Ahead of the launch of Bolt and Zest, Tata Motors plans to double the strength of its staff at dealerships across the country. The company will add 3,000 new staffers before July this year, taking the total dealer staff strength to 6,500 employees. The carmaker has not launched any new product in the hatchback and the sedan space in last four years.
?Our dealer partners will add 3,000 new sales force, the hiring for which has started. The total dealership employees count will go up to 6,500 after the hirings,? said Ankush Arora, senior VP, commercial passenger vehicle business unit, Tata Motors.
?We have about 250 dealers and 550 outlets. While we are not looking at expansion in the number of dealers, a revamping exercise is on. About 120 outlets are being renovated, which is expected to get over in May first week, while the rest will be done by July end,? he said.
In a bid to consolidate dealership strength and push sales, the company has recently shut about many outlets which it believed were non-operational. The company, however, has refused to give the exact number of outlets it has shut down in the last one year. To retain dealers, the company had doubled dealer margins for its passenger vehicles to 5%, the first such revision in over a decade.
The company believes the revamp exercise will help address the buying experience with the entire sales interface within the dealership being integrated with technology that includes video walls, sales staff equipped with tablets that will minimise transaction period.
