The country’s largest carmaker Maruti-Suzuki on Thursday announced that their executive sedan Ciaz would move to their Nexa brand of ‘experience’ showrooms. The Nexa sub-brand which was introduced with the launch of the crossover S-Cross has expanded to 250 outlets in the space of two years and according to Maruti-Suzuki executive Director, Marketing and Sales, RS Kalsi, today covers “90-95 per cent of the sales territory, and almost all our dealers now have a Nexa outlet.”
Kalsi added that in the coming fiscal year the carmaker would not look at rapid expansion of the Nexa network but will work towards enhancing the experience for Nexa customers. “In 2015-16 so far 12 per cent of our domestic sales comes from the Nexa network”, he said adding that the recent launch of the Ignis to the Nexa network alongside the Baleno RS and now the Ciaz should see Nexa playing a bigger role in the carmakers overall sales stratagem. The new Ignis for example has already sold 5000 units in February and has a waitlist period of over 12 weeks.
However, Kalsi was optimistic that production from the new Gujarat plant made by parent company Suzuki would bring down waiting periods for most of their models. Waiting periods for the Vitara Brezza now stand at 22-24 weeks and are only a bit lower for the Baleno. “We hope to bring these periods down to manageable levels within the next few months.”