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Maruti official calls for new retail model beyond dead funnel
Maruti Suzuki India's senior executive officer, Shashank Srivastava, said at the ETAuto Retail Forum 2026 that the traditional marketing funnel is no longer effective for auto retail. He urged automakers and dealers…
Maruti Suzuki India's senior executive officer, Shashank Srivastava, said at the ETAuto Retail Forum 2026 that the traditional marketing funnel is no longer effective for auto retail. He urged automakers and dealers to integrate digital discovery with physical trust to match the non-linear journey modern car buyers take.
Srivastava noted that customers now research online, visit showrooms, and shift between channels unpredictably. He called for a unified retail approach that blends digital convenience with the reassurance of in-person interaction, warning that sticking to old models would hurt sales and customer satisfaction.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Maruti's call for a blended retail model reflects a decade-long shift in Indian car buying, where online research often begins weeks before a showroom visit. Under the 2019 Motor Vehicles Act and dealer franchise agreements, the onus falls on manufacturers and dealers to align their systems. The real test is how fast legacy dealership networks, many still paper-heavy, can adopt tools like unified CRM and virtual showrooms. Watch for Maruti's pilot projects this year to gauge industry-wide adoption.
The industry sold over 4 million passenger vehicles last fiscal year, and even a 10% improvement in lead conversion through integrated channels would add lakhs in revenue per dealer.
Source: auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
