September 2009 Indian Car Sales Figures & Analysis

[GTO]

D segment:

• The Honda Accord snatches back its lead in the D segment from the Superb, with 313 units sold in September. The Superb, being a new launch, is slightly lower than what was managed in July / August with 257 cars moved off showroom floors. It's going to be a battle to watch between these two. Again, Skoda isn't really making the most of its diesel advantage as the Accord only has a petrol. @ Honda : I think we know that a facelift Accord is on its way soon. Better equipment levels are top priority.

• The Passat has a score of 55, followed by the Sonata @ 52. Hyundai couldn't care any less with marketing the otherwise competent Sonata (not even testdrives available at dealerships)!

• CBUs slot in at the back of this pack. Toyota Camry = 23. Nissan Teana = 21. Both of these are overpriced due to import taxes. For the Teana to nearly match the Camry, with only 6 dealers, is quite a feat (though both numbers are embarassing).

Luxury Segment:

• The Mercedes C-Class continues to smack the BMW 3 series (254 versus 143). The BMW's harsh ride + smaller confines at fault here. BMW tried to improve the ride this year, but only so. The Audi A4 comes home with a scorecard of 63 for September. Audi's finally waking up and its showing. However, the A4 is lower than June & August (86 / 95 respectively). Strange, as the 30 lakh segment has grown 50% in the same time.

• BMW gives it back to Mercedes in the 45 lakh segment. 193 5 series sold (recession? Come again?) compared to 98 E Class'. Lets see what the all new E Class can do, though it would need cheaper (E220) diesels (and not expensive E350s) to give a fight to BMW. The Audi A6 has the Merc in sight (BMW has driven away into the horizon) with 61 cars sold. Pretty good for Audi, and about as many A6's sold as A4's.

• Is BMW the new Indian definition of luxury? The 7 series continues to outsell the S Class (59 vs 49). Who's complaining, I'd love to see more of my favorite luxury sedan on the road. What a beautiful timeless design! A8 is nowhere in the picture here with a ignorable 6 cars tally.

• Volvo (not the truck, see, there is the problem) sold about 10 S80s (probably as package deal with its trucks? ).

• Audi TT : 2. BMW 6 series = 2 (all those justifying mag reviews ain't have helped).

[karpusv]

Hi Friends,

Now updated the sales figures for September also.

[humans]

Originally Posted by karpusv

Hi Friends,

Now updated the sales figures for September also.

Honda Jazz reduced to 500 numbers, if this is correct this proves general public is coming out of liking of H badge. But City and Civic sale shoot up sametime, so might be people ready to spend 8+ for Jazz are moving up to City for better value.

[naveenvenkatesh]

General public was liking the H badge because there is no other credible alternative in the C segment. Hence City rules there. But there are credible alternative in the segment that Jazz is present. So people are not seeing value at that price point.

[n.devdath]

Scorpio sales are something to be amazed at, consistent and segment leading. I guess more customers of the Safari are waiting for the Indicruz before taking the plunge.

[diffsoft]

While we wait for GTO / Vasudeva's report can't help make a few observations:

Altis (at 905) is scorching the charts in the C+ - premium sedan segment. Even Civic (695) has moved up leaving the Octavia / Laura combine (684) to the 3rd position. Jetta (221) now sells more than Octavia, which was down to 170.

Accord (313) overtakes the Superb (257).

Fortuner sales at 676 vs booking of 5000+

[naveenvenkatesh]

Accord finally moves ahead of Superb after 3 months. Festive season to blame ?

[naveenvenkatesh]

This festive season has been really phenomenal for auto companies. Almost all models have done well, with few exceptions like Jazz and A-star.
The Sep and Oct sales number will be quite high this year i think.

[JVH]

Thanks again for the excel.

Look at i20 - 4000 units. For Jazz, Honda can blame only themselves for the pricing. Honda has never given discounts so far. What will they do now?

[naveenvenkatesh]

The swift is doing really descent numbers. Sep was its highest with 9663 units. Its amazing for a car that was launched 4-5 years back to be doing such great numbers.
BTW, is the 1.3L petrol swift still being sold or the bookings stopped for that?

i20 is going like a rocket (4152 units)!!!!

[aryashiv1]

Punto reduced to 1500 from 1800 - thats bad. However there is an increase of few number for Linea. Fiat still has lot of work to be done. Have seen quite a few ads in last few days for linea and Punto in Mumbai edition of Time & HT.

[madhukar_n]

there were 63 Audi Q7(is it Audi) sales in Sept ????? thats huge.

A-Star sales should have been better.. it is a good car but the numbers are low. must be worrying for maruti

[neoonwheels]

i20 numbers have suddenly gone up for last 2-3 months. Is it a Diesel effect?

Punto has clocked over 5K in 3/4 months. I guess Punto should do 2K at least. Currently doing on an avg 1600. FIAT must be happy to sell 10K Linea and 5K Punto in last 9 months. I hope they will introduce new engines asap.

[naveenvenkatesh]

Q-7 is Audi i think and not Jaguar. Also, the Dasara is considered very Auspecious for car purchases and i read somewhere that maximum sales for luxury cars happened in Gujarat and especially in Ahmedabad. Lots of dealers ran out of stock is what i heard.

[Gilead]

Very nice compiled!

Alto decreased by ~1K units. Looks like some shifted to the new Estilo which has gone by ~1K units compared to last month.

i20 has beaten the Jazz and the Punto hollow. Swift and Dzire are holding strong for Maruti and i10 is rock solid for Hyundai.

Fiesta has clocked decent numbers due to the 5.4L offer I guess. I wonder how the Accent moves a 1000 units consistently without any real marketing effort.

Looks like HM is pretty content with making a total of 50 odd Lancers and Cedias a month. That's 2 cars a day. That must be one busy factory line! Workers can take all the chai breaks they want.