Ducati India prepares for a 'new normal' in the Covid-19 era
- Ducati India promises home delivery of bikes, digital servicing/maintenance. Here's what Bipul Chandra, MD, Ducati India told HT Auto.
The virus crisis has damaged the transportation and sales chain worldwide and even new customers are hesitant to visit auto dealerships or test drive vehicles for obvious reasons.
As far as Indian auto industry is concerned, it has been slapped hard with an all-time-low business in the previous few months.
Moving forward, future promises to throw its own share of challenges as customer behavior will take a certain turn, while simultaneously, sales/experience and overall market processes are bound to digitise more rapidly.
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In an exclusive telephonic conversation with HT Auto, Bipul Chandra, MD, Ducati India reflected upon the company's vision for the tough times ahead and how Ducati is prepared to take on this challenge.
Asked about how flexible is the brand's approach in the Covid era, Chandra said, "Ducati has already started betting big on 'Digital' framework of the business. We have a lead alignment system through which the customer can talk to our sales representative. He can look at the bike of his choice and add up accessories and apparels. Money can be transferred digitally and the motorcycle can be delivered directly to the customer's home".
Chandra also said that the company is working on 'Digital Servicing' options where-in the customers need not to come to the service centre to get the vehicle repaired/maintained. He mentioned, "We talk to the customer over a phone or a video call and understand the issue with the bike, whether its a normal service or there's something else which needs to be done. The bike can be picked from the customer's home and dropped back post work, and receipt can be sent after the digital transfer of money."
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He opened up that Ducati India's new product launches have been pushed back by months. Being asked upon the latest availability of BS 6 motorcycles, Chandra said, "We have lost a couple of months because of the pandemic and whatever we had planned during the beginning of this financial year has got pushed back by at least one to two quarters, so we are hoping that somewhere by July we will be announcing the launch of new BS 6 compliant bikes."
