Benchmarking
Benchmarking.
Benchmark is first stage of Pre Design & Development in Vehicle Design Process (VDP). It is a comparision of what is already there in market and how do i implement plus points of my own product. Here we define the competitors, price, specifications and features on the segment.
Benchmarking is the perprtual process of measuring products, services and practices against the determined competitors who are recognized as industry leaders with respect to Automobile genre.
Benchmarking is advantageous especially when comparing not only performance but also practice – in other words what do the other organizations do to enable that performance to be delivered? And applied in this way it is a powerful tool in process
innovation sine studying how the ‘best’ achieve their performance can deliver powerful clues for changing the way processes operate.
Process benchmarking of this kind can operate at several levels:
• Between similar processes in the same factory or service branch.
• Between diverse factories or service branches.
• Between different competing organizations.
• Between distinct sectors using the same process.
Case Study.
Mr. D.S. Pughazhyendhii is a married man who lives in Bangalore which is a highly crowded city. His Family comprises five members including his wife, five-year-old boy, his father, and his mother. He visits his native place Madurai which is 500kms away from Bangalore once in a month. Also, he will be using his car to commute to his office. His budget falls between 8 to 10 lakhs on road. Please suggest to him with options so that he will buy a good car for his family.
Note: Pughazhyendhii is fond of big cars.
The above case steer to the following points :-
1) Mr. D.S. Pughazhyendhii is a married man and has five members in his family. Hence, the requirement of 5-seater/6-seater car is required with enough leg room.
2) He visits once in a month to his native place – Madurai, which is 500kms away from Bangalore and also to travel daily to his work office.
3) He is fond of big cars and his budget for the car is in between 8 lakhs to 10 lakhs on road.
Now based on points made, I think of Compact SUV being the right type of car variant, with respect to the following highlights shown below :-
• Size Difference.
Most of the people prefer opting for a full-size SUV while many want to go for a compact vehicle. The compact SUVs tend to provide the best. While it gives the feel of a full-size SUV, it doesn’t feel like a bulky ride. Compact SUVs turn out to be the perfect ride in the city and on the highways. Whereas SUVs doesn’t turn out to be a car, you want to get stuck with, in traffic. The size makes it difficult to handle and ride until and unless you eventually get used to it.
• The Mileage of a Compact SUV.
When it comes to mileage, SUVs aren’t the best bet. However, compact SUVs are here to solve this problem. While the big powerful engines consume more amount of fuel, compact SUVs have better mileage. To give you a outlook, Maruti Vitara Brezza’s diesel engine gives a mileage of 24 kmpl. Whereas, the Toyota Fortuner has a mileage of 10.1 kmpl. The difference is massive.
• Better Ride and Handling of Compact SUV's.
SUVs are good at doing all the sporty stuff. However, in that hunger for accomplishing the sportiness tag, it shortfall in the handling quality. Driving around in a big brawny car isn’t something easy to do. Whereas, compact SUVs actually drive around like a car. The main reason is the way they are built. The SUVs are actually built on a platform which can be built for actual trucks. However, the compact SUVs are built on platforms which are meant for actual cars.
Selection criteria for the selected compact suv's for benchmarking.
- Based on the above factors the recommendation would be a choice of SUV Vehicle .
- As it is demanding for long run the smart option would be Diesel variant which helps in saving of fuel costs and other upfront maintenance and also has better mileage.
- Mr. D.S. Pughazhyendhii stays in Bengaluru. Considering the city traffic and busy roads Automatic Gear transmission would be best suited, nonetheless due to budget constraints and fuel efficiency Manual Transmission is preferred.
Based on these requirements a comprehensive benchmarking is done to compare the specifications, advantages and other considerable parameters.
The selected four compact suv's for benchmarking are:-
1) Hyundai Venue – S 1.5 CRDi.
2) Tata Nexon – XE Diesel.
3) Mahindra XUV300 – 1.5 W4.
4) Kia Sonet-HTE 1.
Hyundai Venue – S 1.5 CRDi.
Hyundai Venue S 1.5 CRDi is the diesel variant in the Venue lineup and is priced at ₹ 9.29 Lakh. It has a certified mileage of 23.4 kmpl. This S 1.5 CRDi variant comes with an engine putting out 99 bhp @ 4000 rpm and 240 Nm @ 1500 rpm of max power and max torque respectively. Hyundai Venue S 1.5 CRDi is available in Manual transmission and offered in 5 colours: Denim Blue, Deep Forest, Typhoon Silver, Fiery Red and Polar White.
Mahindra XUV300 – 1.5 W4.
Mahindra XUV300 1.5 W4 is the diesel variant in the XUV300 line up and is priced at ₹ 9.30 Lakh. It returns a certified mileage of 20 kmpl. This 1.5 W4 variant comes with an engine putting out 115 bhp @ 3750 rpm and 300 Nm @ 1500 rpm of max power and max torque respectively. Mahindra XUV300 1.5 W4 is available in Manual transmission and offered in 5 colours: Napoli Black, Aqua Marine, Dsat Silver, Red Rage and Pearl White.
Kia Sonet-HTE 1.
Kia Sonet HTE 1.5 is the diesel variant in the Sonet line up and is priced at ₹ 8.65 Lakh. It returns a certified mileage of 24.1 kmpl. This HTE 1.5 variant comes with an engine putting out 99 bhp @ 4000 rpm and 240 Nm @ 1500 rpm of max power and max torque respectively. Kia Sonet HTE 1.5 is available in Manual transmission and offered in 4 colours: Gravity Grey, Steel Silver, Intense Red and Clear White.
Tata Nexon – XE Diesel.
Tata Nexon XE Diesel is the diesel variant in the Nexon line-up and is priced at ₹ 8.60 Lakh. It returns a certified mileage of 22.4 kmpl. This XE Diesel variant comes with an engine putting out 108 bhp @ 4000 rpm and 260 Nm @ 1500 rpm of max power and max torque respectively. Tata Nexon XE Diesel is available in Manual transmission and offered in 3 colours: Daytona Grey, Foliage Green and Calgary White
The Important parameters considered for comparison of four compact SUV’s are
1) Engine and Transmission
2) Dimensions & Weight
3) Suspension, Brakes, Steering & Tyres
4) Safety
5) Braking and Traction.
PERFORMANCE
- Maxindra XUV and Hyundai Venue are the front runners but TATA Nexon offers much balanced performance both on the city uneven road surface, busy traffic and highway with multi drive modes.
- Tata Nexon has Linear Power Delivery system and has best Engine power and torque only faling behind Maxindra XUV.
- The Reported ARAI Mileage shows Venue and Nexon are far better and Mahindra falls behind because of its power to weight ratio.
Conclusion :-
The selected car for Mr. D.S. Pughazhyendhii will be Tata Nexon. It is the better model suitable to Pughazhyendhii based on the benchmarking report done above. It offers much better stability in performance and spacious compared to other model. The budget for this car do also comes under 10 lakhs with top spec model. Hyundai Venue also provides better features but lags Nexon on the Rear Passenger comfort along with XUV and Kia Sonet.
Thus, benchmarking is done in detail and car mode is proposed based on the reports for this case.
