Re: July 2011 : Indian Car Sales Figures Quick points from my side:
- Clearly a month where petrol cars have taken a royal beating. Market is also suffering from the recent RBI interest rates hikes. The growth rates we witnessed in 2010 are unsustainable. Period.
- The Fluidic Verna sure seems to have struck a chord with the market, especially on the styling front. Nearly 5,000 cars shipped, that's nearly three times what the previous gen used to manage. A super-hit without doubt and the No.1 selling sedan in India (Indigo numbers include CS & Manza both).
- Beat diesel flying from the factory to the dealer. While it's early days yet, I feel that the Beat's combination of low entry price + build + fuel efficient engine will see it many good days. Looks like a part of the Spark's production was diverted to the Beat...there's no other explanation for the Spark's meagre 1,500 tally.
- WagonR sales (down 30% from the 2011 average) show the weakness of a petrol-only offering. On the other hand, the Ritz has an especially strong showing (some customers would have deferred from the long waiting period of the new Swift??). Swift will be back with a bang in the coming month. Dzire production low due to the production shift out from the Manesar plant.
- No war between the Cruze & Altis this month; the Toyota is king of the C+ segment by a mile. Average performance by Renault Fluence as expected.
- The Honda City is back in the game; amazing what a price correction can do. Sitting now at a very strong 4,000 units, albeit having forfeited No.1 place to the Fluidic Verna. Still, the City is easily the best selling petrol in the segment.
- If you want to know why every manufacturer needs a diesel, look at Hyundai's hatchbacks. Each one of them - from the Santro to the i20 - has recorded their lowest figures thus far in 2011. Sure, the i20 has a diesel, but we all know it's the 1.2 petrol that's the best selling. Nevertheless, the Hyundai hatchbacks have put in a good show, but lost out in the previous year / month comparisons.
- Not a bright month for Tata. The Nano continues it's yo-yo performance, sometimes good & other times terrible. Very inconsistent for a car in the mass market segment. A mere 3,200 units is nothing for this wonderful car (Tata marketing failure, no doubt). Indica + Vista also perform at 50% of their previous levels, obviously feeling the heat from younger competitors + Tata's poor marketing. Even the Manza deserves to do better, if we go by product strengths alone.
- Things continue to look good for the Etios, though the Liva is off to a slow start. We'll have to wait & watch how the market accepts a built-to-a-cost Toyota. Innova & Fortuner have very strong months....and deservedly so!
- It's the 3rd month now that the Figo is reporting numbers in the mid 5,000. Still very respectable. There's a new VFM diesel hatch on the block (i.e. Beat) and Ford is going to have to raise it's marketing game. The Fiesta's launch must have also kept Ford's attention away from the Figo.
- Strangely enough, the Fiesta Classic is completely unaffected by the new Fiesta. It's sales tally is about as much as in previous months. We'll have to watch over the coming months how the market responds to the new Fiesta's premium pricing. I personally feel it's over-priced by nearly 75K.
- Tough days at Fiat, very tough. They have just about managed to cross a thousand units, despite having decent cars & Tata's wide network. Lets see what their new head of Marketing can do to turn this situation around.
- Status quo for the Polo with a 3.5K average. Vento is clearly feeling the heat from the Verna and the price corrected Honda City. The VW Passat is unable to create an impression on the D segment, and is certainly over-shadowed by it's more flamboyant sibling (The Superb).
- Skoda has had a reasonable month, with the Fabia (once a dud, now a consistent 1.4 - 1.5K car), Laura & Superb (lowest month of the year, yet the No.1 D segmenter). On the other hand, the Yeti continues it's poor sub-200 unit run. Size & presence, I guess, are a priority with SUV customers.
- No increase in the number of Jazz shipments. A clear indicator that Honda & the dealers were offering whopping 1.5 lakh rupee discounts on older stock. No bright fortunes for the Accord either, with a very poor month recorded. 20 lakh rupee customers prefer diesel & features, neither of which the Honda offers.
- HM should have realised that babus will only buy the Ambassador for so long. Available in showrooms way beyond it's sell-by date, the Ambassador (a best-selling HM Mitsubishi product) is tumbling down the rankings in the most recent quarter. Heck, the 4 times more expensive Pajero is giving it in-house competition! Speaking of which, the Pajero has had its best performance yet, in 2011.
- Mahindra's Verito (aka Logan) continues its slow & steady crawl up the charts. 1,630 is an excellent score for a sedan once written off. When the sub-4 meter version arrives, things are only going to get better.
Last edited by GTO : 2nd August 2011 at 17:25.
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