I.

INDUSTRY OVERVIEW
I.1. AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY

The auto industry is highly concentrated. The top 10 global automakers account for roughly
80% of the worldwide production and nearly 90% of total vehicles sold in the U.S.
In January 2013, General Motors Company ( GM ) led with an 18.7% market share in the
U.S., followed by Ford Motor Co. ( F ) with a 15.9% market share, Toyota Motors
Corp. ( TM ) with a 15.1% market share, Chrysler-Fiat with a 11.3% market share,
and Honda Motor Co. ( HMC ) and Nissan Motor Co. ( NSANY ) at the last spots with 9.0%
and 7.8% market shares, respectively.
Toyota recaptured the sales crown from General Motors by selling 9.75 million vehicles
globally in 2012, which exceeded GM's sales of 9.29 million vehicles. Germany
's Volkswagen AG ( VLKAY ) came third with sales of 9.07 million vehicles for the year.
Toyota's victory can be attributed to its impressive product lineups and marketing initiatives.

Toyota lost its No.1 position to GM in 2011 after gaining the title from GM in 2008. The loss
of crown was driven by declining reputation due to a series of safety recalls as well as
negative impact from natural disasters in Japan and Thailand in 2011. However, the
automaker had vowed to regain the top position by increasing its dependence on the non-U.S.
markets, especially the high growth emerging markets.

OPPORTUNITIES

To remain competitive, the automakers will need to design vehicles that will cater to
consumers in both mature and emerging markets while manufacturing them at low-cost using
the most advanced technology.

For example, Ford has undertaken "One Manufacturing" strategy, which aims at producing
multiple models from plants across the world in order to save production costs and fast
adaptation to changes in consumer tastes. The automaker anticipates producing 4.5 models at
each of its plants by 2015, up from 3.6 models currently.
Further, the automakers are concentrating on offering more optional features (which will save
money on gas) even on the small and less gas-guzzler vehicles in order to attract buyers. The
sale of optional features is helping them offset lower profit margins for small cars relative to
large trucks.
The automakers continue to shift their production facilities from high-cost regions such as
North America and the European Union to lower-cost regions such as China, India and South
America. According to a study by CSM Worldwide, China and South America together are
projected to represent more than 50% of growth in global light vehicle production in the auto
industry from 2008 to 2015.
The role of governments is highly significant. Governments in all major countries have
become active auto industry players. Their energy and environmental policies will be strongly
responsible in molding the auto industry in the coming years.
In late 2011, 13 major automakers, including Ford, GM, Chrysler, BMW,
Honda, Hyundai ( HYMLF ), Jaguar/Land Rover, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota
and Volvo, have signed letters of commitment with the U.S. Government to upgrade the fuel
economy standard of cars and light-duty trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg) by 2025.
The new standard is more than double the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE)
standard of 24.1 mpg. It is expected to save 12 billion barrels of oil and curtail oil
consumption by 2.2 million barrels per day, which accounts for half of the oil imported by the
U.S. from OPEC countries on a daily basis.

The new standard also aimed at reducing carbon pollution to 163 grams per mile of CO2.
With this, more than 6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas will be curbed over the time span
of the program, which accounts for more than the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the
U.S. in 2010.
Strong pent-up demand due to aging vehicles on the U.S. roads along with falling
unemployment rate have been the key factors in driving the auto sales in the U.S. Average
age of vehicles on U.S. roads increased to 11.3 years in January 2013 from 10.8 years in
2012. Banks were also friendlier as they offered greater access to loans with lower interest
rates.
Auto sales in the U.S. grew 13.4% to the five-year high of 14.5 million vehicles in 2012
including a 9% rise to 1.4 million in December last year. Further, in January 2013, auto sales
rose 14.2% to 1.04 million vehicles that translate into a seasonally adjusted annual rate
(SAAR) of 15.3 million units for the year, up about 1 million units from 2012.
GM expects a 7% rise in industry sales in 2013. Meanwhile, Ford predicted an 8% gain in the
year, which reflects more than threefold rise compared with the overall economic growth of
2%-2.5% forecasted by the automaker.
The Asian countries, especially China and India, are expected to account for 40% of growth
in the auto industry over the next five to seven years being the rapidly growing economies.
According to Global Insight -- a U.S. based provider of economic and financial information -14.7% of growth is expected to come from India and 8.3% from China by 2013.

Ford anticipates global sales to expand by 50% to 8 million vehicles by 2015 given the
potential growth in Asia, mainly China and India; and rising demand for small cars. The
automaker anticipates small cars to account for 55% of the total sales by 2020 compared with
48% presently. One third of the small car sales are expected to come from Asia.
3

The Chinese automakers have been struggling hard to enhance their global profile by
upgrading their technology to meet international standards. Meanwhile, Indian automakers
are also sallying into international markets by introducing their innovative products that could
meet consumers demand abroad..
In late 2012, Ford announced plans to boost exports of its engine production from India by
shipping them for the first time to Europe. Currently, the automaker exports 40% of its
Indian-made engines and 25% of its Indian-made cars to 35 countries. The company's plan to
rev up Indian exports is in line with its capacity expansion programs in the country. The
company expects to manufacture 450,000 cars and 600,000 engines in India by 2015.
Ford already pumped in $2 billion to build manufacturing facilities in India. However, it is
still lagging behind Hyundai Motor and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, which occupy the lion's
share in the Indian car market.
Auto sales in China had grown at a double-digit pace since 1999, except in 2008 when the
global economic crisis crept in. In 2009, China overtook the U.S. as the biggest auto market
in the world by sales volumes when the Beijing government introduced a stimulus package,
including tax incentives for small cars. China accounted for a third of light vehicle sales
growth in the last five years.
However, the incentives were scrapped in 2011 and the Beijing government imposed quotas
on new car registrations in order to control the traffic congestions. In 2012, sales in China
grew 4.3% to 19.3 million units, including a 7.1% gain in December to 1.8 million units.
Despite being higher than the 2011-level of 2.5%, sales growth is lower than the 8% growth
projected by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) as well as the doubledigit growth in 2009 and 2010.
The lower-than-expected growth was attributable to a sluggish economy, rising fuel costs,
weak Japanese automakers sales owing to a conflict between Beijing and Tokyo over a group

of uninhabited islands in the East China and drastic steps take by few major cities to curb
traffic congestion and emission level.
Auto sales in the country are expected to improve if the government renews some of its
policy incentives that helped the country overtake the U.S. as the biggest auto market. It is
rumored that the government would soon resume paying subsidies to rural consumers who
are willing to trade in old vehicles for new and fuel-efficient vehicles.
According to CAAM, auto sales in China are expected to rise 7% to more than 20 million
vehicles in 2013, led by strong demand for passenger vehicles and economic recovery. The
association believes SUVs will remain the fastest-growing segment in the year while
commercial vehicles will record a moderate gain in sales.
The Indian automotive industry has emerged as a 'sunrise sector' in the Indian economy. India
is emerging as one of the world's fastest growing passenger car markets and second largest
two wheeler manufacturer. It is also home for the largest motor cycle manufacturer and fifth
largest commercial vehicle manufacturer.
The Automobile Industry in India is one of the largest and is the fastest growing industry,
world-wide. There has been a dramatic development and change in Automobile industry,
particularly for the last couple of years. With many companies now concentrating more on
customer needs and price factors, there has been a sharp rise.
The reason behind this is simple; foremost, there is an increase in demand for more and more
usage of automobiles and second, there is a sharp rise in the percentage of profit that the
Automobile manufacturers make, contributing a considerable income to the Indian economy
as well.

The Indian Automobile Industry manufactures over 1.1 Crores of vehicles and exports
about 15 lakhs each year. The dominant products of the automotive industry are two-wheelers
that occupy a market share of around 75%. Passenger cars have a market share of about 16%
while commercial vehicles and three-wheelers share about 9% between them.
The economic scenario is also encouraging for the buyers to buy more vehicles and thus the
demand is likely to increase.

India is emerging as an export hub for sports utility vehicles (SUVs). The global automobile
majors are looking to leverage India's cost-competitive manufacturing practices and are
assessing opportunities to export SUVs to Europe, South Africa and Southeast Asia. India can
emerge as a supply hub to feed the world demand for SUVs.
India also has the largest base to export compact cars to Europe. Moreover, hybrid and
electronic vehicles are new developments on the automobile canvas and India is one of the
key markets for them. Global and Indian manufacturers are focussing their efforts to develop
innovative products, technologies and supply chains.
The automotive plants of global automakers in India rank among the top across the world in
terms of their productivity and quality. Top auto multinational companies (MNCs) like
Hyundai, Toyota and Suzuki rank their Indian production facilities right on top of their global
pecking order.
The industry is one of the key drivers of economic growth of the nation. Since the delicensing
of the sector in 1991 and the subsequent opening up of 100 percent FDI through automatic
route, Indian automobile sector has come a long way. Today, almost every global auto major
has set up facilities in the country.
The world standings for the Indian automobile sector, as per the Confederation of Indian
Industry, are as follows:

Largest three-wheeler market

6

Second largest two-wheeler market

Tenth largest passenger car market

Fourth largest tractor market

Fifth largest commercial vehicle market

Fifth largest bus and truck segment

Key Statistics
The amount of cumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow into the automobile
industry during April 2000 to January 2013 was worth US$ 7,653 million, amounting to 4 per
cent of the total FDI inflows (in terms of US$), as per data published by Department of
Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce.
The Indian small and light commercial vehicle segment is expected to more than double by
2015-16 and grow at 18.5 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the next five
years, according to a report titled, 'Strategic Assessment of Small and Light Commercial
Vehicles Market in India' by Frost & Sullivan.
The light commercial vehicles (LCV) market - both passenger and goods carrier is estimated
to register a sales growth of around 20 per cent during FY 2012-FY 2015, as per a RNCOS
report titled, "India LCV Market Outlook".
India is the world's second-largest heavy commercial vehicle market. The RNCOS report,
"India MCV and HCV Market Outlook", observed that infrastructure boom and emergence of
hub and spoke model, among other factors have given a new dimension to the medium and
heavy goods carrier commercial vehicles' sector in India. It is anticipated that the sales of
medium and heavy commercial (M&HC) goods carriers will increase at a CAGR of more
than 10.5 per cent during 2011-12 to 2014-15.

In another RNCOS research report, "Indian Automobile Sector Analysis", the production of
passenger vehicle is forecast to grow at a CAGR of around 11 per cent from 2009-10 to 201213, and domestic volume sales at a CAGR growth of around 12 per cent.
I.2. COMPETITION OVERVIEW
Volkswagen is basically considered as a luxury car brand. But its most models are of
moderate cost. Only a few are very costly like Toaureg, Phaeton etc. The other models like
New Polo, Vento, Jetta, Passat etc are very fast moving cars in the market.
Their major competitors in the international as well as Indian market are Toyota, Honda,
Hyundai, Ford, GM, Nissan and in India Maruti Suzuki. Luxury car brands like Mercedes
Benz, Audi, BMW etc can also be considered their competitors.
As EVM is the number one distributor of Volkswagen, Nissan and Honda in Kerala, they
dont have much competition amongst the different dealers. Their compettion is mainly with
the other car brands like Toyota, Honda etc.
I.3. MAJOR SEGEMENTS IN THE INDUSTRY
The automobile industry is divided into four major segments: two- wheelers (mopeds,
scooters, motorcycles, electric two-wheelers), passenger vehicles (passenger cars, utility
vehicles, multi-purpose vehicles), commercial vehicles (light and medium-heavy vehicles),
and three wheelers (passenger carriers and good carriers).
EVM deals with two wheelers, four wheelers and off road vehicles (Polaris). They are
the top players in all these segments.

II.

COMPANY OVERVIEW
2.1. COMPANY PROFILE

EVM group was established in 1952 by Mr. E.V. Mathai. The first business venture of the
group was spices, lemon grass and other exports. The initial turnover of the company was
Rs.10,000. When Mr. Mathais eldest son entered into the business, they had branches at 23
differrent places. Later, EVM became established in different business industries like:
1. Spices - Cultivation and Selling of Hill produce like Cardamom, Cashew and Lemon
grass oil including its exports.
2. Plantations Cultivation of tea, coffee, rubber etc.

3. Petroleum Petrol bunks in different parts of Kerala, distribution of Reliance Petro

Chemicals etc
4. Rubber processing factory - Supply of Natural Rubber and Rubber products to
popular tyre manufacturing Companies of India including Rubber crumbing factories.
5. Entertainment - More than 20 Movie houses spread in Kerala among which "Kavitha"
at M.G. Road Ernakulam is undoubtedly best in Kerala.
6. Transportation and C&F - C&F Agent for TATA Tea & Coffee and Fleet owners of
Trucks in the State.
7. Automobile Dealership of Volkswagen, Nissan, Honda, Vespa and Polaris
8. Tourism - Tourism Development through Three Star Hotels and Resorts like Hill view
in Munnar, Mountain Club Resorts at Chinnakanal, Isola-Di-Cocco Beach resort at
Poovar (TVM), which is tourist's favorites, and Hotels at Adimali and
Kothamangalam.
They have proved themselves a winner in all the industries.
Now, they have an annual turnover of almost 4000 crore rupees.
After the death of Mr.E.V.Mathai, his eldest son Mr. E.V.Johny took over as the chairman of
the EVM group.
EVM MOTORS
The MD of the EVM Motors is Mr. Sabu Johny. He is one of the sons of Mr. E.V.Mathai. He
demonstrates the rare ability to recognize and realize new business opportunities when
markets and technologies are in transition. He has driven the success of all the positions he
managed and he is a highly successful entrepreneur in Kerala. As Chairman and Managing
Director of EVM Motors, Johny is responsible for its products, sales organization, strategic
business initiatives, and a variety of corporate functions.
Initially, EVM motors had started with the dealership of Honda motorcycles. Only after
establishing themselves in this segment, they started with the dealerships of four wheelers.
9

Before they had started with the dealership of Volkswagen, they were the dealers of Maruthi
Suzuki. Their showroom was located at the same place where Volkswagen Cochin is now
located. Later on. They had discontinued with the dealership of Maruthi Suzuki and started
the dealership of Volkswagen and later on, the others. They had established the dealership of
Volkswagen in 2008 and that of Nissan in 2009. The headquarters of EVM motors is located
at Cochin at the Volkwagen showroom.
Currently, they have the dealerships of Volkswagen(VW), Nissan, Honda, Leyland, Vespa and
Polaris. In total, they have 48 showrooms spread across Kerala. They have 13 showrooms of
Volkswagen, 10 of Nissan, 19 of Honda, 4 of Leyland, 5 of Vespa and 2 of Polaris. Now, they
have also undertaken the dealership of Porsche and Scania.
The company has mainly five departements namely Accounts, HR & Administration, Service
& Spare parts, Sales and Das Welt. At the Cochin showroom, there are 5 employees in
Accounts department, 21 in Admin & HR, 79 in Service, 58 in Sales and 9 in Das Welt. Das
Welt is their used cars department.
The sales head of EVM group is Mr. Thomas Kadicheeni and the service head is Mr. Noble
Jacob. The Corporate HR head is Mr. Akhil Mohan. There are 10 HR executives of the
different branches under him. The deputy sales manager is Mr. Gishil Bose and the deputy
service manager is Mr. Arun Menon. All the employess in the sales and service departments
can diractly report to their respective heads.
EVM Motors are the best dealers of Honda in India. Now, their main dealership is that of
Volkswagen. The corporate office of Volkswagen is at Mumbai, Maharashtra.

2.2.

CUSTOMERS
10

All people who use two wheelers and four - wheelers are the customers of EVM Motors.
They give very high importance to their customers. They have a highly trained Customer
Relation team who take the constant feedback from their customers and make the necessary
improvements. They give special discounts for their customers based on the occupation of the
customers .i.e. corporate, doctors, teachers etc. If a customer contacts at the company for an
enquiry, immediately the call details gets transferred to the Sales Executives and then they
will call back the customers with all the details. Even after a customer buys a car, there will
be periodic visits from the Sales Executives to know about the satisfaction of the customer.
EVM also organizes customer meets every 6 months so as to boost their customers.
2.3.

MAJOR TERMINOLOGIES USED

Bill of Lading
A bill of lading is a document used as evidence that a transport company or carrier received
goods from a shipper.
Brand
A brand is a name, symbol, or other identifying mark for a vendor's goods or services. It is
distinct from other vendors.
Cash Discount
A percentage reduction in price for payment within a specified period of time.
Coupon
A promotional tool in the form of a document that can be redeemed for a discount when
purchasing goods or services. Coupons feature specific savings amount or other special offer
to persuade consumers to purchase specific goods or services or to purchase from specific
retailers.
CRM - Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy designed to reduce costs
and increase profitability by strengthening customer loyalty.
ABS
Antilock braking system. A computer-controlled system that prevents brakes from locking up
and tires from skidding during hard braking.
11

Body
The outer panels that shroud the mechanical and electrical workings of a vehicle.

Model
The car model is the specific vehicle made by the car manufacturer. For example:
Volkswagen would be the Make and Jetta would be the Model.
Body shop
Service outlet specializing in vehicle body repair work.
Passenger vehicle
Four wheeled motor vehicle that also includes mini-vans and sport utility vehicles.
Interview
A type of process involved in the selection process of a recruited candidate through which the
aptitude and attitude of the candidate is measured.
Recruitment
Discovering of potential applicants for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies.
Selection
Process of picking individuals with requisite qualifications and competence to fill jobs in the
organization from the recruited candidates.
Induction
Planned introduction of employees to their jobs, coworkers and the organization.
Training
12

Process of learning a sequence of programmed behaviour.

Transfer
Change in the job of an employee without change in responsibilities or remuneration.
Performance Appraisal
Process of evaluating an employees performance on a job in terms of its requirement.
Incentives
A system of payment under which the amount payable to a person is linked with his output.
Promotion
Advancement of an employee to a better job or position.
Sales
Act of selling a product or service in return for money or compensation.
CRE
A person who works in CR team and whose main duty is customer interaction.
Technician
A person who has the technical knowledge to perform certain tasks reated to cars like its
service etc
Customer satisfaction
A measure of how the products or service of a company surpass the expectations of the
customer.

13

III.

INTERNSHIP DETAILS

a. NATURE OF WORK
1. Initially, an introduction was given about the company by the HR executive. Duty
assigned was to assist the HR head in his daily activities and to prepare the necessary
documents that were needed.
2. Since it was the ending of April month, it was time for salary to be given and so for a
few days, duty was to calculate the salary of all the employees after the deductions.
3. On every Friday, walk-in interviews take place at the company. So every Friday, had
the duty of assisting the HR manager in this recruitment process .i.e. sorting through
the candidates resumes, filling up the interview evaluation sheet etc.
4. For two days, was assisting the Customer Relation team and then for one day, was
given front office duty.
5. Volkswagen needed the complete list of manpower at all showrooms. Had to prepare
the full list.
6. Induction training took place at the company. Duty was given to assist in the training
programme by conducting the different games and activities.

14

b. AVERAGE DAY AT WORK

The office timing was from 8.55am to 6pm. Punching was strict at the time of entry and exit.
A concession of 5 minutes will be given to the employees for three times in a month. At
8.55am, there will be separate meetings for the different departments which are to be
compulsorily attended by all the employees. In these meetings, the daily targets that are to
achieved are communicated to the staff members. On Saturdays, there will be combined
meeting of all the departments. This is also compulsory for all the employees.
On all the days, my duty was assisting the HR manager. He assigned me different taks for all
the days. On two days, he was on leave. So on that days, I had to assist the customer relation
team and the front office team.
DAYS
April 29

WORK DONE
Started at EVM.. till lunch, was given introduction about the company. afternoon,
cross checked the monthly status report of job duration and entered salary

April 30

deductions into system.

Was given the duty of cross checking the attendance and other salary deductions

May 1
May 2

and then making the necessary changes in the salary statement of April 2013
Holiday
Was given the duty of writing addresses on about 250 letters that were to be send

May 3

to the customers
walk in interviews were taking place. My duty was to collect the resumes and
certificates of all the participants. the details of all those who were selected had to
be entered into their database

May 4

Volkswagen needs a complete list of manpower under EVM cochin, perumbavoor

May 5
May 6

and cheranalloor. I had to prepare the full list and mail it to them.
Holiday
Today was given front office duty. So got a chance to learn about the activities
taking place there.
15

May 7
May 8
May 9

Today was entering the customer details to their database

Was collecting the datas for ID card and entering that datas to the system
Was entering the details of sim cards given to new employees and entering new

May 10

employee details to the computer.

Walk in interviews were taking place. My duty was to collect the resumes and
certificates of all the participants. the details of all those who were selected had to

May 11

be entered into their database

On monday, an induction programme is taking place at the company. Today, till
the 3pm, my duty was to take the list of all the new joinees of the EVM group and
to inform them all about the programme through phone calls. After that was
completed, I was sorting through the original certificates of all the employees and

May 12
May 13

returned the certificates of all those who completed one year at the company.
Holiday
Today HR induction training was taking place. It involved few games, quizzes
and other activities. The HR executives and I were involved in conducting all the

May 14

games and quizzes.

New uniforms have been stitched for all the employees. Today my duty was to

May 15

allocate the uniforms correctly to all employees and to collect their signs
Today was the last day of my internship at EVM. My duty was to calculate the
leaves taken by all in April and to enter it in the incentives statement.
c. TARGETS Vs ACHIEVEMENTS

At EVM Volkswagen, for marketing and sales, all the employees are specially trained by
Volkswagen. So they do not provide any internship or project in marketing or sales.
As I was given mostly HR related duties, I was not given any special targets. Only target was
to complete the assigned works within the given time and I was successfully able to achieve
it.

d. LEARNINGS DURING INTERNSHIP

16

The duration of internship was one month from the date of joining. Although it was a limited
period, it was a great experience for me to get a practical exposure to the industry from a well
reputed firm. EVM Motors actually gave me an oppurtunity to understand what is actually
happening in the business world.
The main task assigned was to assist the HR head of the EVM group. The first work that they
gave was the calculation of the salaries of all the employees after deductions and according to
their performance. Initially, I was very frightened as to whether I would be able to correctly
do the works assigned to me. But the HR head and HR executive were very helpful. If I had
any doubt, I could go to them.
At the beginning, they helped in the works but later, I had to complete all the works by
myself and also within the given time compulsarily.
A main learning from this internship is that to survive in the industry is very difficult. We
have to constantly be ready to do any work assigned to us regardless of its difficulty. I am
sure that after this internship I have learned to do few things related to HR.

IV.

CONCLUSION

The internship that I had undergone in EVM had given me a good learning experience, rather
than this it gives me an opportunity to sharpen my skills especially the skill to complete a
work perfectly within the given time.
Value addition: Now I know how important the time management skill needed for a future
manager. It is not only the learnings from the text books, some practical experience should
have to be acquired during the time of the study itself. The internship had also improved my
communication skills and interaction skills a lot.
Initially, I found to very difficult to communicate with the other employees as I had a fear
how they would react to me. But they too helped me a lot in this internship.

17

It was very clear for me during the time of internship that where I was weak and strong.
This gives me a personnel insight about myself and a self correction mentality.
The time duration of the internship is one of the limiting factors, in which the study of more
about what is needed in the industry is too difficult.

18