1.1 .

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC - A COMPARITIVE STUDY ON

CONSUMER’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS AFTERSALES SERVICE IN
AUTOMOBILE SECTOR:

The reason for a business firm to come into being is the existence of a customer who
has unfilled needs and wants. Hero Honda has advantage of having the widest product
range in all market segments in which it operates, putting itself in a unique position of
providing just product, but the best economic solution to their customer thus fulfilling
the unfilled needs. Hero Honda keeps itself abreast of the new and emerging
technologies and adopting them to deliver high quality and high performance vehicles
to their end customers. Customer satisfaction has been conceptualized in several ways.
It consists of expectations, performance interaction, pleasured/displeasure, and the
evaluation of the benefits of consumption.

Consumer satisfaction is result of confirmation of expectation. Hero Honda has been

focusing on the improvement & Excellency in processes, which it uses to satisfy there
to accomplish, this it has focused on improving customer-orientation and value chain
integration.

The prosperity of every business unit depends on the efficiency with which its goods
are marketing. Marketing occupies an important position in the organization of a
business unit. If the marketing functions are not fruitfully carried out, it will affect the
existence of an ultimate customer at all time. All activities which are involved in the
process of transferring floods from the place of its manufacture to the ultimate
consumer some under the purview of marketing.

A marketing strategy is a consistent appropriate and feasible set of principles through

which particular company hope to achieve it long-run customer and profit objectives
in a particular competitive environment.”

Nowadays it become necessary develop new marketing techniques in maintaining the

existing customers and in meeting the new ones. The most important changes is that
the present day market is that quality standards earliest determined by the marketer
have been now determined by the customer. Marketing begins with assessment of
customer concerns and end up with the evolution.

During the years of growing complexities the management needs more and more
information to reduce the uncertainties involved in introducing the new product. It is
related with needs, wants and demands, products, value and satisfactions.

The automobile industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor
vehicles, and is one of the world’s most important economic sectors by revenue. The
competitive nature of the automobile industry has prompted the companies to take up
new and innovative market strategies towards the competition. The automobile
industry in India has witnessed a rapid growth over the last couple of decades and in
recent years it has also captured the attention of the whole world with some
innovative products. It includes manufacturing of cars, two-wheelers like
motorcycles, scooters, bikes, passenger cars, trucks, tractors, defence vehicles and

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buses. The automobile industry can be widely divided into car manufacturing, heavy
vehicle manufacturing and two-wheeler manufacturing.

The study has been conducted to know the Customer Satisfaction level towards Honda
Two Wheelers With Special Reference to AM Wings Honda Palakkad. They want to
know the factors that lead to the preference of a particular brand by the customers.
This study will be useful for the organization to understand the reasons for the
preference of the Honda bike.

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1.2.INTRODUCTION TO THE INDUSTRY - AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

Industry that produces automobiles and other gasoline-powered vehicles, such as

buses, trucks, and motorcycles. The automobile industry is one of the most important
industries in the world, affecting not only the economy but also the cultures of the
world. It provides jobs for millions of people, generates billions of dollars in
worldwide revenues, and provides the basis for a multitude of related service and
support industries. Automobiles revolutionized transportation in the 20 th century,
changing forever the way people live, travel, and do business.

The automobile has enabled people to travel and transport goods farther and faster,
and has opened wider market areas for business and commerce. The auto industry
has also reduced the overall cost of transportation by using methods such as mass
production (making several products at once, rather than one at a time), mass
marketing (selling products nationally rather than locally), and globalization of
production (assembling products with parts made worldwide).

From 1886 to 1898, about 300 automobiles were built, but there was no real
established industry. A century later, with automakers and auto buyers expanding
globally, auto making became the world’s largest manufacturing activity, with nearly
58 million new vehicles built each year worldwide.

Because of easier and faster transportation, the United States and world economies
have become dependent on the mobility that automobiles, trucks, and buses provide.
This mobility allowed remote populations to interact with one another, which
increased commerce. The transportation of goods to consumers and consumers to
goods has become an industry in itself. The automobile has also brought related
problems, such as air pollution, the emission of greenhouse gases that contribute to
global warming, congested traffic, and highway fatalities. Nevertheless, the
automobile industry continues to be an important source of employment and
transportation for millions of people worldwide.

However the products, as channeled in every traditional automotive industry, flow

from the top of the supply chain to reach the consumers. Interestingly, the level of
trade exports in this sector in India has been medium and imports have been low.
However, this is rapidly changing and both exports and imports are increasing. The
demand determinants of the industry are factors like affordability, product
innovation, infrastructure and price of fuel. Also, the basis of competition in the sector
is high and increasing, and its life cycle stage is growth. With a rapidly growing
middle class, all the advantages of this sector in India are yet to be leveraged.

A new journey in 1991 with de-licensing of the sector and subsequent opening up for
100% foreign direct investment (FDI). Since then almost all global majors have set up
their facilities in Indian taking the level of production from 2 million in 1991 to over

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 10 million in recent years. The exports in automotive sector have grown on an
average compound annual growth rate of 30% per year for the last seven years. The
export earnings from this sector are over USD 6 billion.

Even with this rapid growth, the Indian automotive industry’s contribution in global
terms Is very low. This is evident from the fact that even thought passenger and
commercial vehicles

Have crossed the production figures of 2.3 million in the year 2008, yet India’s share is
about 3.28% of world production of 70.53 million passenger and commercial vehicles .
India’s automotive exports constitute only about 0.3% of global automotive trade.

1.3.INTRODUCTION TO THE ORGANIZATION - HONDA

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HONDA MOTORCYCLES & SCOOTERS INDIA LTD

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd (HMSI) is a fully owned subsidiary of Honda
Motor Company Limited, Japan. Honda is the world’s largest manufacturer of two
wheelers.

Set up in 1999, it was the fourth Honda automotive venture in India, after Hero Honda,
Kinetic Honda Motor Ltd and Honda Siel Cars India Limited. Headquarters of the
company are located at Gurgaon in Haryana state of India. In December 2002, HMSI
got ISO 14001 certification.

ABOUT THE COMPANY

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd was founded on August 20, 1999 at
Manesar near Gurgaon in Haryana. The foundation stone for the Honda factory was
laid on December 14, 1999 and the factory was completed in January 2001.

The company initially ventured into scooters as its joint venture agreement with the
Hero Group precluded its entry into the motorcycle segment for five years. The
company set benchmarks in the Indian scooter industry with the launch of its gearless
scooter

Honda Activa. Honda Dio, launched after it, was a slightly upgraded and trendier
version of Activa. Honda Eterno was another addition to the repertoire of Honda
scooters. First bike Launched by HMSI was Honda Unicorn. It was followed by Honda
Shine. All the products launched by HMSI were runaway hits in the market.
HMSI factory at Manesar is built on 52 acres of land. Its initial production capacity was
100,000 scooters per year, which has now been upgraded to 6,00,000 scooters. The
bike production capacity is 10,00,000 per annum. Initial investment behind the
factory was Rs.215 crores and has now grown to 800 crores.

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About AM MOBIKES

AM Honda, one of the unit of AM Mobikes is an authorized dealer of Honda

Motorcycles & Scooters in Malappuram and palakkad Dt. It was established in the year
-2004 at
Angadipuuram near Perinthalmanna as a partnership firm. The Managing Partner,
Mr.Jamsheed KM is the CEO of the firm As the business grew the establishment also
developed.

Branches of AM Honda

AM WINGS HONDA palakkad

AM HONDA Tirur

AM HONDA Angadippuram

AM HONDA Kondotty

AM HONDA Manjeri

INFRASTRUCTURE

The Head Office is functioning at 2 floored owned building. It has separate sections for
servicing, PDI, showroom etc. Its spacious area for the exclusive display of new bikes
itself attracts customers and it will give a new buying experience to the customers.
Service section has the capacity of servicing more then -50 vehicles per day. The
branches are structured like Head Office.

MISSION

The mission differs from organization to organization. It is designed to work together

for a common aim for the successful performance of the organization not only in the
short run but also for a long run. It identifies the scope of the company’s operations.

Describes company’s products, market & technological areas of thrust and reflects the
values and priorities of its strategic decision makers.

According to the Management officials of AM group, their success is their team work
and loyalty to the customers. They are always trying to give 100% satisfaction to the
customers.

The mission is clearly defined by them as follows.

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“Our mission is not just the art of selling vehicles, but the satisfied customer which we
believe that the best advertisement than everything.”

ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES

• To be dynamic and growth oriented

• To create a distinguished climate within the organization

• To protect the environment.

• To be law abiding and comply with all statutory requirements

• To protect the right of the customers

• To be a front runner in providing match less services.

• To create good employment opportunity

• To protect the right of employees.

KEY POLICIES

HMSI ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Honda has always wanted to pass on the beautiful natural environment to the next
generation, and will continue its environmental conservation activities, meeting the
high goals that it has set independently.

HMSI got ISO 14001 certification in Dec. 2002, which is committed to achieve, HMSI
will establish its environmental management system following PDCA cycle and
continuously work to make it more effective. The policy will be well disseminated to
our employees as well as to the public at large.

Other Environmental activities of Honda Motorcycle & Scooters India Pvt Ltd (HMSI)
are described below:

Developing Green Vehicles:

“At Honda, we are striving towards developing zero-emission in all our vehicles.

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We are the first company in Japan to meet the most recent exhaust emission
regulations. To reduce the environmental burden of four-stroke engines, we have
developed a unique exhaust air injection system and a programmed fuel injection
(PGM- F1) (PGM-F1) system, which is currently in use in the HONDA
VFR motorcycle. On the other hand, the Giorno Crea, is a new generation, environment
friendly 50cc scooter that is highly fuel efficient”.

Eco-Friendly Factory:

Honda’s production facilities across the world also actively pursue energy-efficient
methods and prevent water pollution by reducing industrial waste. Honda has taken
aggressive initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of its manufacturing
operations, by implementing its concept of the “Green Factory”. HMSI too is actively
working towards establishing an environment management system.

• Conserving environment through preventing pollution at its source of

generation and strengthening our existing pollution control system.

• Promoting conservation of resources such as energy, water, oil and grease and
other raw materials, by reusing, recycling and minimizing the waste generation.

• Complying with all applicable legal/regulatory requirements and strive to go

beyond wherever possible.

• Regular monitoring and reviewing of environmental objectives and targets.

• Increasing environment awareness and competence amongst our employees

and encourage vendors & dealers to adopt EMS

The “Green Dealer Concept”

Started by Honda is a step further in the direction of conservation of the environment

The “Green Dealer Concept” would not only help in proper and efficient use of
resources such as water, electricity, paper etc. By constantly monitoring and
improving the existing systems thus doing lots of cost cutting but also reducing the
polluting activities to minimum. Increasing environment awareness amongst the
employees and the general public is also feature of this unique concept.

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SAFTEY POLICY

Enhancing safety on the roads is one of Honda’s top priorities. They firmly believe that
the realization of a comfortable and an enjoyable mobile society depends on the
mutual trust that automobile manufacturers like them, share with the consumers and
society. At Honda, they use a three prong approach, based on preventing accidents
from happening in the first place, minimizing injury in the unlikely event of an
accident and their Driving Safety Promotion operations.

Honda’s safety philosophy emphasizes the development of appropriate technologies

for its products, so as to ultimately achieve maximum riding comfort for its customers.
Honda was the first manufacturer in Japan to develop and apply the anti-lock brake
system. Educating the world, Honda is actively involved with driving education across
the world for promoting traffic safety.

Honda Training Program

The Honda Riding Trainer is a state-of-the-art, compact, computer driven machine that
puts riders in real life road traffic situations through a wide variety of options. The
Riding Trainer can reproduce various traffic situations that occur on roads, offering
the user a safe way to experience hazardous situations. Further, users can repeatedly
play back and view from various angles the dangers concealed in road traffic and the
processes leading to accidents and hazardous situations, confirming them with their
own eyes. The Trainer therefore allows users to deepen their understanding of safety
and functions as an effective training tool for hazard prediction for all riders from
beginners to advanced riders.

It also gives beginners a chance to practice clutching and other motorcycle operations
before riding an actual motorcycle. Till date we have 125 Riding Trainer across India.

PRODUCTS PROFILE

HONDA CBR 250R:

Honda CBR250R was launched in India to cater to growing demand in the entry level
performance segment. It is one of the most affordable 250cc motorcycles in India and

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applauded for comfortable riding position that would suit most conditions from city
traffics to touring.The fully-faired Honda CBR 250R gets an integrated sporty cowl
that adds some style and enhances its aerodynamic design. It is inspired from its big
daddy, the VFR 1200 and looks very neat and impressive. The Honda CBR 250R is
powered by a 249cc single cylinder liquid cooled fuel injected engine that churns out
26bhp at 8500rpm and 22.9Nm at 7000rpm. This engine is mated to a 6-speed
gearbox with 1 down and 5 up as its gear shift pattern. The motorcycle gets telescopic
at the front and 5-step-adjustable mono shock absorber at the rear which makes the
rides very comfortable.

The CBR 250R is sold in two variants in India – non-ABS and ABS. Both the variants
get 296mm disc in the front and 220mm disc at the rear. It gets 13 litres fuel tank
capacity which is quite decent for a 250cc motorcycle and has a kerb weight of 167 kg.
The motorcycle is sold in five variants in India, including recently introduced REPSOL
edition.

HONDA CBR 150R:

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Honda has gone very aggressive in the Indian 2-wheeler market. The Japanese
automaker was quick in bringing in the new Honda CBR250R to India, pricing it very
aggressively in the performance motorcycle segment. The company showcased a
range of products at the 2012 Auto Expo, one of which was the Honda CBR150R. The
CBR150R is an entry level sports bike and Honda believes it is a ‘true racing
sensation’. We take it for a quick spin to find out if it really has the CBR DNA in it.

Styling – The Honda CBR150R looks very similar to its elder sibling, the CBR250R. The
styling is quite appealing and the bike looks quite big for a 150cc machine. The
VFR1200 inspired Y-shaped headlight has black surrounds around the twin pilot
lights, while the CBR1000RR inspired fairing adorns graphics, which extend to the
tank. These minor changes differentiate it from its elder sibling. Even the tail light of
the Honda CBR150R is the same as the Honda CBR250R, which is a non-LED unit. In
fact the only difference between the 150R and 250R is the slightly shorter yet
differently shaped exhaust and black colored alloy wheels in the 150R.

However look closely and you will realise the Honda CBR150R is a more compact
motorcycle. The shorter wheelbase gives it a very sporty stance. The front tyres are
100/80-17 and the rear tyres are 130/70-17, which are smaller than the ones found
on the CBR250R. The number plate mounting is not at a good position, as the front

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mudguard hits it when you go over potholed roads. Honda has also given the
CBR150R very different colors, which are not available on the CBR250R. These colors
have a dual paint scheme, giving the baby CBR a very youthful appearance. The colors
are the only difference between Standard and Deluxe variants of the bike.

HONDA SHINE

The CB Shine is a 125cc commuter motorcycle developed by Honda for the mass
market segment. The Shine caters to a segment of buyers who are ok with understated
looks but expect respectable performance and efficiency. This coupled with Honda’s
refinemen and reliability makes the Shine a solid all round package.The CB Shine gets
some nice graphics that can be seen running all over the fuel tank. A 3D Honda
emblem on the fuel tank gives it a distinct class and style. The motorcycle gets a
lightweight advanced diamond frame and is powered by 124cc single cylinder
aircooled engine. The engine churns out 10.12bhp at 7500 rpm and 10.54Nm at 5500
rpm and is mated to a four speed gearbox

with all back (N-1-2-3-4) shift patterns. The CB Shine gets spring loaded hydraulic
suspension at both the front and rear, along with 18-inch wheels. 80/100 tubeless
tyres for both the front and the rear are standard on this bike. The CB Shine gets
240mm front dise and 130mm rear drum that provide decent traction under braking.
The CB Shine has a kerb weight of 120kg which is pretty decent for a 125cc
motorcycle.

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1.4.SCOPE OF THE STUDY

• The scope is very limited because attitude of the people change according to the
time.

• The study is restricted to both Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy Dist and that to
among 100 respondents.

• The study is conducted for 45 days.

• The study is restricted to certain area. Therefore, it could not give an accurate
picture about Andhra Pradesh of India.

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1.5.OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

• To know whether the dealer renders after sales service, how fat the consumer
is satisfied with it.

• To know the customer perception towards the service.

• To know the dealer performance.

• To know whether the problem is resolving completely at service station.

• To know whether the vehicle is delivering on time at service station.

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2.1.RESEARCH

The purpose of methodology is to describe the process involved in research work. This
includes the overall research design, data collection method, the field survey and
analysis of data. Research is a common parlance refresh to a search for knowledge.
One can also define research as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent
information on a specific topic.

In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. The advance learner’s dictionary of

current English lay down the meaning research as a careful investigation and inquiry
specially search for new facts in any branch knowledge.

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2.2.RESEARCH DESIGN

A research design is a framework or blue print for conducting the research project. It
details the procedure necessary for obtaining the information needed to structure and
solve research problem. A research design lays the foundation for conducting the
project. The cross – sectional descriptive research design is used for conducting this
research work because this design enables the researcher to study the problem at
given point of time of the population of interest. To identify the problem, to develop
and approach the problem and to formulate an appropriate research design, primary
research is used. Several people who were visited the showroom were identified and
primary data were collected from respondents using structured questionnaire. Firstly
plot study will be done and its output will be used for the formulation of questionnaire
especially for item construction for the scale to measure the satisfaction level. A
structured questionnaire will be designed for quantitative research and will be pre
tested before using as a final instrument for collecting the data.

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2.3.SOURCE OF DATA

Tools for primary data are :

• Observation method

• Interview method

• Questionnaire method ✓ Scheduled method.

Tools for secondary data are :

• Unpublished data

• Computerized databases such as online, internet

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2.4.DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

For the purpose of this study, questionnaire was used as the data collection
instrument. This data collection method was used mainly because the researcher could
collect all the completed responses within a short period of time and could collect
information from the respondents who were conveniently available to provide it. Any
doubts that the respondents might have on any question could be clarified on the spot.
The researcher was also afforded the opportunity to introduce the research topic and
motivate the respondents to offer their frank answers. This method is less expensive,
consumes less time than interviewing and can reach a large number of individuals at
the same time (Sekaran, 2003).

A questionnaire was developd as the survey instrument (see Appendix 1 for the
survey questionnaire). The questionnaire was prepared in A4 size paper. A total of 10
closed-ended questions were included in the questionnaire. All the questions in the
questionnaire were adapted and replicated from previous marketing and food
researches.

Questionnaires are submitted to consumers utilizing the methodology of unlikely

sampling. Owing to the precise demographic statistics that the bakery cannot reliably
collect, certain sample methods have been used. It concentrates mainly on the amount
and type of items. The consumer data is overlooked. Consequently, a method for
unlikely sampling is chosen. The samples are then taken as parameters of sampling
collection with comfort and purposeful sampling process. The comfortable sampling,
or accidental sampling, was stated by Dö rnyei in Etikan et al. (2016) as a
nonprobability sample or non-rapid sampling, which meets a number of realistic
requirements by the target population participants. The requirements which include
usability, geographical similarity, availability at the stated period or readiness to take
part in the study.

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2.5.SAMPLING

A non-probability sampling, specifically quota sampling, was used to select research

respondents in this study. The respondents were approached based on a convenience
basis.

The samples are taken accidentally, especially at the peak hours on both weekdays and
weekends. It enables the researchers to get a portrait of heterogeneous customers. The
unit analysis or sample used in this research is the customers who have purchased at
least three times in the café to give a better evaluation of service quality for
improvement purposes. The samples used in this study are, therefore, appropriate.

Five points of likert scale are applied in IPA questionnaire. It ranges from strongly
unimportant (1) to strongly important (5) for importance level. Moreover, it is
strongly dissatisfied (1) to strongly satisfied (5) for the performance level. Then, the
data analysis technique is performed using software of IBM SPSS statistics 23. Then,
validity and reliability tests are conducted as a statistical procedure. It is to make sure
that the research instrument is valid and reliable. In addition, a nonparametric
statistical test is applied to know the significant difference between importance and
performance.

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2.6. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

• The sample size of the study could have been bigger. i.e. for example In this
project sample size of the questionnaire is 30, if it could have been asked from
more people say 50 the result have been more reliable.

• Human behaviour is too complex to determine so the information

• disclosed by them may not be very accurate.

• It might be possible that the answers given by the respondents are full of
biasness.

• Some of the respondents were not willing to reply the questions

• Sometimes people do not understand the meaning of words which are written
in the questionnaire.

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 Table showing gender of the respondents
Gender No of respondents Percentage
Male 38 76%
Female 12 24%
Total 50 100%
Source: Data collected through questionnaire

Analysis
From the above table we can easily analyze that out of 50 respondents. 76% of the
respondents are male and oustanding 24% respondents are female

Chart showing gender of respondents

Table shows on the basis of respondents age group

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 Age group No.of respondents Percentage
Below 20 years 10 20%
20 to 30 years 32 64%
Above 30 years 8 16%
Source :Data collected through questionnaire

Analysis
Since it is clearly understanding that the about 20% of the total respondents are in the
age group of below 20 years, 64% of the total respondents are in the age group of 20 to
30 years, and remaining 16% of the respondents are comes under the age group of
above 30 years.

Chart showing respondent's age group

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FINDINGS

• Around 76% of the total respondents are male

• Around 24% of the respondents are female
• 64% of the total respondents are between 20 to 30 years
• 20% of the total respondents are below 20 years
• Around 16% of total respondents are above 30 years

There are some differences and similarities between these showrooms.They

are common in place.The employees of these showrooms are well behaved,
but since EVM honda is occupied with lots of customers.Lack of enough
parking spaces is a major disadvantage at Muthoot Honda,
Karuvelippady.While EVM Honda provides parking space.When we talk about
time schedules, both the showrooms have same opening and closing
hours.Years of experience : While talking about the time span of these
showrooms each showrooms has different experience years of
formation.EVM Honda showroom was formed in the year 2000, while
Muthoot Honda showroom was formed in the year 2009.Both showrooms
provides test driving.Delivery period of EVM Honda is more quicker when
compared to Muthoot Honda.Customer services of both showrooms are well
satisfied.Muthoot Honda provides much better loan plans than EVM Honda.

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CONCLUSION

Customer satisfaction is a marketing tool and a definite value added benefit. It is often
perceived by customers as important as the primary product or service your
organization offer for making a better relationship with customer they always use
genuine parts in their product. And after selling they have the services and
maintenances. Their constant endeavour is to support the company’s mandate of
providing highest level of customer satisfaction by taking good care of customer’s two
wheeler service and maintenance through their vast network of more than 2100
committed dealers and service outlets spread across the country.

Apart from that hero motoCorp Ltd focused on cleanliness and other aesthetics of the
service stations and add such air conditioned waiting area, internet surfing, coffee
shops etc to enhance the in house experience of the customers at those “customer
touch point”. To ensure that millions of customers in the rural are not left waiting for
adequate service as it is impossible for the company to introduce service station at
every nook and corner of the country, mobile service stations are regularly arranged
with prior intimation to public about the rout that the mobile workshop would take
when passing through that region so that customers can come and get their two
wheelers serviced. All these activities are aimed to increase the customer loyalty and
thus retaining customers.

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REFERENCES

• Wikipedia

• Websites like Instagram and Facebook

• Experience of employees

www.honda.com

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 www.infoauto.com
www.researchgate.net
https://global.honda
www.slideshare.net

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