Showroom with a view

LET'S TORQUE

Porsche has just opened their showroom in Delhi and more will follow in other metros soon. Lamborghini already has one in the capital, while Rolls-Royce has a retail outlet in Mumbai.

Bentley has yet to get a showroom for itself, though this marque's cars have already been on sale for some time now. Same goes for Ferrari and Maserati. I am sure their respective dealers are at work now, haggling with real estate agents to rent some precious space in some tony neighbourhoods.

Now why would these high-end cars need showrooms? I can't see most of their prospective owners taking the time and effort to travel to the outlet simply to tick on the options list and sign the cheque.

Surely, the dealers go to them, and not the other way round "" if one were to buy a car that wears a tag of at least a crore of rupees, this is the least you would expect, right?

So why do you need a high-expense retail outlet that barely functions as one? To increase the value of other outlets around? No one's that altruistic. To create a new landmark in the city? There are enough and more already.

To give the city a symbol that it's arrived? Then the money would have been better used to clean up the streets. Obviously, it's none of these. The most obvious reason for these outlets is that they massage the owner/prospective owner's ego. But that does not make complete business sense.

Speaking to dealers revealed that showrooms invite a whole new set of buyers altogether, you know, the ones who can afford top-end cars, but are generally not on the radar.

These dealers are talking to a whole new bunch of customers already, by generating fresh walk-ins that get converted into sales. And according to them, this is the way these expensive cars are going to get sold in the country in the future. Looks like window shopping will soon get a new meaning.

srini@business-standard.com