[Seran Manian]

Thanks for the pains taken. I was awaiting it. It is a bit surprising to see Ford New fiesta not selling with so much discount offer on the cards. Even SX4 sells better. What is wrong with Ford?

[jvm_1986]

As mentioned in the report, the New Fiesta production has stopped and a facelift is due in the future

[Vid6639]

Excellent analysis GTO.

Honda is full steam ahead. City outsells the cheaper Amaze even. What a blockbuster hit from Honda. What's also pleasant is straight away they are able to deliver 7K+ cars. This is unlike some other manufacturer's namely Ford.

What in the name is Ford doing?? Waiting periods are one year for the Ecosport and you deliver 3.5K cars in Feb. This is atrocious behavior. Renault is already cashing in with the discounts and new variants and I'm sure Honda has grabbed a few Ecosport customer with the new City.

[DieselFan]

Originally Posted by Seran Manian

Thanks for the pains taken. I was awaiting it. It is a bit surprising to see Ford New fiesta not selling with so much discount offer on the cards. Even SX4 sells better. What is wrong with Ford?

Excessive service and parts costs have made ford pretty low on the list of people looking for new cars. Now ford has joined the European car makers - Skoda, Fiat et al....

[blacksport]

I had thought that after the second price hike Ford would release more numbers to local sales. But something else seems to be wrong here. The fact that they are producing 3K odd Figos a month, makes me wonder why they cannot reduce Figo production to accommodate more Ecosports.

That they are not doing that makes me feel that margins they make on Ecosport is still not any better than what the make on the Ecosport.

Or, they have a supply limitation on parts.

[romeomidhun]

I thought Celerio will eat into WR and Alto sales than into anyone else, but can see these two cars' sales unaffected. Then where does this 7k for Celerio from? I also noticed that i10 grand is not helping Hyundai, and Celerio is not helping Maruti to boost its sales over last Feb.

I still believe Celerio will become the first choice for many first time buyers just because of the ease of drive and FE.

[iliketurtles]

Honda is on the march, and how! The addition of a diesel heart to the City was always going to supercharge their success story. Honda's brand cache is strong, and if you add an oil burner to the equation it becomes an instant recipe for success. Hyundai might have a few more features, but Honda and Toyota have a staunch following in India. I'm very keen to see how the City v Verna fight develops. The Rapid should by default be a part of that dogfight, but Skoda really must wake up and smell the coffee. Their A.S.S. reputation badly lets down their wonderful cars. The car lover in me dreams of Japanese reliability crossed with European driving manners. Oh lord, won't you gift me an NSX for Christmas?

I don't think Skoda's plight can be summed up better than GTO did. Fiat almost outsold them and passed on the wooden spoon, all with their limited (but growing) after sales and limited portfolio. If you're struggling to sell the Rapid, a car that by all rights should be burning up the sales charts, you're doing something very wrong. Skoda's cars are great, but they can't make an A.S.S. out of the Indian junta. It's a long, hard ahead of them, but if Sudhir Rao is serious about fixing their after-sales efforts, there is hope yet albeit not in the short term. Maybe coming in last place will be a good thing for Skoda, it'll jolt them into action in a way wailing customers and dwindling sales just can't.

And what is up with the Octavia? Shipments are dropping off with each month. Are they curbing supply to artificially create a skew and show the car has a giant waiting list? Is that something they want? Patience is a finite resource, and not everyone will wait forever. Ridiculous that deliveries are happening so slowly, surely Arnab Goswami demands an answer!

[saket77]

Great analysis GTO. And as Maanava says it's like automotive poetry!

The high numbers for Celerio looks like the pipeline orders being delivered. The more authentic figures will start pouring in once the backlogs are cleared. But the market share of Maruti looks quite unfazed from the competition. Looks like all new launches by other manufacturers are competing against the population minus MSIL. Even the aged WagorR is still managing about 13K units!

The star in the chart is Honda. Not only by the desirability, but also by capability. They are delivering straight away; they surely mean business here. The City just launched and it becomes the highest selling sedan. There may be some order backlogs, but this City will continue to sell for sure.

Ford's strategy to sell (or not to sell) the Ecosport has probably backfired. The Fiesta Classic, despite being a super deal is not selling, may be partially due to its age, but largely due to Ford itself. If Ford does not deliver soon, I have a feeling that customers will hardly keep waiting. Drifting of the bookings will hit Ford hard as the Ecosport is the only product in Ford India's portfolio on which Ford can pin up their hopes. This can bring in big volumes but as they say, 'it is very hard to kill a person who is hell bent on committing a suicide'.

Once again, thanks to GTO and Parrys for bringing in the figures and a great analysis.

Regards,
Saket

[SkyWalker]

Thanks GTO for the detailed analysis.

Originally Posted by GTO

On the flip side, Maruti sure is taking its own sweet time in replacing the SX4 with the YL1

I think the reason is they are not very hopeful of YL1s prospects. With a 1.3L diesel engine, it all be severely limited in its ability to tackle competition where 1.5-1.6L engines are common. They wont get much market share.

Originally Posted by GTO

Say hello to the new no.4, Honda (last year's position = No. 8). Jan & Feb also mark the highest ever sales in the company's Indian history. It's new Rajasthan plant has allowed the company to move 15,000 cars to its dealers.

It has been a great year for Honda. At #4, and I am sure things would pick up a lot more when Mobilio and Vezel are launched and they gan easily sell upwards of 20K. The real question is - would capacity be enough?

Originally Posted by GTO

The Honda City - now in a stronger position due to the diesel engine & enhanced equipment levels - outsells all of its C2-sedan competitors combined.

True testament for the power of City brand!

Originally Posted by GTO

Tata has actually gained 700 cars Y-O-Y & 350 M-O-M, most of it driven by the Nano.

Tata is pushed down to No.5 and probably even further down. But for Toyota's poor pick from Etios and Liva - they could be up there duking it out with Honda for No.4 position.

Originally Posted by GTO

The decade-old Innova is a major success at 5,000 units; it has however lost about 1,300 private owner sales each month (2012 average = 6,300) to newer UV competitors (Ertiga, Duster, EcoSport, Terrano).

Its about time Toyota stops giving facelifts to Innova and actually brings in a new car. They were proactive in replacing the Qualis, but seem to be dragging this one quite a bit. Innova looks overpriced and underpowered compared to its competitors these days. Its still a competent car in many ways, but aging nonetheless.

Originally Posted by GTO

Fiesta Classic's sales, not even a 1.6L 100 BHP engine for Rs. 4.99 lakhs.

A pity. An awesome drivers car and a great price!

Originally Posted by GTO

Like Tata, Chevrolet is a severe underperformer in the market.

And for a good reason too. Apart from Cruze - which has differentiated in the high power D sedan segment, they really have not made any cars, which would stand out. And Cruze itself has been made so costly with the facelift - they lost the edge. Time to give some new products Chevy!

Originally Posted by GTO

About 900 Puntos & 400 Lineas were shipped last month. I don't expect much of a change here, not even with the Linea facelift.

New Linea at best evoked a 'meh' from most consumers. The 1.3L diesel being the biggest drawback. I wish they gave the 1.4 TJet in Punto - some performance enthusiasts would love to buy them. Would that increase sales? Not much - really - but at least fiat aficionados would be happy. Fiat's raking up loses in the international market would be preventing them from investing more in India.

[jessie007]

I would like to add to the statistics with figures for segment-wise market share over a period of last month, 3 months and 6 months. These numbers give a fair picture of each vehicles market share within its own segment and whether they are gaining or losing.

Segmentation might not be perfect but I have done it to the best of my knowledge. I have left out some vehicles that have negligible impact in overall market share. Have also highlighted (in yellow) top 10 sellers for each month over the past six months. Hope this is helpful.

Click on an image to enlarge / zoom:

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by GTO

Say hello to the new no.4, Honda (last year's position = No. 8). Jan & Feb also mark the highest ever sales in the company's Indian history. It's new Rajasthan plant has allowed the company to move 15,000 cars to its dealers. The Honda City - now in a stronger position due to the diesel engine & enhanced equipment levels - outsells all of its C2-sedan competitors combined. 7,200 units also makes it the best ever month for the City nameplate in India. Next up is the Amaze which sees quite a correction in its volumes @ 6,000 units (compared to the last 6 month's average). The Brio however, is an absolute laggard. I have a feeling Honda is prioritising sales of the more profitable City over the Amaze & Brio.

It looks like Honda has understood and timed the Indian Car Market very well. The City has definitely eaten away numbers from the rest of the cars in its segment mainly the Rapid, Sunny and Vento. As someone else pointed out with the way Honda is managing deliveries, they possibly are eating away some units of the Ecosport as well. The reduction in Amaze sales is mostly Honda eating itself with some people opting for the City instead of the Amaze. All in all with another good vehicle planned for launch this year and an additional plant producing more units - Honda has everything working for them to continue with the great story for the rest of the year...

[rrsteer]

Ford management should come out with a case study: How to ensure a blockbuster product never becomes a blockbuster.

[prakhar1998]

Excellent analysis as usual. But what puzzles me is the disappearance of the fuel story comparison. That used to be interesting, if possible,could you please add that as well.

[aniketi]

Analysis in my own way -

Chevy: Only company which has so many flops (almost all now) despite having models in almost all segments. Very funny. Don't see any future for the company in next few months or should i say years? Sail twins are officially flops now, Spark is dud. Only way for them is towards south only.

Fiat: Good going. They are still maintaining their exclusivity on the road. With new Linea, i am sure they will get better numbers. If it does 1 K per month, i will be very happy. Bring on new Punto quickly & they can easily overtake Skoda.

Ford: Only word is - Unbelievable. Hard to believe numbers of EcoSport. There are people ready to buy it immediately but they don't have cars to give them. Wake up Ford, else people will soon forget you with such rude attitude. Apart from EcoSport, nothing else to talk about really. Figo losing the market with new launches & Fiesta has no future. Classic is on ventilator.

Honda: Wow. City is doing wonders for them. 7 K + is amazing numbers. Mainly all diesels i guess as petrol models are not yet out. Coming months will be interesting to watch out for in the C segment. Apart from that, Brio has no future for sure (declare it as a flop), Amaze is struggling against Dzire & will face more once i10 Grand Sedan is launched this month.

Hyundai: Great going but will feel heat soon. All their stars like Eon, Verna, i10, i20 started struggling. Elantra doing good in D segment. i10 Grande saving them big way & with sedan they will fight more. IMO Grand Sedan will eat numbers from i10 Grand and i20 also. Verna is started to struggle against City, lets see how it goes in coming months.

Mahindra: Good going for Scorpio, Bolero & XUV. XUV numbers are great when you consider its pricing. Sad to see Xylo is struggling, much better car than numbers suggest. Other cars?? Are there any?? Stop Verito twins. Where is AMT Quanto?

Nissan / Renault: Nissan struggling big way. All are down. Evalia only 5?? Nothing much apart from Duster for Renault too.

Skoda: Future road looks very bleak considering their A.S.S. & cars. Octavia is failing big way. I guess its due to its pricing.

Tata: Eagerly waiting for Bolt & Zest launch. Very bright future for Zest i guess if everything is right with it. Glad to see Nano numbers improving. Its a very good city car & can easily sell at least 5 K per month. Tata marketing & A.S.S. to blame here. Sumo also deserves better numbers than it actually does.

Toyota: Mainly Innova & Fortuner only. Innova loosing some market now i guess, high pricing? Etios twins are coming down south every month. Liva is one more official flop now. Toyota are you watching? People in India just don't buy cars seeing your T badge only, MIND IT.

VW: Only 3 models for business. All are struggling. No immediate future for VW apart from selling few cars every month, mainly Polo only. New Polo coming is also nothing to talk about or exciting about it. Grow up germans.

Last but not least,

Maruti: Almost 47%. Great going MUL. All there heroes like Alto, Swift, Dzire, Wagon R, Ertiga, Omni giving them great months after months. Really well done. Celerio is new Hero born for them? Can easily do 10 K + i guess in coming months. It can steal more numbers from i10, Santro, Figo, Beat etc for sure. Ritz is the only their main struggling model along with SX4. Bring Ciaz quickly, don't waste time.

[Srikanthan]

Much awaited analysis - I'm always eager to see where each model / manufacturer stand month on month.

As expected, its fun to see Honda delivering with its new diesel City. Rapid is rapidly dis-appearing despite its sweet offerings!

Its time for VW to get their act together to save the declining sales of Vento!

As prakhar1998 has said, the fuel comparison is missing...Will be interesting to see as the fuel prices are increasing