t has been a year full of activity at Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM). First, the company started the year announcing the phasing out of the successful Qualis and introducing the Innova. The latter, India's first three-row seating passenger car, has already registered sales of 27,000 units since its launch in March. The company claims that the Innova is, by far, the fastest-growing car model in the industry achieving record unit sales in just over eight months, attracting both MPV and passenger car buyers. The Innova accounts for 25 per cent of TKM's total sales.

TKM doesn't want the momentum to slacken. Recently, it came up with a CRM (customer relationship management) drive that offered a discount of Rs 30,000 to existing Qualis owners who wished to buy the Innova. In less than a month after the announcement was made, over 500 people have responded favourably. "This offers more value than anything else that I have come across. Many a time CRM initiatives offer benefits that are not easily understandable. This one scores," says Ranojoy Mukherjee, an automobile industry analyst.... more