Benchmarking

BENCHMARKING

Benchmarking is the process of measuring key business metrics and practices and comparing them, within business areas or against a competitor, industry peers, or other companies around the world, to understand how and where the organization needs to change in order to improve performance.

• Benchmarking (in terms of cars) is the various comparisons between the features of the cars mostly between similar segments or categories.
• Say if someone wants to buy a ‘Sedan Car’, the comparisons will be made between the available sedans in the market. Here benchmarking will be based on various scenarios.
• For example, ‘The price range’ so that we can narrow down the number of selections for us.
• Another example can be ‘User Compatibility or Requirements’ if someone wants to buy a sedan for only its looks then the premium features will be more important for that person whereas if the users want to buy the car for the highway riding purpose, he will surely look at the performance point of view or engine specifications.

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 500 kms 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 with options so that he will buy a good car for his family.

Note: Pughazhyendhii is fond of big cars.

Buying a car is a big decision and could be overwhelming due to the vast varieties of Models of different OEMs available in the market. But if we follow a step-by-step process, the task can become a bit easy.Firstly, we need to decide whether to go for Petrol or a Diesel Variant. Let’s see the Pros & Cons:

• Pricing:The price of a Diesel Variant of a car is more than the Petrol Variant. The Ex-Showroom cost can vary between 1.0 to 1.5 Lakhs & the On-Road Price will be even more since registration cost of Diesel Vehicle is more.
• Mileage: The Mileage of Diesel car is more than that of Petrol car. Also, the cost of Diesel is less than Petrol. But since the initial cost of Diesel car is often more than 1.5 Lakhs as compared to Petrol car, the time require to recover this extra cost will be significant. In addition to that, the price gap between the costs of Petrol and Diesel is decreasing day by day. One should take in account all these factors before making a decision.
• Maintenance Cost: The Maintenance cost of Diesel car is more than Petrol car. Thus, for every servicing of the car, it will cost 1k to 2k more on a Diesel car.
• Driving Experience: Diesel Engines are more powerful than Petrol Engines, with higher Torque and smoother driving experience. Although, Diesel Engine also have high NVH (Noise, Vibration & Harshness) compared to Petrol Engines.

Considering the above factors and Mr. Pughazhyendhii requirements, I would recommend a Petrol Engine Variant of the car for its low price & low maintenance cost.

Next, the filtering is based on the type of car body that would suit Mr. Pughazhyendhii requirements.

As Mr. Pughazhyendhii's budget falls between Rs.8 to Rs.10 Lakhs and since he is fond of big cars, I would suggest that he should go for a Compact SUV. These are also easy to maneuver in the Banglore traffic compared to the SUVs and the Sedans.

Therefore, I have listed the Most Popular and best-selling Compact SUVs under 10 Lakhs price segment.

1. TATA NEXON (XE)

SPECIFICATIONS

FEATURES

SELLING POINTS

• New sharper styling makes the new Nexon look upmarket
• Five Star G-NCAP safety rating
• BS6 compliant powertrain

COULD BE IMPROVED

• Interior quality could have been better
• Petrol engine lacks low-end grunt
• Infotainment screen not as good as rivals

2. KIA SONET (HTK 1.2)

SPECIFICATIONS

FEATURES

SELLING POINTS

• Flamboyant styling
• Feature loaded cabin
• Loads of Powertrain options

COULD BE IMPROVED

• Slightly stiffer ride quality
• Second row seat isn’t spacious
• No diesel-iMT combination

3. MARUTI SUZUKI VITARA BREZZA (LXi)

SPECIFICATIONS

FEATURES

SELLING POINTS

• High seating
• Light controls make it easy to drive
• Maruti’s vast service network

COULD BE IMPROVED

• Firm slow-speed ride
• Ordinary fit and finish
• Petrol motor gets noisy post 2,500rpm

4. NISSAN MAGNITE (XL TURBO CVT)

SPECIFICATIONS

FEATURES

SELLING POINTS

• Refined turbo-petrol powertrain
• Spacious and feature-loaded cabin
• Competitive pricing
• CVT transmission

COULD BE IMPROVED

• High-speed ride could’ve been better
• Interior quality not on par with the rivals
• Nissan’s sales network in the country

5. RENAULT KIGER (RXT AMT DUAL TONE)

SPECIFICATIONS

FEATURES

SELLING POINTS

• Quirky design
• Powerful engine
• Plenty of equipment inside
• AMT gear box

COULD BE IMPROVED

• Rear shoulder room for three
• Feel and build quality
• High loading lip

COMPARISON AT A GLANCE

CONCLUDING VERDICT

Considering the various above listed factors, the car I believe to be the best suitable one for Mr. Pughazhyendhii is the TATA NEXON.

TATA NEXON suits all the requirements of Mr. Pughazhyendhii. This is the only car to provide top-notch features from its base variant itself, making it the best in the under-10 lakh price bracket. His 5 family Members will feel comfortable in this car, due to its spaciousness. Also, owing to the traffic in Bangalore, the ride quality is satisfactory. The latest update has focussed on the exterior looks of the car as well. Tata Nexon also comes with major safety upgrades which already gives this car a superior edge over the others. The ample amount of boot space also ensures enough luggage that can be carried by him to Madurai and lastly the Mileage offered is very good. In short TATA NEXON is a value-for-money Product.

If he is willing to increase his budget slightly, then the upper variants of Kia Sonet are also good to consider.