Benchmarking

Automotive Benchmarking:

Benchmarking is the process of similar products on same performance.

Automotive Benchmarking is the process of analyzing the choice of similar product based on the selection factors 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 lakes 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

Report

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

• The number of commuters is five include a child and the vehicle should be a spacious with enough leg room.
• He is used his car for daily office commute and monthly trip to native. This would give a total estimate of more than (2200Km to 2500Km)/month and (18000km to 22000km)/year.
• The budget is from 8 to 10 lakh and he is found of big car.
• Based on the underpinning factors the suggestion would be a choice of SUV vehicles and
• Considering the long run of the vehicle the variable option would be like Diesel Variant which helps to save fuel cost and other upfront maintenance and also better mileage.
• In a crowed city like Chennai Automatic gear transmission would be best due to budget constraints and fuel efficiency Manual transmission is preferred.

Based on the requirements a detailed benchmarking is done to compare the specification advantages and other considerable parameters.

	Make	Hyundai venue	Mahindra XUV300	Kia Sonet	Ford EcoSport
	Variant	S Diesel	W4 Diesel	1.5 HTE Diesel	Ambiente Diesel
ENGINE	FUEL TYPE	Diesel	Diesel	Diesel	Diesel
	ENGINE TYPE	U2 CRDi Diesel	1.5L Turbo Diesel	1.5L CRDi WGT	1.5 L Diesel Engine
	NO OF CYLINDER	4	4	4	4
	DISPLACEMENT (CC)	1493	1497	1493	1498
	MAX POWER (BHP@RPM)	98.6bhp@4000rpm	115bhp@3750rpm	98.63bhp@4000rpm	99.23bhp@3750rpm
	MAX TORQUE (NM@RPM)	240.26nm@1500-2750rpm	300Nm@1500-2500rpm	240nm@1500-2750rpm	215Nm@1750-2500rpm
DIMENSION	WHEEL BASE (MM)	2500	2600	2500	2519
	GROUND CLEARANCE	190	180	260	200
	KERB WEIGHT (KG)	1168kgs	1368kgs	1233kgs	1239kgs
	BOOT SPACE (LITERS)	350	259	392	352
TRANSMISSION	DRIVE LAYOUT	Front wheel drive	Front wheel drive	Front wheel drive	Front wheel drive
	TRANSMISSION TYPE	Manual	Manual	Manual	Manual
	NO OF GEARS	6	6	6	6`
FUEL ECONOMY	TANK CAPACITY	45	42	45	53
	ARAL MILEAGE	23.7kmpl	20kmpl	24kmpl	21.7kmpl
	CITY MILEAGE	14kmpl	14.4kmpl	16kmpl	13.3kmpl
	HIGHWAY MILEAGE	17.8kmpl	17.8kmpl	18.5kmpl	18.4kmpl
SAFETY	AIRBAGS	2	2	2	2
PRICE	ON ROAD(CHENNAI)	Rs 9.56 Lakh*	Rs 9.09 Lakh*	Rs 8.65 Lakh*	Rs 8.89 Lakh*

Comparison parameters of the car models

Performance:

• Mahindra XUV300 and ford Eco sport are the front runners but Kia Sonet offers much stable performance both on the city traffic and highway with multi drive modes.
• KIA sonet is a linear power delivery system and has better engine power and torque only falling behind Mahindra XUV300
• The reported ARAI mileage show VENUE and KIA are better and MAHINDRA fall behind because of it power to weight ratio.

Interior:

• Kia Sonet is the best among the group because of its spacious cabin interior with more leg room for the rear passenger

Exterior:

• Kia sonet is a standout in this category and offer the maximum bootspace 392 litters and provide better way ground clearance of 260mm which will be well suited for the Indian roads
• Leather wrapped D-cut steering wheel with GT line logo, high gloss black finish AC vents garnish. Connected Infotainment and cluster design - High gloss black, Sporty Alloy Pedals. Premium Head Lining. Leatherette wrapped Door Trims, LED sound mood lights, Advance 10.67 cm (4.2") Color Instrument Cluster, Driving Rear View Monitor.

Safety and comfort:

• Emergency Stop signal, Curtain Airbags, Passenger Seat Belt Reminder, Inside door handle override
• Number of are bag is 6 in the cabine.

Kia sonet’s structure uses high-strength steel and adhesives to provide comprehensive safety, by reducing the impact in case of crash

HSS of kia sonet

Verdict:

Kia sonet 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 leg kia on the rear passenger comfort along with XUV300 and Ecosport.

side view of car

Interior of the car

Exterior of the car

392 litter boot space kia sonet

Conclusion:

Thus a details benchmarking is done and car mode is proposed based on the reports for the case.