Team-BHP - April 2013 : Indian Car Sales Figures & Analysis

My Few comments:

GM: Beat & Spark are duds now. GM needs to launch something in the lower segment. But don't think they will do anything there for next few years to come. Enjoy is going to eat Taveras numbers only. Lets see if it fights with Ertiga or say Innova. Sail Sedan is doing better. Good to see that.

Tata: People are saying TATA to them. Sad but true. They need to come up with new cars now, else soon they will go down more. They need to make whole new cars without Indica / Indigo image, get rid of those vertical tail lamps, improve quality from day one (we don't want improved V2 versions), get rid of that typical same front look for all cars etc then only they have a chance to make a come back else they are gone. Soon people will forget them & remember them as a commercial vehicle manufacturer only.

Fiat: Same old story. Good cars with poor marketing, service. Get some new cars for us Fiat & improve your A.S.S.

Mahindra: Why you are waiting to launch W4 version of XUV? Just strip down & launch at 10 Lacs, It will sell like hot cakes in the market. Scorpio & Bolero are like wine, older the better. Xylo & Quanto are struggling now. Verito also down after new Etios & Amaze.

Maruti: Lets go ... Alto, Wagon R, Dzire, Swift & Ertiga doing as usual. Slightly low but will again do comeback in month or two. Generally April is slow. Ritz, Omni, Eeco doing well as well. Overall they are doing just brilliant.

Toyota: Sudden drop?? Etios & Liva lost it again after the refresh in just 2 months. Will not improve for sure i guess. They have failed to impress majority of private buyers. Fortuner is doing as usual.

VW/Skoda: Nothing great happening for them. Only some Vento/Rapids are selling along with Polo. Fabia is a super dud now.

Hyundai: Going well as usual with Verna, i10 & i20.

Renault: Duster all the way. Only Ecosport can spoil its party if priced rightly. Else it will enjoy success for months to come.

Overall market sentiments are low. With Monsoon coming in a month, i am sure sells will go south only. Lets see how it goes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stringbh (Post 3116184)

could you pls. elaborate on this? ( I bought mine in March for no reason and actually thought contributed to March numbers ! But, from my VIN, I contributed to January figures then.)

I am no expert in this area. Sharing just my understanding.

If the car is registered in a company's name, the company can claim depreciation against that asset (car) and thereby reduce the tax liability. So people who can buy a car on the company's name time their purchase so as to maximize the benefit.

What a continuing freefall for the XUV - its been literally "dusted" off the shelf of automotive super stars of the country!

Wonder if Ecosport will do to Duster what Duster did to XUV!

But having said that, this clearly means that the customer wants the latest, and Car companies need to continually upgrade their models in the between new model year periods, perhaps most likely on an annual basis. The XUV can certainly take the game to a new level by offering Automatic Transmission, more powerful engine, Sun Roof, better braking, upping the game in the ICE offerings (it already is pretty awesome in that respect), etc.

And unlike the Tatas, M&M has kind of demonstrated customer centricity and buzz over the last few years so you can expect that M&M would be thinking along these lines also. Bottomline: Future softroader customers can expect to be pampered!

Slightly off topic discussion,

There are many team mates of the opinion that XUV's free fall is due to Renault Duster. But I think it's only one reason. Beacuse Duster is a five seater and XUV is a proper seven seater vehicle. Also their engine power also much different and can not be compared. I feel very few prospective customers of XUV will switch to Duster. Also I think considering Indian road conditions and those who want a vehicle with better ground clearance go for Duster. Another factor their Diesel engine is a true gem and it is well proven in Indian market. To me Duster is an elevated sedan. By this time Mahindra might have sold approximately 40,000 XUVs. Does our market has the potential to pull similar numbers for a vehicle with price tag of Rs.14 lakhs..?

I am sure there are many Duster owners here, can you people tell us whether XUV was a serious candidate during your selection and if yes why did it not make into final choice? Another point, Duster actually saved Renault India's future, if it was also like their other products, French would have forced to pack up by this time.

The craze around figo seems to be dieing slowly. Even the '100 changes' does not seem to be helping it. The new fiesta is not even standing on its legs forget running. Its having lesser number than the classic. Probably they need to reconsider the pricing or stop it in the Indian market. Ford better get the ecosport fast and at a good price.
Not sure what Fiat is doing? They have opened a couples of new showrooms but what about the service?

While Amaze has had a decent start, and is definately a much better attempt than Toyota Etios, i don't think it will hit Maruti Dzire significatly in next 12-15 months. This is primarily because,

a) i expect Amaze to attract potential buyers not only from Dzire, but also other segments like premium hatchbacks and entry level sedans. In fact Amaze may stimulate higher volumes in compact seadan segment, therby helping Dzire. For example at the time of i10 launch Wagon R was doing an average monthly volume of 8-10k, today it does around 12-14k

b) even in compact sedan segment segment i think it will first hit weaker players like Etios.

c) Although Honda remains an aspirational brand, its capacity is limited to c. 4-5k units amonth.

The only way it can consistantly do significantly better numbers is by canabilising volumes of its own brands like Honda City, Brio etc, which i think Honda will not encourage/entertain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by centaur (Post 3116489)

The craze around figo seems to be dieing slowly. ...

With so many new products getting introduced every year, we have to get used to the fact that even very good cars would only have "15 minutes of fame". Invariably some new car would come and take its place in the limelight.

Five years back it was the All New Honda City.
Four years back it was the Figo.
Three years back it was the Vento.
Two years back it was the XUV5OO.
Last year it was the Duster.
This year it would most likely be the EcoSport.

Only Maruti-Suzuki has mastered the art of churning out winners (which btw don't 'look' like winners from any angle) and then do higher 4 digit and even 5 digit numbers on those winners month after month!

April is always one of the worst months for car sales in India or maybe that has been the general pattern from past few years as most prospective customers are done with their car purchases by march end for depriciation benifits but year-on-year figures show that it has been on of the worst April sales figures.

One reason I feel for low sales of some of these models appart from economic slowdown and low sentiments is that many of these models are up for facelifts or replacements within one or two years like i10 , new ford fiesta , honda city , toyota corolla , skoda laura , renault fluence , honda accord , ford endeavour, skoda superb, fiat linea and punto , hyundai santafe , mitsubishi outlander and the list goes on and on..

The most surprising fact is that facelifted and all new models of many of these cars are already being sold around the world but they seem to take ages to come to India. :Frustrati

I think many companies still think of India as a country where they can dump their outdated models or the ones which are on their last legs of life cycles and then go on moaning about their low sales volumes and blame Indian economy for that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SDP (Post 3116541)

With so many new products getting introduced every year, we have to get used to the fact that even very good cars would only have "15 minutes of fame".

I am not sure if for the XUV 5OO/duster/City etc will matter for a buyer who is looking for something in Figo's Segment. The reason why figo did well was because of its almost negligible turbo lag and the VFM factor but looking at the sales people seem to have moved off from the Figo. Just wanted to bring this point forth :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by centaur (Post 3117407)

I believe my post has been misunderstood. I mentioned City, XUV, Vento as examples (similar to Figo) which caught people's attention for a year. With so many new product launches and so many challengers to the throne, even genuinely good vehicles are able to hold the attention of buyers for significantly lower time than earlier.

Absolutely sir but I guess we both are speaking from different POVs. I am speaking more from a performance and long term buyer interest perspective while you seem to mentioning how hot new launches grab attention (correct me if my understanding is wrong). Where I am coming from is that the Figo was selling well because of what it offered and it still offers the same. In its segment the figo has the least turbo lag and is priced appropriately too (VFM) but inspite of it now the numbers are declining.