[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:

[sajusherief]

Surprised by the low sales volume after so much of tax reduction and discounts, i was really hoping to a better maket.
Honda needs to really think about refreshing their interiors to get back the market share snatched by Xcent and i10 Grand. With that and addition of Mobilio can be a real headache to tata.

[velan]

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

Very good observation vsrivatsa. Noticed an interesting fact Hyundai verna sales in April 2013 4809 and April 2014 3340 (YOY -31%). Amaze sales in April 2013 4852 and April 2014 3355 (YOY -31%). Seems like city effect on verna and xcent effect on Amaze.

[SR71-Blackbird]

Originally Posted by carZest

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

Can the manufacturer stop someone from buying a car and registering it as a taxi?
All they can probably do is stop bulk sales with discounts to big taxi operators like meru etc.
AFAIK, only the old dzire with the bigger boot is still sold as the dzire tour which suits taxi operators.

[jessie007]

Originally Posted by parrys

NOTES:

1: Thanks to the team at Management Punditz for sharing these sales numbers with us!

If indeed the stats are as per those shared by Management Punditz website, then the figures for Hyundai i20 differ, albeit marginally. Management Punditz has reported it as 3459, whereas it is mentioned as 3549 in the chart here. Looks like a couple of digits got inter-changed.

The overall numbers also therefore don't tally up, which according to news reports are 35,248 units sold for Hyundai for the month of Apr'14. The difference of 90 units in the figure mentioned for Hyundai in this thread (35,338) is due to this factor.

[parrys]

Originally Posted by jessie007

If indeed the stats are as per those shared by Management Punditz website, then the figures for Hyundai i20 differ, albeit marginally. Management Punditz has reported it as 3459, whereas it is mentioned as 3549 in the chart here. Looks like a couple of digits got inter-changed.

The overall numbers also therefore don't tally up, which according to news reports are 35,248 units sold for Hyundai for the month of Apr'14. The difference of 90 units in the figure mentioned for Hyundai in this thread (35,338) is due to this factor.

Thanks for pointing this out jessie007, the figure has been corrected.

[NiInJa]

Excellent report. I think many buyers have deferred their purchase decisions to next month due to Akshaya Tritiya in May and kids exams or vacations (one example : my neighbour). There are also many 'auspicious' days in May.Just a thought.

[torque!!]

Originally Posted by arnabchak

Toyota needs to wake up. Even the Fortuner is wavering and then they have sitting duds in Etios/Liva. What is the top brass thinking?

Seriously, what is Toyota thinking. They need a good product in the lower end of the market. Etios twins are very capable cars but packaged poorly. The indian consumer is a practical buyer. Give him good value for money and he will buy your product. Wagon R is a good example. Despite the odd looks, there is great value proposition in the car and it shows in the numbers. Good interiors and segment comparable features and the etios may sell. Toyota does not have a brand problem like the Fiat, who despite of having a great car, can’t sell it. Toyota, need a great product.

I also feel that there is a lot of space in the C2 segment. Honda need competition for its City. Yes, there is Verna. But there is only so much that Hyundai can do. Honda needs competition from Toyota. There simply is no brand, globally that can compete with Honda other than Toyota. And yes, the vice versa also holds true.

[desdemona]

Originally Posted by torque!!

The indian consumer is a practical buyer. Give him good value for money and he will buy your product. Good interiors and segment comparable features and the etios may sell. Toyota does not have a brand problem like the Fiat, who despite of having a great car, can’t sell it. Toyota, need a great product.

I also feel that there is a lot of space in the C2 segment. Honda need competition for its City. Yes, there is Verna. But there is only so much that Hyundai can do. Honda needs competition from Toyota. There simply is no brand, globally that can compete with Honda other than Toyota. And yes, the vice versa also holds true.

I agree with you for the most part. Except: I believe the median Indian consumer being a champion nose for 'value' is a myth. MOST Indian car buyers don't know much or even any 'value' other than (a) a vague generic 'status' (b) reliability and ASS stories no matter how exaggerated (c) resale value (d) a vague sense of cutting edge looks and features/gizmos. The 'nose for value' myth is just cover for herd effects.

But the market here is what it is (until team-bhp's reach widens even further! ), and Toyota must mimic Honda's and Hyundai's better grasp of the median Indian car buyer.

Also, Honda is not, outside of the US, a major brand. Even there it is a totally mass market appliance-type brand. None of the premiumness and trust they command in India. It is way down the ranking in China, the biggest market of all, where VW, GM, Hyundai, Ford and Toyota are far ahead of them. Still, your point is valid: Toyota has to up its game, as Suzuki will I guess with the Ciaz, in the C2 segment.

[vinya_jag]

Originally Posted by 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 ?

I guess, the Celerio is eating into Wagon R sales.
Though in an altogether different segment, the Celerio kind of ticks all those boxes the Wagon R does, and a lower price as well.

I guess, the tall-small-budget hatch market is only so much, that it has to be shared between the Ritz, Wagon-R, i10 and now the Celerio.

[CoolFire]

Originally Posted by desdemona

I agree with you for the most part. Except: I believe the median Indian consumer being a champion nose for 'value' is a myth. MOST Indian car buyers don't know much or even any 'value' other than (a) a vague generic 'status' (b) reliability and ASS stories no matter how exaggerated (c) resale value (d) a vague sense of cutting edge looks and features/gizmos. The 'nose for value' myth is just cover for herd effects.

A simple way to gauge value IS resale price. It even reflects quality, A.S.S. and brand image. Most people understand this intuitively.

There are cases where herds could be wrong (like equity markets), but IMO cars don't fall in this category. Here, herd is right most of the time.

[sadsack]

Let us put it this way, I don't see any point in stating the obvious but sometimes it is perhaps worth stating it and then trying to understand the obvious. There are companies like Chevrolet, Volkswagen, Fiat, Nissan, Renault and our very own Tata who seem to be making up the number of companies present rather than concentrating on the number of vehicles that they are selling. Tata is perhaps the saddest case. I do not see the Bolt and the Zest changing anything in terms of numbers. These are not new cars and anyone with reasonable eyesight can make out their Indica Vista origins. So really what are they going to sell them as even with refurbished showrooms and a new and more professional staff? Brand new cars. Nobody will buy that argument.

I had written about the Nano in the past where I said Tata will add some new things and the cars sales pick up marginally and because Tata does not maintain the momentum of marketing it just a matter of time before the numbers begin to dwindle. And adding Twist, Active etc are not going to make any difference. The many critics of Tata on this forum say that the Nano does not sell because of its cheap car image. And so we have this youthful car being projected through ads and the car still does not sell. So I say yet again that advertising does not sell. It only supports good marketing which can sell. It is now too late to change the positioning of the Nano and making it more expensive will mean that even the 500-1000 people who buy the car now will stop doing so. Tata should stop its knee jerk reactions, think carefully and then pull up a marketing strategy for not just the Nano but also the other cars. There seems to be no one in Tata who knows anything about selling cars. Time for Ratan Tata to take a break from retirement and comeback to rejuvenate the company perhaps?

General Motors confounds me just as much as Tata does. I see it as a company that is throwing a dice to decide which car will be sold and how. The Beat should be doing better numbers but it keeps going down. A young car portfolio is of the essence, something that both GM and Tata are lacking. There are no new products on the horizon as well. Fiat? What is that? I wonder how the dealers are even managing to pay rent for their show rooms


The Datsun story is interesting. It has been launched as a large inexpensive car. So except in the top end model there are no goodies of any kind in the lower trims. No AC, no ORVM on the left side, no sound deadening, nothing. Beginners luck seems to be selling the car. When the Estilo was introduced in the market it sold well over 5000 units per month for a few months before the fall began. I suspect the Datsun Go is Going in that direction.

Mahindra is the epitome of good luck. All products that it makes are full of all kinds of niggles. Any other manufacturer does the same, it would have had a yard full of unsold stock rotting. But Mahindra has somehow managed to project their products as okay, despite them being not so okay. The Bolero is as old as Ravel's composition (The Bolero) but it still sells. That can only be luck. Take the Bolero out of the equation, the picture one sees will be very different. But to their credit, the Mahindras have been showing newer products even if they are duds (the Quanto, the Verito, the Verito Vibe and now even the Xylo).

The recessionary cycle and the Indian penchant to save up money by suspending purchases during such a period (a very, very good tendency really) seem to be taking their toll but all of the problems cannot be only from that one source. Obviously there are others that vary from company to company. Let us see the future. Hope things will improve.

[RSR]

Thank you for posting the most eagerly awaited thread of each month, parrys!

The overall market may be down, but it's good to see certain individual models do well. It reflects the rapidly maturing nature of the Indian car market, plus the intelligence of the car buyer and the research done before he/she puts down his/her money on a new car.

Ordinary products (irrespective of the badge they carry) are having a real tough time out there, as they should! As are companies whose products fall short in terms of long-term reliability and ownership experience. Geriatric products from any manufacturer, even if they have received a plastic surgery, are also deservedly facing the heat.

All these are very good trends, and it bodes well for the Indian consumer. No longer can he/she be taken for granted by these automobile companies, including the global biggies. If they cannot sell their latest and best products here at reasonable prices, plus back them up with long term reliability and a decent ownership experience that does not drain the wallet, they deserve to be ignored and snubbed. There is no place for third rate products, laggards and sloths in a free market, or even a semi-free market as in the case of the Indian car scene.

Originally Posted by sadsack

It is now too late to change the positioning of the Nano and making it more expensive will mean that even the 500-1000 people who buy the car now will stop doing so. Tata should stop its knee jerk reactions, think carefully and then pull up a marketing strategy for not just the Nano but also the other cars.

The entry level car market is really huge. If a manufacturer can tap into it successfully, the rewards in terms of volumes are very big.

The Nano needs more variants. They can continue to have the lower variants on sale, but they need to bring in more new variants to appeal to a greater audience. The Nano Twist is a step in the right direction. The three-cylindered petrol Nano and Nano AMT are further steps forward. The Nano diesel seems to be put on hold for now, but a Nano EV would make great sense. They also need to introduce more safety features on the Nano, such as front disc brakes, rear 3-point ELR seat-belts and an airbag or two.

Originally Posted by sadsack

The Datsun story is interesting. It has been launched as a large inexpensive car. So except in the top end model there are no goodies of any kind in the lower trims. No AC, no ORVM on the left side, no sound deadening, nothing. Beginners luck seems to be selling the car.

It's the same story with the Datsun Go. Nissan have followed the strategy of the original Indica (i.e. more car per car) to crack the entry level segment. The Go seems to be picking up slowly. More variants would do it a world of good. A variant with airbags, ABS and rear ELR seat-belts (plus a glovebox lid & better insulation) is sorely missed in the Go line up.

[KSH7777]

Originally Posted by sajusherief

Surprised by the low sales volume after so much of tax reduction and discounts, i was really hoping to a better maket.
Honda needs to really think about refreshing their interiors to get back the market share snatched by Xcent and i10 Grand. With that and addition of Mobilio can be a real headache to tata.

I don't really understand what is wrong with the Honda design team, when they can design such good interiors for city/civic/accord. Why such ugly interiors for brio/amaze and upcoming Mobilio as well. The only place where Hyundai has an upper hand over the Honda products is their fascinating interiors.

Honda has done a good job with the exteriors of these products then why can't their design team put at least a decent interior. At least they could have added climate control and a better OEM in the top variants of these products IMO.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sadsack

So I say yet again that advertising does not sell. It only supports good marketing which can sell....

....General Motors confounds me just as much as Tata does.

So true. I recently interacted with a senior manager who is considered as a 'Guru' of automotive marketing and has enjoyed many, many successes.

I asked him why Chevrolet - with its decent product range, pricing & diesels - isn't able to sell cars? The Beat is a decent hatchback, as is the Spark, and the Cruze is still competent (though far from segment best).

His answer: Failure of their marketing & sales division. He especially stressed on failure on the 'sales' part. There's absolutely no initiative, aggression or motivation amongst GM's sales rank (according to him).