Indian Car Sales Figures and Analysis

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

This means that there is still a great opportunity for someone to position an economical diesel in the sub 6 lakh space. I am betting on the swift sedan

You seriously think the Swift sedan would be in the sub 6 lakhs price range?! I wouldnt dare to.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

You seriously think the Swift sedan would be in the sub 6 lakhs price range?! I wouldnt dare to.

The base version could be priced at that level. I don't expect maruti to price it higher, otherwise its in SX4 territory.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

yes, and I have read the reviews of Honda 2.2 liter diesel accord on www.whatcar.uk. They are amazing.

And just see this:

Honda (UK) - Hate Something Change Something


I think Honda are sincere when they say that our (Indian) diesel is useless.

It was unfortunate that people here (barring a few) kept bad mouthing Honda ! Honda should introduce the clean diesel engine that would be used in U.S. It would be worth the wait and should be cleaner than prevailing gasoline standards.
By the way VW has already introduced the next gen clean diesel for the Jetta (bigger engines will have to use pee to clean up nitric oxides !)

[benbsb29]

Tanveer, in that case wouldnt that cannibalize the Swift D? I dont think they would do that. IMO, the Swift sedan will come with only a petrol option. The SX4 meanwhile will get a diesel engine.

[hrman]

Originally Posted by srishiva

It was unfortunate that people here (barring a few) kept bad mouthing Honda ! Honda should introduce the clean diesel engine that would be used in U.S. It would be worth the wait and should be cleaner than prevailing gasoline standards.
By the way VW has already introduced the next gen clean diesel for the Jetta (bigger engines will have to use pee to clean up nitric oxides !)

I couldnt have put it better myself. Team-Bhp members should seriously start viewing Honda and their cars after keeping their biases and halo aside. Its not a Bad car maker after all. So what if they have priced their car higher than the others in the segment? So what if they are aggressive? You will see more Honda city's in its segment than anything on the road. And yes, their car is underpowered, but its fuel efficient. And am sure all those who have bought it are saving lots on Fuel. (Much more than the Baleno's and Palio, which Im very surprised, has a great Fan following on this forum).

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by hrman

And am sure all those who have bought it are saving lots on Fuel. (Much more than the Baleno's and Palio, which Im very surprised, has a great Fan following on this forum).

Team- bhp is not biased against Honda.

OHC, Accord, CR-V all have their fan following here. Its only when it comes to NHC that most people tend to differ. As one magazine put it, its the car you would ever need, but not the one you would desire.

On a funny note, Palio sales have overtook the Versa this month, by a few units! Anybody in to predict what would be the jump in Palio sales once the 1.3 JTD comes out?

[RacingForIndia]

I was told by a salesman at one of the Ford show rooms that Ford discourages taking bookings during the season end. He told me that by december all Ford tries to do is clear the backlog, and that hits the sales. I find this a little odd, but the source can be trusted as he won the award for the best sales man in Q3(India).

[ram_hyundai]

swift sedan and the sx4 would have a lakh splitting them else there would be confussion among customers and that can result in them deciding on other model.

[GTO]

The Logan is at a (relative) rockbottom 1500 cars Thats a huge fall from grace. I always knew that the Logan would have limited appeal, but thought (nevertheless) that the diesel will do better with its splendid FE + robustness. The Indigo has it clobbered. The Ikon is also doing miserably at 130 cars a month. Its not a bad hatch for 5 lakhs, especially with that comfortable rear bench (read chauffeur driven owners).

Sonata selling less than the Superb? And where are the figures for Nissan's Teana? Been seeing a handful of them lately.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by hrman

Team-Bhp members should seriously start viewing Honda and their cars after keeping their biases and halo aside.

Hey, no one here is anti-Honda or anything. Infact, most of those that are put-off by Honda charging a super-premium for their cars or by lack of safety features in the NHC, actually like Honda - you can see this if you checkout their posts. I have been using Suzuki for years, but like Honda too. Just that I was not willing to pay the huge premium.

Originally Posted by hrman

And yes, their car is underpowered, but its fuel efficient. And am sure all those who have bought it are saving lots on Fuel.

It sure has best in class FE, which is accepted around here - no one disputes that. So NHC owners do save on fuel costs. But those that buy other cars are also not losers (inspite of a km or so less FE) because they paid much less upfront for their cars compared to an NHC, which sort of cancels out the NHC's FE advantage.

Originally Posted by hrman

(Much more than the Baleno's and Palio, which Im very surprised, has a great Fan following on this forum).

If we were team-FE.com, I am sure the NHC would have been ruling the roost here. But we happen to be team-bhp and so it's no wonder that the following is the way it is.

And BTW, OHC is a cult car here, and if you noticed, it is also a Honda.

[VBV]

It will be interesting to see what happens in April/May for the Logan. April/May and Sep/Oct is the time when taxi companies get more capital and go fora refresh. So we might see a spike then. It will confirm what I've been hearing - that Logan is a good taxi.

VBV

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

It sure has best in class FE, which is accepted around here - no one disputes that. So NHC owners do save on fuel costs. But those that buy other cars are also not losers (inspite of a km or so less FE) because they paid much less upfront for their cars compared to an NHC, which sort of cancels out the NHC's FE advantage

Some may call this discussion off-topic but I think it applies as it relates to indian car scene:

NHC has 2 or 3 km of FE advantage over competion not just a km or so.
For example, I am getting 15 in "Pune City Traffic".

I thought I would mention this for 3 reasons:
1. Cost contious T-BHPeans have right to the right information.
2. Depending on market feedback, Honda will revise the engine config for the City in India next year. I wish the iDSI should remain available as it has lovely low end torque and great FE. So if Honda is reading this forum (Deccan Honda guys tell me that they do!), I want them to listen .
3. NHC is virtually zero maintenance car with very low service costs. This clubbed with the FE, is Honda's trump card in their popular argument against diesel. I want this argument to survice till the diesel technology (fuel + engine) becomes really smooth and economical to maintain.

[GTO]

Guys : Let that be the final OT post on this argument.

[Elito11]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

I have published the SIAM figures for Nov 2007 sales here:

vasudeva - DOMESTIC SALES

Some key points:
1. Overall sales down 5.5% over 10/07 but a healthy 17.1% over 11/06.
2. MUL and Hyundai are posting healthy growth in compact segment. Spark/UVA-bookings not translated into sales so far. Production constraints?, since 2440 were produced in 11/07) or hype. Indica losing out. Fusion a total washout.
3. In mid size, all are down except MUL. This holds for month-on-month and year on year. Especially, Ford and HM are taking a severe beating. Hyundai's Verna has now slowed down. City in 11/07 down by 1084 units over 10/07. Logan declined sharply in 11/07. Indigo is sinking slowly but surely.
4. In executive segment, only Optra has gained over 10/07. Corolla is down by 80 units over 11/06. Civic is witnessing only a slow decline (expected).
5. UVs down over 10/07, but healthy growth over 11/06. Grand Vitara can be now called a flop with less than 100 units in 11/07. Safari is gaining. Endeavor steady but not exciting.
4.

The last six months figures for Verna+Accent seem very consistent. Do u mean to say in Oct/Nov 07 the share of Verma in those numbers has fallen vis a vis Accent??

Elito

[vasudeva]

Of course Accent/Verna is stable but marginally declining over last few months, but down over 11/06.Difficult to say which among the two is down.