Benchmarking

BENCHMARKING:

1. Benchmarking is defined as the process of measuring products, services, and processes against those of organizations known to be leaders in one or more aspects of their operations. Benchmarking provides necessary insights to help you understand how your organization compares with similar organizations
2. While bringing a new vehicle to the market a specific, distinctive vehicle attribute branding is very much essential for the car maker to make cars unique and competitive. As a first step on the way, vehicle manufacturers have to benchmark their vehicles in the competitive environment in order to understand and to strengthen or improve the potential of their vehicles
3. Example: If a company plans to build an electric motorcycle for youngsters, they would benchmark and collect all crucial data of already existing vehicles in that segment. Example: Revolt, Ultravoilette, Torq etc.
4. Few important attributes of benchmarking include:

• Performance
• Driveability
• Sound / NVH
• Pollutant emissions
• Vehicle dynamics, handling
• Ride Comfort

1. In general automotive bench marking are of two types

• Benchmarking 1:

Benchmarking one is done at product level. In case of an automobile factors like design, dimensions, safety, comfort and dynamics of one vehicle is compared with another vehicle

• Benchmarking 2:

Benchmarking two is done at part level. Each and every component involved in the vehicle is analysed din etail considering all possible aspects. In case of BIW, thickness, material used, overall weight, composition of material,structure of the component are all analysed in detail

CASE:

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, a five-year-old boy, his father, and his mother. He visits his native place Madurai which is 500kms away from Bangalore once 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 options so that he will buy a good car for his family.

Note: Pughazhyendhii is fond of big cars

REQUIREMENTS:

The following are Mr. D.S. Pughazhyendhii requirements:

• 5 seater vehicle
• Mainly to be driven in city and occasionally on highways
• Should be comfortable and safe(elders and children will be seated)
• Budget-8 to 10 lakhs
• Big vehicle is a preferred option

CONCLUSION:

Based on the Mr D.S. Pughazhyendhii requirement, I would suggest him to go with the Tata Nexon XE for the below mentioned reasons:

• The most important criteria was to have a proper 5 seater car and the large cabin of Nexon will be comfortable for all of them. Since the family consists of elders, it becomes very important to have adequate leg room for their comfort
• Nexon with its 1.2l revotron turbo engine provides the best power figures the whole segment. This could be useful during the occasional long drives
• Nexon is also rated 5 stars by global NCAP, which is a very important point considering the safety is the utmost priority
• Nexon has a very solid build quality and provides excellent confidence during maneuvering
• Tata Nexon also comes with a child seat which further enhances its safety
• The suspension of Tata Nexon is finely tuned which means it could cushion the shocks from the bumpy roads of Bangalore without compromising the drivability and handling of the vehicle
• The car falls within the budget of 8 to 10 lakhs
• Although there are some complains with the after sales service of Tata motors in some regions, the network of service centres is very large and parts are also available which will help maintain the car.