For better experience and convenience to its customers, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) on Tuesday said it is looking to expand its car service points across India, from 5,000 right now.

The company opened its 5,000th service touchpoint on Tuesday. In the last one year, it has opened around 400 touchpoints including 90 touchpoints for Nexa (Maruti’s premium car sales outlet) cars.

“We could service 2.5 crore vehicles in the last financial year all because of this network of car service points across the country. Out of the 5,000 outlets, we have 426 touchpoints for Nexa (premium car dealer)...the idea is to give the customer a convenience. Right from 1983 (when Maruti launched its first car), our focus has been on reaching the customer – whether it is for sales or services – and it turned out to be a competitive advantage for us,” Ram Suresh Akella, Executive Officer, Service, MSIL told businessline.

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He said the spread is around 50:50 for both urban and rural areas because customer experience should be the same and MSIL’s doorstep car service -- ‘Service on Wheels’ and body-repairing-on-wheels (for dents or small scratches on cars) -- are also getting traction in the rural areas.

“We have always believed that service should be ahead of the curve compared to sales because when we give more assurance to customers about availability of service, the possibility of purchasing a Maruti vehicle goes up,” Akella said.

Expansion

Going forward, MSIL will add more service centres, depending on the requirement in the new locations or the existing ones.

“The expansion of the service network aligns with the company’s objective to continuously offer a delightful and hassle-free car ownership experience to its customers,” Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, MSIL, said in a statement adding that MSIL inaugurated its first service workshop in 1983 and by 1997, in a period of 14 years, it reached 1,000 service touchpoints.

The company increased its network by another 1,000 service touchpoints in nine years, followed by eight years and seven years. Notably, the last 1,000 service touchpoints were set up in just about three years, he added.

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