With various businesses picking up gradually following the battering of the global economy by the ravaging coronavirus pandemic, Stallion automobile group is deploying every necessary safety measure to ensure the safety of its institutional, fleet, individual customers and that of its employees considered paramount with the fumigation and decontamination of dealerships and showrooms across Nigeria.
In a telephone chat with BusinessDay last Monday, Anant Badjatya, group chief executive officer of Stallion group which has franchise for Hyundai, Honda, Nissan, Porsche and Changan brands stated that a total of 28 showrooms locations are being routinely fumigated with a special anti-virus treatment along with the regular pesticide treatments for rodents.
The safety of our customers and our employees are paramount. We want to keep them safe from the pandemic while business continues. The complete antivirus treatment is very effective against all kinds of flu virus and recommended every three months. We are maintaining the scheduled treatment for everyone’s safety.
The decontamination exercise involves the surface cleaning of all the showrooms furniture and equipment with anti viral clorex and daily hypo application on the floors, table tops, workshop areas, parking bays. The overall fumigation is done once in three months.
The daily cost of surface cleaning, sanitizer, bleach spray in all the showrooms including Stallions’s VON assembly plant that goes through the same treatment according to the general manager is not without its huge cost implication which she said is not worth the safety and lives of its customers and employees.
Responding to how is Stallion taking the welfare of staff as business resumes amid Covid 19 pandemic, the company group CEO has this to say; ‘’Our employees are our responsibility and we do not compromise on keeping them safe. The showrooms are open but owing to low footfalls, the staff is being rotated to cover all days. The cost of productivity has gone up substantially’’.
‘’We have committed on making full salary payment despite low demand and staff buses are picking up employees from home to office and back to ensure minimal contacts during this pandemic. The buses are operating on low capacity but with high cost, even as each employee is given masks and sanitizer complemented with the service team that is given full personal protective equipment (PPE) gear while handling cars’’. He concluded.
The nationwide showrooms cleansing exercise is coming few weeks after the business conglomerate launched what it called Stallion Africar multi-brand auto sales portal which is designed and targeted at helping meet customer expectation during the COVID era.
It will also provide the customers tools to take an informed decision on the choice of car in their budget and a virtual relationship manager to guide them through the chat functionality. It offers an opportunity to do cross-selling and upselling and reduces their dependence on driving walk in traffic to the point of sale.
The simple design of Stallion Africar enables the consumer to take a decision on buying a new car and servicing their existing car. Soon, there will be a feature addition of buying a preowned car where the consuler can get their old car evaluated and uploaded to get the best deal and exchange it for a new.
