Maruti to roll out 50 Nexa outlets in 2 months

Since its launch in July, 2015, Nexa channel has sold over 1.85 lakh cars.

About 19 months into launching the premium retail channel Nexa, the market leader Maruti Suzuki says it is fully satisfied with the performance of the retail brand as more than 50% of the customers are first time Maruti users, who are looking to buy premium offerings like the recently launched Baleno hatchback.

Speaking to media on the eve of opening their 200th Nexa showroom in Hyderabad on Monday, R S Kalsi, executive director (marketing and sales) of Maruti Suzuki said Nexa was able to keep the customers as well as the dealership network happy in terms of overall experience and business generated by it.

Since its launch in July, 2015, Nexa channel, which is now present in 121 cities across India, has sold over 1.85 lakh cars. The company will be adding 50 more Nexa outlets by the end of this financial year and by the 2020, the number of Nexa outlets will be doubled to 400 from the present 200 level, according to Kalsi.

Responding to a question on the overall sales performance, he said the company was on track to register a double-digit growth in the current financial year. In December Maruti's overall sales grew by 9.2%. Last year, the company sold 1.3 million cars. The double-digit growth would mean sale of 30,000 more cars by the company in the current fiscal.

In addition to the existing premium offerings, namely S-Cross, Baleno and IGNIS, Maruti will be launching a new version of Baleno in the current year, according to the company officials.

On the manufacturing side, Kalsi said the company was currently doing a trial production at Gujarat plant, which would start commercial operations from next year with a production of 1.5 lakh cars in a single shift in the first year.