[rsidd]

Maruti, Mahindra, Honda are probably OK -- it looks bad month-on-month but if you look at the last several months it's par. Given the new models from Honda, though, which ought to result in much better numbers, they probably should worry.

Nissan relies heavily on exports so they're OK. Renault sells basically the same cars as Nissan, I'm not sure what the point is of having two brands with two separate sets of showrooms selling the same products made in the same factories. One could say the same of VW and Skoda, but it's a bit less blatant there.

[Dieseltuned]

What happened to the Wagon R ? A drop of almost 3000 units in a month. What could be the possible reason for this ? Is the i10 Grand the sole reason ?

[dreadknight5]

Originally Posted by arnabchak

3) A not too pleasant picture for M&M. Other than Bolero and Scorpio, they do not have any consistent performers. XUV is nowhere close to its earlier promise.

All other soldiers are proven failures-Quanto, Verito, Vibe all need to RIP.

Well , just how many vehicles do you expect to sell in a month that falls in the 15-16 lakh category in most states ? I would say, xuv 5OO is doing pretty well selling 2500-3000 vehicles in the D1 category.

Mahindra did sell Quanto in the range of 2500-3000 for the first few months. But it was always destined to die. The vehicle looks pretty ugly and I cannot fantom what Mahindra was thinking when they put it in the market. I feel they tried to make inroads in the compact SUV market, but ended up setting up a half baked product. They could have waited for a year, got the look factor worked out and then released it. Anyways, no point in crying over spilt milk.

Verito, would have done better had they not had to pay Renault for every car they shipped. Its expensive when compared to its competitors.

Originally Posted by arnabchak

Not so, though with Datsun. 2.5K for an unknown brand is pretty impressive and is more than twice the nos. of all other Nissan/Renault hatches put together: deadhorse.

If Datson changed their front row seating style to the current prevalent hatchback style, they probably would have done better than 2500.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by onkar1710

3. The crop harvest you talk about should be "Rabi" instead of "Kharif", don't you think?

4. Any reflections on the Xylo?

Regards!

Oops. Rabi crop
As for Bolero, expect minor facelifts only till the sales start dropping drastically. But why would there. Who is the competition?

As for Xylo, well this is yet another people mover. Can dent innova market a bit, but you have to understand that people who buy such vehicles usually run them over a 100,000kms and innova works out cheaper when you are talking about 150,000+kms of run

[D4D]

• After Toyota's lockout ended, Innova grows again. 8 years, no mechanical change (save for the intercooler), it's a massive achievement
• Japanese manufacturers are dominating again
• Amaze is taken a hit due to initial excitement over the Xcent. Think it'll come back strong
• Hyundai is only set to grow with Xcent
• Honda is just going to grow with the launch of Mobilio and Jazz. Just the diesel engine has made changed their profile over a few months
• The Americans don't seem particularly interested and it's been a while before an all-new product has come from Chevy
• Mahindra will just continue dominating the UV segements, whatever the season
• Maruti sees growth with Celerio, it's good that we are moving from manuals to automated manuals
• Only the Duster is bread and butter for Renault. Where is another impact car?
• I don't see the new corolla significantly impacting and making Toyota grw like the diesel City made honda grow. Reason: The diesel producing 90 horses won't catch the excitement of the customer. But there will still be a growth in sales
• VW, are you only interested in exporting?

[a4anurag]

The thing I noticed was the Market share of manufacturers, specially Maruti and Hyundai.

I have made a small chart for the same taking data from October 2013 till April 2014.



Interesting thing is the share of Maruti has gone down in April'14 but at the same time a increase for Hyundai and Toyota in the very same month. I guess the new launches did take a toll on Maruti who is starving now for new products in the market than keeping it boring with the current set so this has worked in favour for Hyundai.

Anurag.

[desdemona]

What we have is a weird market configuration. Only 2 East Asian (Suzuki and Hyundai) and one Indian (Mahindra) firm make money consistently in this market. EVERYONE else loses money in India, if you exclude export revenues.

The two East Asians and another, Honda, clearly constitute a near-oligopoly in the sub-10 lakh, mass market segments.

This is very unhealthy. You could blame the government's tax policies but one should on Team-Bhp be blaming the median consumer's behavioural oddities. He is the oddest car-buyer in the world, this may well be the oddest car market in the world.

This months charts are completely surprising to me.

Strategy of Maruti is amazing. They actually are splitting volumes from Alto. 5K units were transferred to Celerio.
Amazing!! And they have plans to split Swift Dzire volumes too. I would say Good strategy in a tight market. Making it a bit tight for Hyundai Eon.

Tata's numbers are the ugliest. Indica + Vista making 2500 units. Indigo + Manza making similar volumes. Where as 2X expensive Innova is making 3500 units. And Bolero is still making ~9K units. I really started doubting TM Capabilities.

Shame on Renault to make only Double digit sales of each model. Except Duster. They aren't able to sell Hatches despite having the best Diesel engine. In this respect, Nissan is a bit better. the volumes are scattered amongst their portfolio brands.

Vento made 800 odd units. Surprising.
Rapid made 750 odd units. Again Surprising.
What VW and skoda doing?

Fiat, One brand which keeps on getting their hands dirty trying different permutations and combinations with their only 2 cars. They test Jeep cherokee and then they cancel it. They try 500 and again cancel it. They try Doblo, And they might drop this too. No other manufacturer would try this kind of experiments. And they acts never seemd serious.
They Deserve it. They deserve it until they launch something. You can judge a recipe only when you taste it. Not when you cook it.

[ajmat]

Chevrolet :
Just Enjoy! There is nothing interesting for them in their portfolio. No wonder I see the Chevrolet salesment always sitting in the chai stall next to my house. May be they should have considered the Orlando MPV based on the Cruze.

Datsun
Considering all the dealership nonsense and an unknown start, not too bad a start. Gives some volume to the long suffering Nissan dealers

Fiat
Punto - good but getting on. Fiat need some new products badly

Ford
A little bit of EcoSport and not much else. Expect nothing until the Figo replacement actually happens


HM Mitsubishi
How do the dealerships exists, the volumes do not add up. If they want to manitain such minuscule numbers they ought to go the multi-branded way

Honda
Clear case of the Art of War kicking in - fight where the enemy is not there - Mobilio will bring some numbers but will it be enough. Ertiga has settled to around 4000. Refresh the Amaze and Brio interiors and you might see better numbers. My mother is about to replace her Getz, chances are we go the i10 way since the Amze/ Brio do not cut it interiors wise.

Hyundai
If they drove like Honda's they would be the Maruti's of the market!


Mahindra
The bread and butter models survive due to rural market and good product maintenance. just stop crudely executing new models. For new products, focus on one model and do it well.


Maruti
All hail the king.
Think small, go big. They do not have the reach of all segments unlike Hyundai. However, a relatively weak parent means, product pipeline might be limited. Remember if it was not for India, Suzuki would be a Mitsubishi.

Nissan
No Sunny days ahead. Everything looks Micra sized, thank god for the Terrano

Renault
Done and Dustered, lets see some real Renault's, introducing a rebadged Lodgy might do wonders as also the latest Logan/ Sanderoif realistically priced. They could give Tata a bloody nose considering that the local content of Renaults is quite high. The Indian market are price sensitive and will be a god fit.

Skoda
Europeans love them but we didn't like their attitude when it came to service and it shows. Fabia was poorly positioned and marketed. They play only in a shrinking segment. Lets hope the next Fabia brings in more volumes. That is a year away.

Tata

Retire and enjoy your Jaguars


Toyota
Doing well. The new Corolla will bring in more revenue. The next Innova is needed within a year if it needs to keep its edge. in the segment. 10 year product life, unusual for a Toyota but they have mae their money out of it. Etios/Liva - we want value, not cheapness

VW
Improve your dealer experience but VW need a smaller car below the Polo to bring volumes.

.

[Secretariat]

Where are the 6663 Xcents ? I am yet to see one on the road in Bangalore. A princely number of 2 BHPians seem that have taken delivery of their Xcents and that too on 30 April. So where are these 6000 odd cars ?

How does sales of Honda City drop by even 1 car, let alone 26% MOM , when there is a long waiting list of months and the factory is simply running flat out to meet demand ?

Probably sales figures are primary sales - sales by the company to its dealers and not customer offtake, but still , in a new car there can't be a big pipeline being built. I am foxed. Wonder if some "dressing up" of sales figures is happening.

[_raVan_]

Thanks for the report Parrys. Kudos to Hyundai for surviving the onslaught of Honda City by targetting Amaze with Xcent. Also, their Santa Fe seems to be selling in healthy numbers of approx 150 units per month even with the high price tag. It is selling more than Octavia which in itself is a very capable product.

Linea might be down this month, but I guess they had some delivery issues as reported by some to-be owners in here. I guess, this month's sales would put them back on the road map.

Skoda really needs to have some retrospection now. They are loosing numbers month by month, and going by this trend, they will be hitting <1000 units sold in May.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beat

As we were expecting but just look at the drop in amaze figures 54% drop. This will get Honda worried for sure Xcent steals numbers from Amaze as well as Dzire to some extent. What will happen when Tata Zest/Bolt will launch?

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Honda
Amaze has been Xcented, showing brand strength of Honda is similar to Hyundai in this segment.

I doubt sudden drop in sales of the Amaze would have anything to do with the Hyundai Xcent. I might be releated to Honda production constraints, and the fat margins that the City generate. We are talking of dealership dispatches here, and I feel one month is just too less for Honda to analyse the sudden drop in sales for the Amaze due to the Xcent launch, and control the inventory and dispatches accordingly. The next 2-3 months should reveal the real picture.

But speaking from a personal viewpoint, I am hoping the Market teaches Honda a lesson. If anybody can do it, its Maruti with the Ciaz - if and only if, they can finally get their hands on a competent diesel engine for it.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Chevy first :
With nothing new in the works, and people not interested in boring people movers, the brand is languishing. There seems to be nothing in the roadmap too

Chevy seems to be lost, and I wouldnt really invest in the brand with my money for now. Comparitively, FIAT is in an worse position, but atleast they seem to be having a roadmap for the future activities - something that gives a ray of hope for the customers/ dealers/ vendors alike. Shockingly Chevy has refused to acknowledge the issue at hand - and have let go of the edge they had with modern products like Beat and Cruze.

And please, no more Chinese stuff! I hope they realise that only competent products can work in the Indian market, given the standards of quality maintained by companies like Hyundai and the cut-throat pricing structure thanks to Maruti Suzuki.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Fiat
had an amazing March, and now we are back to also ran. Looks like they need to do more

If you ask me, the trend was expected due to the below reasons -

1. Over the last two months, the Punto facelift has been revealed by various forms of media with varying degree of camouflage. Various website renderings have also made it clear that Punto might be adopting an edgier styling as previewed in the Avventura concept, with the major shift being the interiors from the new facelifted Linea. If you notice, Punto sales have reached an all time low ever since Nov '13.

2. The new facelifted Linea is not carrying any discounts yet - and trust me, FIAT has become synonymous with discounts. Prospective owners will put off their buying decision till the time discounts set in. No one would like to buy a car and then regret it later when it sells for discounts close to half a lakh and much more!

3. The 1.6 MJD motor is all set to make a grand entry into the market (Even with all the efforts from FIAT to delay it, god knows why!) and it is capable of transforming the car to one of the best in the segment. Power and torque figures comparable to the best-in-class, segment-best ride, handling and steering geometry and with the recent facelift - competent interiors too. I have can point out atleast a handful of BHP'ians waiting for the 1.6 motor to put down their money on the new Linea.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

But SX4, is down, and in the high end, nobody touches Maruti.

Too late for the SX4 now, but I would place my bet on Maruti to succeed in this segment with the Ciaz.

Why did SX4 fail? We could come up with a hundred reasons - but I believe the most relevant was the highly inappropriate timing for the product launch. On one hand, we had the Honda City which was the undisputed king of the sedan segment and the second generation had a dream run for 4 years when Maruti came up with the SX4 for the Indian market. The product was benchmarked against the existing city and they went all out to conquer the market, only to realize that Honda was ready to take the game to an all new level just few months down the line, with the 3rd generation City.

Now that the 4th generation is here and its product lifecycle is locked for the next 4 years - and the Ciaz is a very competent as revealed by our spy pics, they have a good chance at the market if the product is positioned correctly. Even the new Verna should take another 2 years to hit the market, giving Maruti some breathing space to get this one right.

All this - if they can hit the sweets spot with the pricing, features and of-course their diesel engine!

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Secretariat

Where are the 6663 Xcents ? So where are these 6000 odd cars?

AFAIK, these figures published are shipments from the factory to the dealers so expecting 6.3K Hyundai Xccent's on road is difficult buddy.

Anurag.

[achyutaghosh]

Thank you for the most eagerly awaited t-bhp thread, Parry.

Chevrolet- more than the Chinese angle, I think its their products, which are almost exclusively "me too" category ones. None of them really stand out and offer customers something different and unique. Even the Cruze’s engine power is negated by its other disadvantage of space and quality. On top of that all the perceived quality issues is killing the brand.

Honda- riding on the City wave. The car is killing almost everything else in its segment- Verna was selling at 4500-5000 units, Duster, Vento and Rapid were doing double current volumes. Clear shift in Honda strategy, to play exclusively in the sub 10 lakh segment, effectively making the City their flagship in India for a long time to come, notwithstanding the CRV. It is sad that they are not getting the Vezel into India. Would have surely sold even if priced at 15 lakhs. But what after the City?

All their other existing products are being murdered. Brio at 500 units, and the Amaze getting beaten black and blue by the Xcent. Since last month people who I advised to choose between the Xcent and Amaze have unerringly gone for the former, because of the price and feature benefits. Plus they have complained that the arrogance in Honda dealers have returned, making the pre sales experience a not too happy one. I guess Honda is banking on new launches (Mobilio and Jazz) to spruce up volumes. The Amaze is a great product, and can stand against the Xcent if some features are added, and they need to do that. But Honda probably is not dreaming too big right now, they might be thinking that a 20k a month target can be fulfilled by the Mobilio+City+Jazz+ Brio and Amaze with current feature set.

It must be stinging Toyota that their much vaunted India specific models do not even muster the volumes that a new brand such as Datsun has been able to. Will they come back with improved products or will stay away from this segment?

Tata needed the Bolt and the Zest yesterday. If they are planning a Diwali launch then it might be too late. The market has shown acceptance for new launches. The Bolt and the Zest feel like no Tata, the way they have been put together.

The D2 segment is being obliterated, even though it has the most number of players. I guess every company wants to have a token presence in this segment, the flagship, even though the product sells or not. Take away Fortuner and everyone else is around or less than 100 units. Similar scene in D1, if you take away the XUV. The cash crunch is truly on, economy stuttering. People are just not spending enough on big cars.

After more than 15 years in the India market, Skoda has a 0.5% market share. That’s a damning statement, even though they have great products. The Octavia is not a volume seller, the capable Yeti is overpriced and under-sized. The Superb is in the slow selling D2 segment and the Rapid is being destroyed by the City. What next for them? The new European look Rapid? Don’t think it can make a dent in this segment given Skoda’s service reputation, which continues to be as bad as ever. The modern buyer is so well informed. Whenever I have advised a Skoda purchase, people have come back to me saying “no thanks, I do not have the deep pockets to afford a Skoda.”

Market conditions are tough. And there is no way things are going to get better in the short term. However the appetite for GOOD new products remains strong. They successful companies (Hyundai, Honda) have benefited from that. When will the others learn?

[carZest]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

Thanks for the Great Report.

The main thing to note is the drop in sales of the Dzire and the Amaze and the appearance of the Xcent with a rocking figure of 6,600+.

We would need to wait another month to see the trend to see if Amaze has lost the share to its big brother, the City or the rival Hyundai Xcent.

Given that Dzire has also come down by some numbers, it appears that Xcent has made in roads into both Dzire and Amaze. Well done Hyundai!

City continues the dream run and has not dropped below the 7000 mark since inception. And Honda has managed to deliver good number of them month on month

Is it true that of the three (Dzire, Xcent and Amaze), only the Dzire is available for yellow board registration?