Multi-brand car mall coming to Bangalore

Multi-brand car mall coming to Bangalore
Mini Joseph Tejaswi & Anshul Dhamija | TNN

Bangalore: Yes, a one-stopshop to buy your dream car. The city will soon sport the country’s first shopping mall exclusively dedicated to cars of all brands right from a Maruti 800 to a Ferrari.
Leading auto dealers in the city are coming together to set up this multi-brand car mall to be spread over 50-acres near the new Bengaluru International Airport.
While the planning and conceptual stages of the project are under way, a special
purpose vehicle is being commissioned, which would fund the project. The project is expected to cost over Rs 100 crore.
In addition to having all car brands under one roof, the mall will feature an expansive testing circuit, where buyers would be allowed to test cars of their choice. Interestingly, the mall will feature driving schools, single-window counters to avail of driving licence, new car registration counters and financing outlets.
Like any other retail malls, this mall too will provide a complete family experience, comprising various entertainment activities for children, food courts, shopping arcades (car accessories) and in all probability a multiplex.
“The idea is to create a onestop-shop for customers. Customers can go to the car mall and buy what they want in a day instead of running through multiple dealers,’’ said industry sources.
And aren’t customers waiting eagerly?. “We wanted to take a look at small cars of every brand before we decided to buy one. Going from one dealer to the other was truly painful and time consuming. Eventually it took almost a week for us to decide on a car, which was mutually agreeable
between my wife, son and I,” says Kiran Sridhar, a tech professional.
Retail biggies like Reliance are already known to have put in thought to a similar idea. According to sources, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail is planning a similar multibrand mall format for twowheelers that would come up at its Hypermarkets.
Luxury car manufacturers like Rolls Royce and BMW have already taken the mall retail route, while some of the mid-segment players like Maruti Suzuki and Toyota are also known to be toying with retail plans.
ALL IN ONE
All car brands under one roof
Mall to have food courts, entertainment spaces
To sport a test-drive circuit Auto industry puts expats in driver’s seat Pankaj Doval | TNN
New Delhi: Indian auto industry is going for some ‘videshi’ touch. Companies are increasingly opting for foreign hands to run the show in the country and make a stronger presence abroad.
Be it one of the oldest homegrown company like Bajaj Auto or the most visible car brand Maruti Suzuki, more and more companies are increasingly opting for expats to manage operations. Maruti last year brought in S Nakanishi, a Japanese, at the helm following the retirement of experienced Indian hand Jagdish Khattar.
Bajaj Auto — though run by patriarch Rahul Bajaj’s son Rajiv Bajaj — recently appointed Tomotaka Ishikawa, one of the poster boys of Japanese two-wheeler major Yamaha, as full-time advisor from April this year. “Given Bajaj Auto’s strategy to be distinctly ahead, by developing itself as a lifestyle brand in global markets, availability of Ishikawa’s long, varied, and proven experience in the global auto industry is well timed and would be most valuable,” the company said.
US car companies like General Motors and Ford are also taking a similar route in India. These two companies opted for leadership changes just as they embarked on fresh big investments. GM last year appointed Karl Slym as the Indian subsidiary’s president and MD in place of Rajeev Chaba, who was shifted to Egypt.
“India is one of GM’s most significant growth markets and Rajeev has led the GM team at an important time. We are delighted to have Karl to bring his extensive experience to maintain that growth,” GM Asia-Pacific head Nick Reilly said.
Ford India has made Michael Boneham president and MD of its Indian operations in place of Arvind Mathew, who re-locates to Dearborn, US. Again, the change comes after the company deciding to pump in $500 million investment in India and plans to roll out a small car.
Mathew does not agree to the argument that an expat would not be as successful as a local. “It is the team that is more important for success. And in any case, India is such a diverse country that a north Indian is more or less an alien in South as he cannot understand the local language there and vice-versa. So I do not think that being a local makes much of a difference,” said Mathew, who prefers to send his employees on foreign postings to get “valuable experience” that can later be useful in the home market.
Vipul Prakash, partner with Executive search firm Elixir, said, there are two major reasons why Indian companies were opting for expats to run operations. “Salaries in India have become globally competitive and India is not paying less compared to other big destinations. Thus we can afford them.”
“Secondly, there is a shortage of people in India when it comes to handling large scale or deal sizes. However, there are people in abundance if you recruit globally and this also leads to more hiring of expats,” he said.
Prakash said his firm gets about 600 applications every month from top execs in European and other western countries who want to work in India.