For years Together, The Indian Luxury car market had always seen Mercedes Top The Charts. The year 2009 saw a change in The form of BMW. From the 3 Series to The Gran Turismo, BMW has done well to Establish itself in The Domestic Market. And now, it’s betting big on The New X1. Will it prove The Crowd-Puller for BMW?
Two years in a row, at the helm – it has been quite a ride for BMW AG in India. Scoring over the #2 Mercedes-Benz, BMW sold 6,246 cars in India during FY2010 – a 72.6% y-o-y rise in sales for the German. In short, it was all good news in the making when Andreas Schaaf assumed office in May 2010 as President of BMW India. But as big a challenge as it was for his predecessor Peter Kronschnabl to take BMW past other luxury car sellers in the country, Schaaf’s task going ahead to retain the crown, is no less difficult. All of 40 years, Schaaf, has spearheaded BMW’s sales and marketing division across geographies like South Korea, Asia-Pacific, Africa and Eastern Europe during his 15 year-long stint at BMW. He joined the auto major while he was still completing his doctoral thesis at the University of Bayreuth, Germany, and has only worked with one company during his entire career. B&E catches up with the ‘one-company’ man who is determined to keep BMW ahead of the pack, against all odds. Excerpts from the interview follow:
B&E: Talking of your latest launch – the X1, which has been positioned as an entry-level model for BMW lovers in India. What are your expectations from it, as far as sales are concerned?
Andreas Schaaf (AS): As you rightly mentioned – it is the “cheapest” model that BMW India has in offer today. And with the kind of initial response that we have observed for the product, we are confident that it will add tremendously to our sales total. Interestingly, even before we formally announced the launch of the X1 in India, we had received close to 1,000 unit-bookings. As far as inventory is concerned, at present, the situation is such that for fresh bookings, no deliveries can be possible till April 2011. We expect it to be the best-seller in our portfolio.
B&E: Confident as you sound, would you take the X1 as the competition killer, given that the #2 Mercedes doesn’t have anything remotely close to it?
AS: Actually, Mercedes can always make a comeback, as everybody is playing hard in the Indian market and everyone knows that things can change overnight. Although they don’t have a similar product in their portfolio right now, but they might come up with ideas. You never know.
B&E: How important is market share to BMW India?
AS: India is a growing market and BMW India is not fighting for market share. We are actually working towards creating the market everyday. Being on top gives great motivation to employees, customers and dealers. We were first able to grab the top slot at the end of 2009. We repeated the feat in 2010. In 2010, we embarked on the second wave of offensive play in India, with a very carefully planned and passionately executed business strategy. As was required for BMW Group’s future success in India, it worked.
Read more.....
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
B&E: Talking of your latest launch – the X1, which has been positioned as an entry-level model for BMW lovers in India. What are your expectations from it, as far as sales are concerned?
Andreas Schaaf (AS): As you rightly mentioned – it is the “cheapest” model that BMW India has in offer today. And with the kind of initial response that we have observed for the product, we are confident that it will add tremendously to our sales total. Interestingly, even before we formally announced the launch of the X1 in India, we had received close to 1,000 unit-bookings. As far as inventory is concerned, at present, the situation is such that for fresh bookings, no deliveries can be possible till April 2011. We expect it to be the best-seller in our portfolio.
B&E: Confident as you sound, would you take the X1 as the competition killer, given that the #2 Mercedes doesn’t have anything remotely close to it?
AS: Actually, Mercedes can always make a comeback, as everybody is playing hard in the Indian market and everyone knows that things can change overnight. Although they don’t have a similar product in their portfolio right now, but they might come up with ideas. You never know.
B&E: How important is market share to BMW India?
AS: India is a growing market and BMW India is not fighting for market share. We are actually working towards creating the market everyday. Being on top gives great motivation to employees, customers and dealers. We were first able to grab the top slot at the end of 2009. We repeated the feat in 2010. In 2010, we embarked on the second wave of offensive play in India, with a very carefully planned and passionately executed business strategy. As was required for BMW Group’s future success in India, it worked.
Read more.....
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
