industry

Women in driver’s seat at car dealerships


MUMBAI: Gone are the days when you would walk into an auto showroom to find only men-in-ties explaining airbags, or revs per minute. Car companies in India, including Tata Motors, new entrant Morris Garages and Mahindra & Mahindra are putting women in the driver’s seat by appointing them in customer facing roles at prime dealerships.

Take, for instance, MG Motors which will launch its SUV Hector in India in the latter part of the year. The marquee carmaker, which has roped in British actor Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock Holmes TV series fame for its ads in India, has signed up several women entrepreneurs to run its showrooms in different parts of the country, some of which are all-women dealerships.

“Some of the dealership owners are also planning to hire women CEOs,” said Rajeev Chaba, managing director, MG Motor India. The whole customer journey and experience of a customer walking into an MG showroom will be led by female staff – including greeting customers as they enter the showroom, checking out vehicle accessories or accessing the digital configurators; taking bookings and processing financial packages and loans at its showrooms. “Women form an integral part of the entire customer journey,” said Chaba.

Not only the showroom staff, but an increasing number of women are also being appointed as sales trainers of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who are responsible for training the showroom staff on the vehicle product attributes.

Women play a major role in the decision to buy a vehicle in a family, explains Veejay Nakra, chief of sales and marketing, Mahindra & Mahindra. After-sales function is also a specific area of expertise for women where M&M has undertaken a specific initiative – ‘Pink Collar’ to induct women employees as technicians, service advisors, etc. The company has inducted 170 female employees on the shop floor as part of this initiative. Mahindra has advised their authorised workshops to induct women as one-third of technician trainees.

Several of the women in the dealerships have advanced educational qualifications, a change from the earlier times when dealership employment was not perceived to be ‘cool’. Devki Nanda, a third-generation entrepreneur (Cargo Motors) running some of MG’s most important dealerships in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Jalandhar, has completed multiple degrees in the UK, including London School of Economics. She has also worked as an investment banker with Nomura and Royal Bank of Canada, in London over a period of three years.

But what exactly has caused this paradigm shift? Experts say that over the past few years, dealerships have become more professionally managed under the OEMs and provide a safe and secure work environment, which makes it easier for companies to appoint women in such places and more women opting for jobs in dealerships. A good remuneration, advent of digitisation as well as opening up of dealerships pan-India have contributed significantly, said Nakra.

Tata Motors has recently hired 116 women for eight of its dealerships from college campuses for sales and service roles. “Working in the dealership of a large OEM is akin to working with the brand which gives a sense of pride to women employees. The company hopes to keep up this trend and is imparting training on products and processes in this regard,” said Ravindra Kumar, chief of human resources, Tata Motors.





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