costs.

Recommendation

Hyundai Creta can be safely recommended to this family. However, the other three cars - Ford Ecosport, Renault Duster and Hyundai Venue are equally good.