Indian car buyers are likely to get a wider choice of powertrains as electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and other technologies expand, but the growing number of options could also make purchase decisions more complicated, according to JSW MG Motor India.
Vinay Raina, Chief Commercial Officer at JSW MG Motor India, said consumers have become more comfortable experimenting with new technologies, encouraging automakers to broaden their powertrain offerings.
“Going ahead is going to be interesting because it’s going to get more competition and more new technologies coming into play,” Raina said during a panel discussion at FADA’s Auto Retail Conclave.
The shift is already visible in the rising acceptance of electric vehicles, he said. Raina pointed to the sharp increase in EV penetration in recent months as an indication that buyers are increasingly willing to move beyond conventional petrol and diesel vehicles.
The company is also seeing encouraging response to its first plug-in hybrid offering. JSW MG recently introduced the Hector Tomahawk with EV and plug-in hybrid powertrain options.
“One of the big announcements that we did with our first plug-in hybrid, and it’s really surprising us in terms of the impact that has on consumers,” Raina said.
The growing mix of powertrains means manufacturers and dealers will increasingly have to help customers understand differences in purchase price, running costs, charging requirements, driving patterns and ownership experience.
For dealerships, however, the transition will extend well beyond the sales floor.
EVs Change the Service Equation
Raina said one of the biggest misconceptions surrounding electric vehicles is that they do not require servicing.
What changes is the economics of servicing them. EVs generally have fewer mechanical components and lower maintenance requirements than conventional vehicles, reducing both the customer’s service bill and the revenue generated by the dealership per vehicle.
But he argued that looking only at revenue per vehicle gives an incomplete picture.
Electric vehicles can be serviced faster, allowing dealers to put more cars through the same workshop infrastructure.
According to Raina, a typical workshop bay may handle around two to 2.5 conventional vehicles a day, while the same bay could service around five EVs a day.
“The same infrastructure actually is far more productive because the vehicles are a lot easier to service,” he said.
Shift from Per-Car Revenue to Bay Productivity
Raina said JSW MG has been asking dealers to focus on the economics of an entire workshop bay rather than service revenue from an individual vehicle.
Higher throughput can partially offset the lower ticket size of individual EV service jobs. A dealership can service more vehicles using the same physical infrastructure and release vehicles faster to customers.
The experience is particularly relevant for JSW MG because EVs already form a significant part of its vehicle parc and sales mix.
Raina said the company has now serviced a sizeable number of electric vehicles, giving it greater visibility on how EV aftersales differs from conventional vehicles.
Dealers Need to Adapt as Technology Mix Widens
The shift comes as India’s passenger vehicle market moves towards a more diverse mix of propulsion technologies.
Rather than a simple transition from internal combustion engines to battery electric vehicles, manufacturers are increasingly offering CNG, strong hybrids, EVs and plug-in hybrids alongside petrol and diesel models.
For consumers, that means greater flexibility in choosing a technology suited to their driving and charging requirements.
For dealerships, however, it means sales staff and technicians need to understand a wider range of technologies while also explaining their economics to customers.
Raina said the rapid growth of EVs showed that consumers were willing to embrace change when products met their requirements.
The next phase could therefore be defined less by whether buyers accept new technology and more by which technology they choose.
As competition increases and more powertrain options reach showrooms, manufacturers will have to make those choices easier for buyers while dealers adapt their sales and service businesses to a market that is becoming increasingly technology-neutral.
With inputs from Anurag Chaturvedi, Ketan Thakkar, Kiran Murali, Mugdha Mishra and Prerna Lidhoo