Mahindra TharFor Nalinikanth Gollagunta, one of his top priorities at Mahindra & Mahindra is to constantly keep a tab on what customers want and then incorporate learnings from the feedback received.
“That is what we insist from our entire team. Everyone needs to spend time in the field with customers in their shops and homes,” the CEO, Automotive Division, and Executive Director of Mahindra Electric Automobile told ET Auto.
Gollagunta insists on walking the talk himself and talks to his vehicle buyers in their own surroundings while sitting with them and trying to understand why they opted for the vehicle, who drives it, do they make money on it and so on.
Nalinikanth Gollagunta“The pressure we put on ourselves is to ensure that we are constantly understanding the customer and what works for him and what does not. We keep that exercise going and our portfolio stays fresh and relevant as a result,” he continued.
In the process, this brings a lot of energy within the M&M team along with the conviction about the need to incorporate the necessary changes in vehicles. After all, this is based on what customers want and not due to any of their own random whims and fancies.
It calls for a lot of us spending time in the field while sitting and understanding what the journey for the customer looks likeNalinikanth Gollagunta
Spending time in the field
“It calls for a lot of us spending time in the field while sitting and understanding what the journey for the customer looks like. This has been happening in the past as well but the entire exercise is a lot more structured now,” said Gollagunta. Roping in people from the FMCG arena gives a completely different perspective on customer preferences especially in an arena with greater youth power coupled with a desire for more tech features. The company recently hired someone from Reckitt Benckiser who is now Brand Head for Thar and Scorpio.
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“We now need to understand the consumer in the whole context of what their lives look like. This includes all the different choices they make and not a very narrow approach in terms of just what an automotive choice would look like,” he said.
Women buyers are also queueing up for Mahindra SUVs for “very different reasons” in different parts of the country. Interestingly, the largest percentage of women drivers/owners are from Punjab and they prefer the Thar.
It is a projection of power in some form or shape and an interesting insight for usNalinikanth Gollagunta
More women power with Thar
“They say that when I am in a Thar, people do not mess with me. They feel safe. It is a projection of power in some form or shape and an interesting insight for us,” said Gollagunta. The same trend may not be visible in other parts of the country but Punjab stands out as the go-to terrain for Thar.
“We have seen quite a bit of women buyers buying a Thar for their parents which was an interesting insight for us. We have also had folks placing enquiries in Bengaluru but order the vehicle for somewhere else in the country,” he added.
This was especially evident in the case of the XUV 3XO and it later came to light that these young women buyers in Bengaluru were keen on placing orders for their parents living elsewhere. For them, 3XO meant a safe, rugged and a “nice, small” car whose connectivity feature also allowed their daughter(s) to check out on her phone where her parents and car were at any point in time.
“One of the other things we are also learning these days is what regions we think are rural are not very rural anymore,” said Gollagunta . To a real estate guy in a small town, Swiggy becomes his metric for development. With substantial exposure to media on the phone, people get the same amount of information that their urban counterparts do.
Making technology accessible to all
“This is the reason why we keep democratising technology as we do not want to judge which type is going to be ubiquitous in a city and village,” he added. OTT content, for instance, is an important part of people’s lives given that they face different levels of stress both at work and home.
The only breathing time, ironically, is during the commute even while city roads are congested and it takes forever to get from one point to another. “To a lot of us, commute is stressful but for others, this is the only part of the day when they get some time for themselves,” said Gollagunta.
This is when infotainment becomes an important accessory which puts in context why M&M’s entry variant is offered with the full screen. “Our vehicles begin with the three-screen all the way from the first variant,” he added.
For models like Bolero which are more popular beyond the big cities, usage patterns are quite different. The SUV is essentially used as a form of personal transport for families but, on big occasions, is also rented out for weddings in villages. Being rugged, Bolero can accommodate 10 people which means the second row AC vents become an important feature.
To a lot of us, commute is stressful but for others, this is the only part of the day when they get some time for themselvesNalinikanth Gollagunta
Catering to everybody’s needs
Similarly, when it comes to an USB charger for the rear seat, a lot of people opt for USB-A because it is cheap. “The feedback we are getting is from people is that they have a top end phone which needs to be charged quickly. So we are putting USB-C standard in most of these cars. It is a simple thing but important for them,” said Gollagunta.
GST 2.0 has seen duty cuts and vehicles becoming affordable as a result. At M&M, it means going back to the drawing board and understanding what customers are doing differently. As he put it, “We are in the early days now and studying consumer behaviour carefully.” After all, there is no telling what he/she will now have in mind while buying a car.
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For instance, what does a person do when the midsize car that was priced at ₹18 lakh pre-GST is now available for ₹16.5 lakh? Is he going to buy the same car or go in for something that is ₹18 lakh, his original budget? This thought process is true in the sub-4 metre space too where somebody who was willing to spend ₹10 lakh earlier realises that he can get the car a little bit cheaper now.
“The biggest price drop we were able to do following GST 2.0 was ₹1.5 lakh on a 3XO. Which feature is the customer going to want for that extra money? That is the game for us during the next 12-18 months,” said Gollagunta.
From M&M’s point of view, the key reason SUVs are sought after has to do with safety and their ability to navigate the kind of difficult roads existing in some parts of the country. “When we launched our 3XO, our lowest end product MX 1 got a lot of people who came straight from bikes because they were getting six airbags,” he recalled.
This explains why compact SUVs are flying off the shelves even though popular hatchback models have also become equally affordable in the post-GST 2.0 era. Their numbers are increasing for sure but the overall percentage of sales has not moved much which is a clear reflection of customer preferences.
