LOW INITIAL QUALITY OF TWO WHEELERS IN INDIA

PPM is an independent customer watch dog. It quantifies the initial quality of two wheelers in the form of the universally accepted metric -- Problems per 100 vehicles (PP100V) Ranks all the popular models as per their quality performance

Promised Performance Monitor (PRWEB) October 7, 2003
The Initial Quality Study of Two Wheelers in India

Something to Ponder over ..........

Which model (of Scooter or Motor Cycle) would you recommend to your dear friend?

Does the basic reliability of two-wheelers measure up to the promises made by the manufacturer...?

Where exactly is the quality lacking...?

Are buyers happy with the quality they get...?

What is the trend over the years...?

Would they buy the same model again or more importantly from the manufacturers point of view... would they advise their friends to buy it...?

So let the people know just how the two-wheelers fared on the road...

PPM WORKS?

It quantifies the initial quality of two wheelers in the form of the universally accepted metric -- Problems per 100 vehicles (PP100V)

Ranks all the popular models as per their quality performance

Gives quality conscious manufacturers their actions areas

Links the quality findings with the customer viewpoint

Found useful by the would-be buyers

Read on for the findings of 2003...

Prelude

Each year manufacturers of two wheelers sells millions of vehicles in India with an implicit promise...... that their products will have zero defects.

However, do their Products match up to their promises?

And how can we find out how they perform on the road?

PPM is an initial quality index for two wheelers. It is an index that represents the level of quality in manufacturing and delivery operations for a given model of two-wheeler.

PPM counts the number of problems faced by the user of a given model of two-wheeler within the first three months of its usage. The addition of such problems for 100 carefully chosen vehicles indicates a number called 'problems per 100 vehicles or PP100V. e.g. if a particular model has initial quality index of '216 problems per 100 vehicles it means on an average each vehicle will have 2.16 problems.

Started in the year 2001 (PPM2001), this is the third round of PPM.

PPM2003 is a Voice of 3825 discerning customers carefully chosen to represent the entire population of two-wheeler owners across India.
All of them have bought the vehicles within the past three months.

The exercise started on 5th June, 2003. The fieldwork was completed on 25th July 2003.
Field investigators have spent more than 10,000 hours on the road, carefully tracking down new owners of 14 popular bikes, 7 scooters and 3 scooterettes to find out what problems they have encountered in the first three months of usage.

Responses were collected from about 100 people living in urban areas like Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata & Pune for each of the 24 models totaling to more than 2400 responses from urban areas. About 50 rural customers from taluka places like Phillaur, Bahadurgarh, Atrauli, Porur, Villivakkam, Phaltan, Amta, Sonarpur etc were also interviewed for each model totaling to more than 1200 responses from rural areas.

Aided recall technique was used through a structured questionnaire based interview to collect the data from the field. Only full-time field investigators of METRIC were employed for data collection to maintain reliability of responses.

PPM2003 Findings

The Indian two wheeler industry today offers more than 70 models to a buyer. And manufacturers are launching new models every day...... More than 20 models were launched in the year 2002-03.

Top this up with a variety of promises ranging from free gifts and financial schemes to the attractive looking models and jingles in the advertisement.

In this whirlwind of speed and confusion maze, choosing the right pair of wheels can be a trying experience for the common man.

In such a situation, the buyer has to first narrow down his search to a given category of two wheeler. A lady doctor may decide to look only at gearless scooters while a collegian with a rich father may only look at premium bikes.

What next......? Which bike should I buy? A bike with more power...... better looks...... more reliability...... errrr!

Lesser problems per vehicle for a given model could be a good enough reason to go for the model.....? Yes! But, within my selected category of premium bikes... So which premium bike has lesser problems?

The top 5 Models in PPM2003

Scooty by TVS Motors Ltd.
ACTIVA By HONDA Motor Cycles & Scooters India Ltd
Zing Zing Rock by Kinetic Motors Ltd
Spirit by Bajaj Auto Limited
Eterno by HONDA Motor Cycles & Scooters Indialtd


Do new launches have more problems than older ones? Naa...! Does PPM score depend on who manufactured the vehicle...? See for yourself!

Manufacturer-wise PP100V scores for PPM2003
      
Sr.No.   Vehicle   PP100V
      
1 Honda 146
2 LML    165
3 Hero Honda 176
4 Kinetic Engineering 183
5 TVS 196
6 Bajaj 196
7 Yamaha 223

Executive bikes scored less problems than economy bikes...however simpler machines like scooterettes have the fewest problems

This year we classified motorcycles by the market as premium, executive and economy..... Scooters were classified into geared and gearless. We also covered scooterettes.
Amongst the bikes, we found the number of problems were lowest in executive bikes and highest in economy bikes....

Scooterettes performed the best across the
industry (140 PP100V), then gearless scooters (161 PP100V), then geared scooters (172 PP100V), then executive bikes (179 PP100V), then premium bikes (209 PP100V) and last were economy bike (230 PP100V).

It is observed that simpler machines like scooterettes have lesser problems. Also customers reported lesser problems in transmission of gearless vehicles compared to the transmission of geared vehicles.

Maximum Problems found in engine and transmissions

46% of the problems reported by customers were problems like high fuel consumption, starting trouble, erratic / rough gear shifting, noisy / loose drive chain etc. All these problems are related to the engine & transmission. Another 12% of the problems were attributed to miscellaneous aspects like battery discharged, stand hard to operate, etc.
This trend of maximum problems being found in engine and transmission is observed not only in PPM2003 but also in PPM2002 as well as PPM2001. Perhaps this is the most complex part of the two wheelers and hence poses maximum challenge to the quality control guys in the manufacturing units.

Similar trends have also been observed in 'PPM like studies conducted on cars globally.
PDI helps...... Dealers better pull up your socks!
At least 30% of the problems reported by customers like scratches / dents, missing stickers, fuel indicator not working, vehicle stops during idling, etc could have been taken care of during the Pre-delivery Inspection (PDI).
ENGINE Trouble..

Splendour the largest selling executive bike from Hero Honda has reported the lowest number of problems with ENGINE (37 PP100V) closely followed by the newly launched geared scooter Eterno (38 PP100V) from Honda.

Simplicity is the beauty

TRANSMISSION WOES

Gearless scooters/scooterettes have lowest number of TRANSMISSION problems (4 PP100V). Out of more than 150 owners of Kinetic DX/ZX ZOOM gearless scooter surveyed across the country, complains of problems in transmission were negligible.

Who fulfilled the promised performance and how much...?

Manufacturer    % models above category average
1Honda                100
2LML                100
3Hero Honda           67
4 Bajaj Auto           43
5 TVS                   33
6 Yamaha           33
7 Kinetic Engineering   25

Customers raise performance bar...

In the year 2003, customers with 424 problems per 100 vehicles rated their vehicle as 'poor.
Customers facing a similar number of problems or even more (upto 474 problems per 100 vehicles) were rating their vehicles as 'fair in PPM2002.

PPM Works...!

REPURCHASE INTENT

Loyalists demand almost 50% improvements over last year and the trend catches on......

The findings again show that this year the customer has become much choosier. This year if a two-wheeler has 202 PP100V, the owners 'cant say whether they will buy the same vehicle again, whereas last year they would 'mostly yes even if they faced upto 217 PP100V.

PPM Works...!

WORD OF MOUTH PUBLICITY

Favourables have become fence sitters..... even with lesser problems!

Match makers have become strict too...

The findings show that this year the customer has become tight lipped too. This year if a two wheeler has 378 PP100V the owner will 'definitely not recommend the bike to others, where as last year he would be 'less likely to recommend when facing an equal number of problems.

PPM Works...!
Improved performance of manufacturers
The industry average has improved across all segments.

SCOPE AND COVERAGE
Manufacturers and their Models:

Sr.No.   List of models studied in PPM 2003
   
Bajaj
1     Boxer
2    BYK
3    Caliber 115
4    Chetak / Super
5    Chetak 4S
6    Pulsar 150 / 180
7    Spirit
   

Hero Honda

8    Ambition
9    CD-100 / SS / Dawn / CD Dawn
10    Splendor / Passion
   
HMSI

11    Activa / Dio
12    Eterno
   
Kinetic Engineering

13    Boss
14    DX / ZX ZOOM
15    Nova
16    Zing / Zing Rock
   
LML

17    Freedom
18    NV SPL / Select II
   

TVS

20    Max 100 R / DLX / DC
21    Scooty
22    Victor
   
Yamaha

23    Crux / Crux R
24    Enticer
25    Libero

Aggregates and features covered:

§   Overall Satisfaction
§   Overall quality
§   Instrument Panel / Dash Board
§   Locks
§   Control knobs / Switches
§   Handle
§   Lights
§   Body
§   Transmission
§   Engine
§   Wheels
§   Riding

About METRIC

METRIC Consultancy Ltd, is the Premiere Automobile Marketing Consultancy Firm in the country

(There is perhaps not a single organisation in this country, which has done as extensive and intensive work as we have done. Check it out for yourself !)
The variety of work done by METRIC includes research studies in concept testing, New product development, product acceptance studies, product positioning, customer satisfaction measurement, dealership location planning, scenario mapping, demand forecasting, etc.

In training, METRIC has trained Dealers, Dealers Salespersons, Workshop Managers, Mechanics, and Automobile Company Executives from Sales Officers up to General Manager.
METRIC has pioneered the concept of direct marketing of high value products like Mopeds and Scooters.

MAKING IT HAPPEN", the essence of METRICs offerings, is today being extensively used by TATA MOTORS (formerly TELCO) to step up the sale of their spare parts multi-fold.

Our clientele in the automobile industry

Mopeds
Kinetic Engineering

Scooters
Honda Motor Company, Japan
LML
Honda Motorcycles & Scooters   

Motor Cycles
TVS
Royal Enfield
Yamaha

Three-Wheelers
Bajaj Tempo

Light COmmercial Vehicles
Bajaj Tempo
Swaraj Mazda

Passenger Cars
Mercedes Benz
Daewoo Motors   
Oman Trading Establishment, Oman

Medium & Heavy Commercial Vehicles
TATA MOTORS

Tractors
Bajaj Tempo
SUV
Swaraj Mazda