Challenge

Benchmarking

SSahil Gulhane26 Feb 2023

Automotive Benchmarking:

Benchmarking is the comparison of similar products based on some characteristics and dimensions of performance.

Automotive benchmarking contains the analysis of choices of similar options based on selection criteria and deduction of the conclusion.

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.

REPORT:

The given case of Mr. Pughazhyendhii leads to following filters:

The number of commuters is five including a child and two old age persons and hence the vehicle should be spacious with good leg room.
He will be using his car for daily office commutes and to travel to his native at least monthly once. So this would give an estimate of 3000 km/month.
The budget is 8-10 lakhs and it should be a big car.
Based on above factors, the suggestion would be an SUV vehicle.
Considering the long run the better option would be a Diesel variant.
As Bangalore is a crowded city automatic gear transmission is suitable but the manual transmission is best preferred due to budget.

Based on these requirements the following benchmarking has done to compare the specifications, advantages and other considerable parameters.

Comparison Parameters of the Car Models

PERFORMANCE:

Looking at the performance parameters of all four of them, Hyundai venue and Tata Nexon offer a good stable performance. Both the cars are good on city traffic and highway.
Kia Sonet has better engine power as compared to Nexon and Venue, but Mahindra XUV300 tops the table in case of torque. If we compare Sonet with Venue, Sonet has better torque but lags behind Nexon.
The reported ARAI mileage shows Sonet, Nexon and Venue are better and Mahindra falls behind due to its power to weight ratio.

INTERIOR

TATA Nexon is the best among the group because of its spacious Cabin Interior with more Leg room for the rear passengers and suits best for the family drive by giving best seating for the fifth passenger.
The Glove Box and Rear HVAC Vent are the standout features of TATA NEXON and also has improved sunvision and Instrument Panel Clusters with added utility holders along the side doors.
Nexon's Infotainment touch screen has sub par performance compared to Hyundai Venue, whereas Sonet also offers good touch screen.
Maxindra XUV has a better Plastic Interior trim quality and Dual tone variant of Hyundai Venue and material looks better whereas the Quality of XM variant Nexon is not superior compared to other models.
The Blue link connectivity App with smartphone from Hyundai Venue and Kia Sonet also offers 58 smart features which makes it future ready.

EXTERIOR

Kia Sonet is a standout in this category and offers the maximum bootspace of 392 litres and Nexon offers 350 litres but Nexon has better ground clearence of 209mm which will be well suited for the Indian Roads
The Facelift, Headlight and Tail Light are stylish in NEXON and gives a land rover discovery like front with beefy and bulky front end.
The Lagged out ABC Pillars of TATA NEXON offers better head room among the other models.

SAFETY and COMFORT

Almost all the models has same safety features of Dual Airbags, ABS with EBD, parking sensors, corner stability control whereas Sonet offers 4 airbags but still lags behind in NCAP rating. but NEXON offers Dead Pedal which comes very handy in the case of Pughazhyendhii for his frequent long drive.
Apart from that Automatic Rain Sensing Wipers, Tyre pressure monitoring system are available in TATA NEXON 1.5XM within the price range
TATA Nexon is the first Indian Model to recieve 5star NCAP Rating for its safety and crash test. Mahindra XUV also has a 5 star rating and Sonet has 3star NCAP rating.

VERDICT

Kia Sonet and Tata Nexon do compete on most of the parameters but TATA Nexon 1.5 XM is better model suited to Pughazhyendhii based on the benchmarking report done above. It offers much better stability in performance and spacious compared to other model and falls under the budget of 10 lakhs with top spec model. Hyundai Venue also provides better features but lags Nexon on the Rear Passenger comfort along with XUV and Eco Sport.