Beyond just selling vehicles made in India, German luxury carmaker Audi is gearing up to implement human resource training programme developed here for its retail staff overseas.
The company has also earmarked the country as its sixth market globally where it collects technical feedback and data that goes into product development even as it prepares to launch ten new products in India this year.
"There is a project, which is HR-based training programme for retail staff called project Neev, which we had developed in India. It is now taken by Audi AG...(and it has) seen what we have done, and is going to roll it out around the world," Audi India Head Joe King told PTI.
Explaining the programme, Neev which means 'foundation', he said it is about human resources practice in the company's retail structure, putting in performance culture and reward mechanisms for all dealership staff and key performance indicator measurements.
"It may not be a new product that is going to be rolled out around the world but some of these great ideas we have developed here (in India) are being recognised and taken globally," King said, adding India has a lot to offer, specially in skills that the country produces.
By the end of 2015, Audi India had about 2,700-3,000 staff in 12 different customer-facing positions at its 90 touch points in India, which include showrooms, service centres and Audi-Approved used car outlets.
All the sales staff in India have undergone the training, while 50-60 per cent of the after sales employees have gone through the programme.
Highlighting other contribution from India, King said: "Also, we have the technical reference market, one of the only six in the world. We have a lot of technical data that goes into the development of our whole products range, even cars that are not in India. That technical feedback goes into product development."
The company has set up its technical service centre in Mumbai.
He said the company examines concerns from Indian customers, including re-occurring ones, which could be product-related or perception-related and they are collated.
The Audi AG board goes through it "with great detail" once a year with the team to really understand if any product needs any rectification and is cleared straightaway, he added.
King further said: "We also do extensive testing here. All the cars prior to launch are tested for more than 20,000 kms in India. So any car that is going to be launched is given extensive testing here and the feedback goes to pre-production.
Audi India, which lost its number one spot in the Indian
luxury car market to compatriot Mercedes-Benz last year, plans to introduce over ten new products this year as it plots to reclaim the position.
"There will be will be more than 10 new launches in 2016," King said.
When asked if the company would be pressing to reclaim the number one spot, he said: "Yes I would like to be number one. We at Audi want to be number one, we have that competitive streak and we will be number one again."
He however hastened to add that the priority at the moment is not to be number one but to develop a strong foundation for a sustainable profitable growth in India.
"From my point of view, we are in a marathon and not a sprint. It is really important in a market like India that you have the fundamentals really strong. In a developing market, you will have drops...Unless you have a really strong foundation, the business will crumble," he said.
In 2015, Audi sold 11,192 units in India while Mercedes-Benz sold 13,502 units.
King, however, expressed satisfaction with the company's performance last year.
"In 2015, we finished with ninth successive year of growth, another record year with more than 30 model variants in the country. We have more than 90 customer touch points, over 52,000 Audi customers since we came in 2007. For me that's the perfect foundation to go into 2016," he said.
The company has already launched the new Q7 and a new A4 is slated to come soon.
"We are going through a life cycle, so when our new product life cycle comes, that will give us more volume," he said.
The company is also taking up a new initiative of setting up service centres at places where it does not have a showroom but lot of customers as part of a long-term strategy to fuel growth in India.
"We are focusing on service first approach with only service to cater to the customers who are already in that area. As the market grows, on the same structure we can build showroom and we can expand into used car business," King said.
The first three such centres are coming up in Hubli, Thiruvananthapuram and Jodhpur.
