Benchmarking

AUTOMOTIVE BENCHMARKING

Benchmarking is a process of measuring the performance of a company’s products, services, or processes against those of another business considered to be the best in the industry, aka “best in class.” The point of benchmarking is to identify internal opportunities for improvement. By studying companies with superior performance, breaking down what makes such superior performance possible, and then comparing those processes to how your business operates, you can implement changes that will yield significant improvements.

Automotive Benchmarking is the process of analyzing the choices of similar products based on the selection factor and deducing it to final 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, 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.

REPORT

The above case of Mr. Pughazhyendhii leads to following filters. They are

• The number of commuters is five including a child and hence the vehicle should be spacious with enough leg room
• He uses his car for Daily office commute and a monthly trip to his native .This would give a total estimate of more than 2500km/month and 20000km/year.
• The budget is from 8-10 Lakhs and he is also fond of big cars
• Based on these underpinning factors the suggestion would be a choice of SUV Vehicle
• Considering the long run of the vehicle the viable option would be Diesel variant which helps to save fuel costs and other upfront maintenance and also has better mileage.
• In a crowded city like Bengaluru Automatic Gear transmission would be best suited but due to budget constraints and fuel efficiency Manual Transmission is also preferred
• According to driving condition and fuel economy consideration, the petrol- hybrid vehicle is also proffered.

Based on these requirements a detailed benchmarking is done to compare the specifications, advantages and other considerable parameters

PERFORMANCE OF DIESEL VARRIENT:

• The Tata Nexon is powered by a 1.5L, four-cylinder diesel engine that produces 108hp and 260Nm of peak torque.
• This engine comes mated to either a 6-speed manual transmission.
• The FordEcoSport is also powered by a 1.5L, four-cylinder diesel engine.
• The power and torque output on the EcoSport stands at 100hp and 215Nm of torque. Transmission options only include a 5-speed manual gearbox.

So the Tata Nexon has the upper hand.

PERFORMANCE OF PETROL- HYBRID VARIENT:

• Maruti s-cross is powered by Progressive Smart Hybrid technology with best-in-class fuel efficiency to enhance the driving experience.
• The Refined SUV experience comes with a plethora of feature-rich offerings including cruise control, LED DRLs, rain sensing wipers, auto headlamps and reverse parking sensors.
• The advanced infotainment system in S-Cross with Smart Play studio in is further revamped with superior features such as seamless Smartphone connectivity.
• Toyota Glanza is dominated by a 4-cylinder engine equipped with a mild hybrid system.

INTERIOR:

• Maruti Suzuki S-Cross is the best among the group because of its sophisticated and 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 sun vision and Instrument Panel Clusters with added utility holders along the side doors.
• Toyota Glanza interior is also equipped with automatic climate control and a smart twin-pod instrument cluster with an informative MID unit.

EXTERIOR

• S-cross is a standout in this category and offers the maximum bootspace of 353 litres but Nexon provide way better ground clearance of 209mm which will be well suited for the Indian Roads.
• The Facelift, Headlight and Tail Light are stylish in NEXON and give 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.
• Toyota Glanza is essentially a twin of the Maruti Suzuki Baleno.
• The side profile of the vehicle has been given 16-inch diamond-cut alloys. While the rest of the side bodyline features the same body-colored ORVMs with integrated turn indicators. Similarly, the rear end of the vehicle is also identical to the Baleno with the same rounded LED tail lamps and the chrome inserts.

SAFETY and COMFORT

• Almost all the models has same safety features of Dual Airbags, ABS with EBD, parking sensors, corner stability control 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
• Nexon has 5 star Global Ncap safety rating. Nexon is better on space, legroom in the rear seat, more on features and the performance is also very good.
• The Nexon also managed to score a 3-star rating for child occupant safety.
• The safety department, the Glanza comes with Twin airbags, ABS with EBD, ISOFIX anchors and rear parking sensors as standard.

CONCLUSION:

• In term of safety and comfort 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.
• Also it has a good resale value as compared to Maruti S-cross smart hybrid sigma variant.
• Maruti s-cross also provides better features but lags Nexon on the performance and safety and also it is overpriced as compared to budget