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Old 3rd September 2011, 20:36   #61
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

Quote:
Originally Posted by doxinboy View Post
I feel if VW can set it's production issues right, the Vento will regain the ground.
I don't think Vento is having any production issues now. The Vento Diesel Highline has insignificant waiting period and is available within 15 days, atleast in Gurgaon!

Quote:
Originally Posted by souravc View Post
VW needs to sort out the buying experience issue at the dealer side, many of us have experienced the forgettable side of buying a Vento which is otherwise a fantastic car .
I have been pleasantly surprised by the dealer experience at VW Gurgaon. Last year, my friend wanted to check out Polo but the attitude of salesperson was so bad that we just walked out of the showroom. Last week I went back to check the Vento for myself. The staff was very courteous and paid full attention. I also had the longest test drive!
I think Vento has been hit hard by ANHC and ANHV and it has brought the sales force back to ground. They realize that their overpriced cars won't sell by themselves now!
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Old 3rd September 2011, 20:38   #62
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

GTO - thanks for your detailed report - the past few months the reports come much faster than before - thank you! SwiftnFurios - thanks for your detailed charts.

Honda City beat all expectations! And just on petrol engine, no less! I have a feeling Brio will get great sales, assuming they get the pricing right. But then again, i am guessing they already learnt their lesson.

Beat is now beating quite a few hatches - and its pretty close to Figo. Amazing what a diesel could do. But then again - should have been a no-brainer, right?

New Fiesta is a dud! What was Ford thinking - package a car which is smaller in dimensions and interior space than competition, give it more anemic engines than competition, and price it more? Someone in the blue oval should get fired for this Pipe Dream! This car needs a major price drop.

Kizashi down to single digits - but they still get 8 buyers this month - that's an achievement .

What happened to Etios? Of late i am seeing a lot of advertisements on Etios in FM too. Something wrong with the sales?
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Old 3rd September 2011, 20:38   #63
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

Again, there is a month I hate the most.

I would love it if the cars with waiting period start dropping in sales, but unfortunately that never happens.

I have always seen cars in waiting period selling more and thus resulting in more waiting period.
Cars like Vento, Etios, Dzire, ANHV and now Swift all have huge waiting period damn I hate it when they sell a lot.
I keep wishing these guys will learn the lesson hard way, but that is seldom happening. :(

Let me ask this question point blank, I understand Vento and Etios not having enough capacity to produce cars.

But when Maruti can manage to produce around 25K Altos and 10K WagonRs per month and sell them off the shelf. Why cant they produce 7K Swift per month and sell then off the shelf. I am guessing its just that they want the notion of perpetual waiting list to exist to increase a pseudo demand.
Like wise when Hyundai has capacity to produce 10K i10 and 7k odd Santros per month and sell the off the shelf why cant they produce 4K odd ANHVs.

There is more than what meets the eye.

Now fanboys please dont take me wrong I have nothing against MSIL or Hyundai. I am saying there is capacity they should make sure the planning is done properly.

Last edited by xingamazon : 3rd September 2011 at 21:08.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 20:50   #64
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jods

I don't think Vento is having any production issues now. The Vento Diesel Highline has insignificant waiting period and is available within 15 days, atleast in Gurgaon!

I have been pleasantly surprised by the dealer experience at VW Gurgaon. Last year, my friend wanted to check out Polo but the attitude of salesperson was so bad that we just walked out of the showroom. Last week I went back to check the Vento for myself. The staff was very courteous and paid full attention. I also had the longest test drive!
I think Vento has been hit hard by ANHC and ANHV and it has brought the sales force back to ground. They realize that their overpriced cars won't sell by themselves now!
In Bangalore Vento TDi waiting period is 2 to 3 months unless you know someone from the dealership. And with respect to test drive, yes. Have also been pleasantly surprised by the attitude of the sales team both at downtown and also at palace cross.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 21:06   #65
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

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Originally Posted by noopster View Post
Chevy needs to smarten up their act. Their premium sedan the Cruze sells more than the Aveo/UVA/Optra put together; the Beat & Spark are so-so.
I think the Beat is doing a decent job for Chevy and its sales have almost doubled compared (July/August) to previous months sales. The need to bring the Sail , Next Gen Aveo ASAP !

Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyWalker View Post
What happened to Etios? Of late i am seeing a lot of advertisements on Etios in FM too. Something wrong with the sales?
I think it is got more to do with people waiting for Etios D launch around the corner.

My take :-

- Really SAD to see Linea sales ! This car deserves better nos. ! Why Fiat Why ???
- ANHC is back and how. All it now needs is ACC and diesel engine to make it a perfect C segment sedan !
- As i already mentioned I feel the drop in Etios sales could be because of Etios D sales around the corner. Must admit the Liva is doing decently , i dont think Liva P deserves these nos. IMO .( No offence).
- VW needs to gets it act done ASAP. The Polo definitely needs a better diesel engine + Better features. Vento needs to add some necessary features and recent price hike and Fluidic Verna launch dont make it that much of a VFM proposition now. But still Vento looks like the best bet from VW Stable.
- Nano sales are extremely poor ! Down by peak sales of 10k odd to just above 1k .
- Will Ritz maintain its 7k nos which it has maintained for last two months? I feel it could find a base at 6k-7k, a major facelift to the rear could surely make things better.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 21:14   #66
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

Quote:
Originally Posted by jods View Post
I don't think Vento is having any production issues now. The Vento Diesel Highline has insignificant waiting period and is available within 15 days, atleast in Gurgaon!
A strange strategy by VW - for the highline TDi while its 2 weeks in the North , its 2-3 months in the west and 3-4 months in the South . The Vento's reported production capacity at its Chakan plant is approximately 3000 per month thus my comment.

Good that competition (and marked slowdown) is reforming the attitude though whether its overpriced or not is fairly debatable . ANHC's new pricing is not the benchmark pricing for the segment .

Quote:
Originally Posted by xingamazon View Post
But when Maruti can manage to produce around 25K Altos and 10K WagonRs per month and sell them off the shelf. Why cant they produce 7K Swift per month and sell then off the shelf. I am guessing its just that they want the notion of perpetual waiting list to exist to increase a pseudo demand.
Like wise when Hyundai has capacity to produce 10K i10 and 7k odd Santros per month and sell the off the shelf why cant they produce 4K odd ANHVs.
I doubt MSIL would want that waiting periods on a hot selling hatch since it would definitely lead to leaking of sales. Its not Ferrari which makes 30% less than demand to retain the snob value - SWIFT is a mass market product . The hot Swift hatch is the diesel one where Maruti is dependent on its supplier - I don't think they would sign a guaranteed offtake agreement with a huge volume, I guess every manufacturer has to hedge its bets , and build capacity on a conservative estimate. For ANHV, I read that there were having supply issues on the diesel power train which they were getting from Korea.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 21:45   #67
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

Overall TM sales have just declined by 3% as per their website, So there's no need for us here to make any mockery of them..

Tata Motors sells 64,078 units in August 2011, sales decline by 3% | Rush Lane

ANHC is back, this shows how much we love the city over the VW's.

Figo would see further dip slowly.

Sad for Fiat, they have wonderful, infact cars that can set charts on fire, but that never shows up on sales chart.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 21:56   #68
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

Quote:
Originally Posted by xingamazon View Post
Let me ask this question point blank, I understand Vento and Etios not having enough capacity to produce cars.

But when Maruti can manage to produce around 25K Altos and 10K WagonRs per month and sell them off the shelf. Why cant they produce 7K Swift per month and sell then off the shelf. I am guessing its just that they want the notion of perpetual waiting list to exist to increase a pseudo demand.
Very true, for some unknown reason MSIL is unable (or better say don't want to ?) to reduce waiting period for Swift for the last 6 yrs, not surprising with the current waiting periods with all the worker issues etc MSIL is facing. Sometimes it is very difficult to relate the thinking logic of manufacturer for an end customer, be it waiting period or features.

Quote:
Originally Posted by souravc View Post
I doubt MSIL would want that waiting periods on a hot selling hatch since it would definitely lead to leaking of sales. Its not Ferrari which makes 30% less than demand to retain the snob value - SWIFT is a mass market product . The hot Swift hatch is the diesel one where Maruti is dependent on its supplier - I don't think they would sign a guaranteed offtake agreement with a huge volume, I guess every manufacturer has to hedge its bets , and build capacity on a conservative estimate. For ANHV, I read that there were having supply issues on the diesel power train which they were getting from Korea.
May be MSIL`s thinking is different for Swift ! The leading car manufacturer in India with ~50% market share in the recent past cannot meet demands for one of their hot-selling car for the last 6 years is very difficult to believe from an end customer perspective.

Their dealers are honest enough to put a chart with waiting period details for Swift for respective variants and seems like taking pride in that too !

More so if any customer asks for diesel variant Swift ABS (prior to new launch) then the expression on the dealer representative`s face and then the waiting period mentioned was as if... they are doing some favor.

* No offense to anyone, just shared some experience
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Old 3rd September 2011, 21:56   #69
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

MSIL has more of an issue with the number of MJD engines they can produce under license from FIAT. So in Dezire, Swift, SX4 and Ritz, the diesel engine is the bottleneck, hence the waiting.

Thinking about the CIVIC. The numbers seem to have been increasing for no apparent reason. It is still an expensive Honda and it runs on petrol. Do you think, people are getting charmed by the new touch screen HU. I dont think so.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 22:19   #70
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

Please avoid derogatory comments generalizing all of us, including you.

Thanks

Quote:
Originally Posted by bkbkr1212 View Post
Very very interesting.
Above all, whatever anyone does for their car, in C-segment H still holds the snob value. That also plays big time in stupid Indian minds.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 22:30   #71
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

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Originally Posted by shivmarwaha View Post
MSIL has more of an issue with the number of MJD engines they can produce under license from FIAT. So in Dezire, Swift, SX4 and Ritz, the diesel engine is the bottleneck, hence the waiting.
Looks some imagination at work there. Why would Fiat want to control the number of engines being manufactured by Maruti, afterall they get royalty on each engine fitted in Maruti's cars. I think it has to be the availability issue of some key parts to manufacture MJD engines. I beleive quite a few of these parts are import, for which increasing the capacity can be a big issue.

Quote:
Originally Posted by souravc View Post
I doubt MSIL would want that waiting periods on a hot selling hatch since it would definitely lead to leaking of sales. Its not Ferrari which makes 30% less than demand to retain the snob value - SWIFT is a mass market product.
The low sales of Swift are Quite strange to me. MSIL had stopped production of old swift in july itself, Remember ultra low sales of Old swift in July. Maruti not only started manufacturing the new swift in the July itself but also stated they are gearing up for 20K monthly sales for and stopping MJD Export to free capacity for Swift/Dzire. It would mean by august end, having manucfactured for 1.5 month and creating all those capacitues, it should have had enough stock to cater those 50K+ bookings.

Real shocker for me looking at this less than 10 K number.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyWalker View Post
Beat is now beating quite a few hatches - and its pretty close to Figo. Amazing what a diesel could do. But then again - should have been a no-brainer, right?
I think beat's sales is still on lower side.

To me both New Swift and Chevy beat are suffering from early adopter's syndrome. It seems there are quite a few of customers who are sitting on fence and trying to get a feedback from early buyers on respective company's claims.For chevy beat it might turn out good or bad depending on early buyer's feedback, not so much for Swift i guess.

To me once the Festival season comes, These two cars should do good.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SkyWalker View Post
What happened to Etios? Of late i am seeing a lot of advertisements on Etios in FM too. Something wrong with the sales?
A drop in Etios volume from 5100 was expected. This again is Petrol only engine syndrome which is affecting right from i10, wagonR , Alto, Estilo upto the Spark and Santro, all of which are petrol only cars.

A new heart on 9th september should add zing both to Liva and Etios.

Last edited by anu21v : 3rd September 2011 at 22:33.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 22:32   #72
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

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Originally Posted by EARTHed View Post
...ANHC is back, this shows how much we love the city over the VW's.
I beg to differ with this statement - looking at the past 06 months stats the fact is exactly the reverse - model wise (eg. Jazz/Polo), Overall (H v VW), please refer attached snapshot.

August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis-h_v_stats.jpg

Note that Honda is 10 yrs old in India and VW is hardly few years, still, do we say with these stats that we love VW over Honda ? No I believe.

Its just that competition forced Honda to stop fooling Indian Customers with inflated pricing. Customer has wide options now and no manufacturer can get away with arrogant attitude. Eg. Figo V NewFiesta

PS : or you wanted to say City over Vento?
If so, then yes, Honda deserve credit that with a 10 yr car with periodic version upgrade they are still able to attract customer in large nos and obviously something is very good about the car that still it commands demand

Quote:
Originally Posted by EARTHed View Post
Figo would see further dip slowly.
hhmm interesting, any reason for the same or a guess!

Last edited by AvonA7 : 3rd September 2011 at 22:50. Reason: edit
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Old 3rd September 2011, 22:41   #73
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

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Originally Posted by jods View Post
I don't think Vento is having any production issues now. The Vento Diesel Highline has insignificant waiting period and is available within 15 days
People up north are indeed lucky, but here the waiting period are insane, just a month ago when I visited a dealership, there was a waiting list White board which mentioned Vento booking to delivery in nine months I was like what the craziness is happening with WV. Thankfully the ANHV, NFF and drastic price correction of City helped WV to bridge the insane waiting period. Now the waiting has come down to about 90 days.

In order to get back at City, WV needs to do the following things

1. Streamline delivery process
2. Improve Improve Improve Pre Sales experience
3. Stop taking the customer for granted by indulging in cheap cost cutting measures without informing the customers
4. Offer at least audio controls on steering wheel and USB on HU
5. Aggressively advertise the product on TV just like Honda
6. Set benchmark in After Sales Service

Unless WV takes the game seriously, I am not so confident if it will grab the crown again this year. Another game VW is upto, I believe, is to flood the Market with Vento clone in Skoda garb to bleed the City white.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 22:55   #74
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

August has been a mixed month, good for some while bad for some. With a couple of new launches coming up + the festive season, i expect the industry to pick up.


Quote:
Originally Posted by anu21v View Post
Looks some imagination at work there. Why would Fiat want to control the number of engines being manufactured by Maruti, afterall they get royalty on each engine fitted in Maruti's cars. I think it has to be the availability issue of some key parts to manufacture MJD engines. I beleive quite a few of these parts are import, for which increasing the capacity can be a big issue.
Maruti is licensed a number of engines they can manufacture per year. They supposedly have asked Fiat for license to increase production, to which Fiat said they'll supply engines from their Ranjangaon plant to MSIL. The idea of cutting down on exports is also to cater to local demand.

Last edited by fiat_tarun : 3rd September 2011 at 23:00.
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Old 3rd September 2011, 23:01   #75
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Re: August 2011 : Indian Car Sales & Analysis

Quote:
Originally Posted by EARTHed View Post
Overall TM sales have just declined by 3% as per their website, So there's no need for us here to make any mockery of them..

Tata Motors sells 64,078 units in August 2011, sales decline by 3% | Rush Lane
This is inclusive of commercial vehicles. Tata's passenger vehicle sales has indeed 33% declined which is due to insane pricing across all models. Perhaps Tata is recovering Flop Nano costs across all models. Tata cars have become more expensive without matching value additions.
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