• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

M. Ramesh

CHENNAI, Feb. 6

ASHOK Leyland intends to step up its efforts to promote the `Leyparts' brand, the name under which the company sells its spare parts. Spare parts' sales contribute about Rs 200 crore to the company's turnover, but have been stagnating around this level for some years now. Promoting the Leyparts brand will enable the company to get a bit more of the replacement market.

This is similar to the approach adopted by Maruti - the spare parts sold under `Maruti Genuine Parts' brand account for about 35 per cent of all the Maruti vehicles-related parts sales.

"We have been working with our consultants on this," Ashok Leyland's Managing Director, Mr R. Seshasayee, told Business Line. The company has engaged the Mumbai-based Avalon Consulting (formerly, Business Consulting Group) to advise it on building the Leyparts brand.

Alongside, Ashok Leyland also intends to raise the number of its authorised service centres, from about 60 to 100 this year.

The consultants, Avalon Consulting, are understood to have studied the issue and devised a strategy. At present, the strategy is being tried out in six select places, which are large spare parts consuming centres. Once this `pilot phase' is over, the strategy would be implemented across the country. It is understood that the consultants' fees would be paid out of the financial benefits the strategy brings in.

The strategy essentially involves educating the mechanics and brand promotion measures.

The idea behind the Leyparts branding is two-fold. First is quality assurance. A component manufacturer produces a component for the OE, matching the specifications demanded by the OE. The same manufacturer produces the component for the after-market, but this product need not necessarily match the OE quality specifications. However, when a customer asks for a `Leyparts' branded product, he can rest assured that what he buys is of OE quality.

Second, by promoting the `Leyparts' brand, Ashok Leyland would be in a position to place larger orders with its vendors, and get commensurate price reductions. The vendor, on his part, would be happy because he gets a larger order.

It is understood that at present Leyparts account for about 15 per cent of the spare parts bought for Ashok Leyland vehicles in the after-market.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication

Stories in this Section
Natco says senior executive stole technology

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line