The
main promoter of DD & Associates Group Cdr. Dipak
D Naik (Retd.) took voluntary retirement from Indian
Navy in September 1994 after 24 years of service. Post retirement,
he established two proprietary consultancy concerns namely
DD & Associates Environmental Consultancy and DD &
Associates Training Solutions (DDATS).
DD
& Associates Environmental Consultancy is recognized
by the Ministry of Environment 
&
Forestry (MOEF), Government of India; and International
Commission of Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), as leading
consultants on environmental aspects of water resources
project.
DDATS
had Ford Motors India as their first client in 1997 and
thereafter a series of automobile manufacturers have been
utilising the services of DDATS for training of their dealershippersonnel
and implementation of correct operating procedures. The
clients list on this account includes Daimler Chrysler India
Pvt. Ltd. (DCIPL), Tata Motors Ltd., Mitsubishi (HM) &
Bajaj Tempo Limited (BTL). In 2004 DDATS established the
Indian Institute of Dealership Management (IIDM) at 
Pune.
The IIDM conducts certification courses to create professionals
for future employment in the field of automobile dealerships
sales and service operations.
On
this background, Cdr. Dipak Naik decided to obtain a car
dealership to revalidate and to improve the training imparted
by assessing its practicability in the field. In short DDATS
and Millennium Motors are in a continuous learning process
of improvement through the philosophy of practice what we
preach and preach what we practice.
Thus,
he promoted Millennium Motors Pvt. Ltd. (MMPL), which commenced
dealership operations in Sept. 2000 with Hindustan Motors,
Mitsubishi Lancer dealership.
In
Jan 2002, MMPL were awarded the dealership of Mercedes-Benz
cars by Daimler Chrysler. Consequently, MMPL acquired all the assets
of Concorde Motors Ltd. Pune, who were the earlier dealers for Mercedes-Benz Cars.
Millennium
Motors Pvt. Ltd. thus became the authorised dealers in Pune
for "Mercedes-Benz" and until recently for the
"Mitsubishi Motors". The permitted marketing area
for Mercedes-Benz cars is the states of Maharashtra and
Goa except Mumbai.
On
30 March 2004, Millennium Motors Pvt. Ltd. was certified
as an ISO 9001: 2000 company.
In
pursuance of its objectives to hold dealerships in all segments
of cars MMPL applied for a dealership of Maruti Udyog Ltd.
(MUL) in response to an invitation to apply for the same
by their Western Regional Manager.
Twenty-five applicants had applied for the Maruti dealership,
as it is the most lucrative of automotive dealership due
to its volume of business and profitability. After a detail
scrutiny of abilities and market image, MMPL was selected
as the new MUL dealer, capable of performing to the expectations
of MUL.
Maruti
Udyog Ltd., in its dealership appointment letter dated July
21, 2003, requested MMPL to form a separate company with a new name for the
dealership operations. Thus, Millennium Mobility Pvt. Ltd. was formed for the new dealership
operations. It has commenced operations of sales and service on 16th Mar 2004. This fully owned subsidiary of Millennium
Motors gives us presence in every segment of the car market.
The
company also has two state of art workshops. Two new workshop
facilities one for Mercedes-Benz and one for Maruti-Suzuki
are fully constructed and functional from December 2004
at Dapodi, on old Mumbai-Pune highway.
The
Mercedes-Benz Workshop:
The Mercedes-Benz workshop is built on an independent leased
plot admeasuring 27,000 S.Ft. as per the Mercedes-Benz worldwide
new dealer standards, which will be applicable from January
2007. Thus this workshop and its facilities, tooling and
equipment are 2 years ahead of time. It has 7 working bays
for service and repair. It also has a well-equipped engine
and aggregate repair room.
The workshop has a fully computerised parts and storing
special tools facility, a front office which is furnished
with an interactive bay and customer lounge. The body and
paint shop is also attached to the workshop, it has four
bays, a separate bay for collision repair system "Cillette",
which is imported from Germany in May 2005, and the longest
paint booth in Pune city which can paint the longest car
in the world i.e. The Maybach.
Millennium
Motors (Mercedes-Benz) Authorised Service Centres:
In order to ensure market expansion and to grow customer
confidence in after sales service Millennium Motors (Mercedes-Benz)
established its first authorised service centre (ASC) outside
Pune at Goa in April 2003 and its 2 nd ASC at Kolhapur in
August 2004. These ASC's have got their own inventory of
special tools and spare parts. They provides 24 hours on
call service and have 4 repair bays each. Each ASC is headed
by one manager and is manned by 2 fully trained technicians.
The Maruti-Suzuki Workshop:
Maruti workshop is having 30 bays covering 21,000 sq. ft.
of area including the paint shop body shop area and ample
parking space for vehicles. This workshop is built on the
TCI plot which we have an agreement to purchase the plot.
The total plot size is 62,500 Sq.Ft. This can easily be
termed as the most automated workshop in India.
STOCKYARD:
In view of the specific inventory norms of MUL, the company
is required to hold a stock of 260 cars on a continual basis,
which requires a huge area for parking these cars. As it
is uneconomical to hire such huge area in city limits, the
company has acquired land admeasuring 17000 sq.ft. on Pune
Solapur Highway. The promoters own the property. It is used
for offloading and stocking of cars. The company is penetrating
into the nearby areas of Pune. As the stockyard is located
out of city ctroi limits, the clients take delivery of cars
from the stockyard itself. The stockyard has 7000 sq.ft.
of Pre Delivery Inspection and service workshop attached
to it.
With
consistent hard work and dedication towards quality and
customer care, DD & Associates Group is fast growing
towards becoming one of the renowned names in the business
world today.
