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-   -   Why is Honda Brio not selling in big numbers? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/151333-why-honda-brio-not-selling-big-numbers-4.html)

I would anyday prefer a Swift or an i20 or a Grand i10 over Brio because of following reasons:

- Better interiors that give the plush feel
- Bigger boots
- Better looks, new age design.
- More features I guess.

Brio wins in the engine department but looses in everything else.
The 1.2 k series and 1.2 kappa2 are not bad either and are equally rev happy and performance hungry engines.

There are a few problems with the Brio that don't matter to me so much but can be a problem for the first time small car buyer. For most folks, its just one car in the garage and the Brio may not work as a primary car.

1. The boot is small.
2. The dashboard layout is a little odd ball and nothing really feels up market or modern on the inside. It is well put together but that is not enough.
3. Its not a great looking car.

The car has a lot going for it though. Sweet engine, Good economy, super easy to drive and very good accommodation for four. Possibly the best enthusiast hatchback. The superb engine combined with the short shift gearbox, light clutch, small dimensions make it a real go kart.

Now if you look at the competition, you do get some more for your money. Hyundai's sure don't list anywhere as good drivers cars but who cares. Step in to one and you are sold on the top notch interiors and an endless list of equipment. This is what most folks are looking for. Off late, the Korean has been getting a lot of things right too.

There is possibly one more different angle to the reasons why Brio does not sell in Large numbers.

People have been talking about the lack of Dealership networks in Semi-Urban or Rural areas where Maruti / Hyundai scores. If you look at the overall Sales figures of the A + B segments and compare it with C Segment Sales figures, the average ratio of A+B (A, B1 & B2) segment to that of C (C1 & C2) Segment Sales for October 2013 through April 2014 is 1.85.

What this says is that almost every 2 A and/or B segment cars sold throughout the country, 1 C Segment car is sold. Now its safe to assume that the C segment cars majorly sell in the Tier 1 & Tier 2 Cities. I do not have the Ratio of the above mentioned segments for only Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities, but I am sure that the ratio would be less than 1 wherein the C Segment Cars outsell the A & B segment cars combined together in Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities.

In short, the places where Honda majorly has there dealership networks (Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities) people are more inclined to buy a C Segment car than an A or B segment car. Hence, Brio loses out to the likes of Amaze.

I know the Amaze is no selling in high numbers either but thinking as a regular Indian who would not really be looking at the FTD factors or other such factors, would stretch his / her budget and opt for Amaze over Brio if he wishes to choose a Honda after all.

Thats my 2 Cents on the subject.

I own a Brio too and somehow I can relate to why people don't consider the Brio the best buy in the segment.
Like it has been already mentioned the boot space is a serious constraint. The market sector in which the Brio operates has people looking for a Jack-of-all-trades car.
The interiors are not the best when it comes to design. For the same amount of money you can get yourself a feature laden Grand i10, Swift and some extra money can get you a Dzire. And this where the Amaze comes in. Cannibalisation if there ever was any.

Having said all that I still love the Brio. The engine is so fun to drive! The handling is great and the build quality is superior to most other manufacturers. For me the car is a great looker as well. But looks are subjective. On the topic of looks I feel that the perception of this car in the market is that it is meant for girls; that it is a chick car. Maybe that's hurting sales as well?
I always recommend the Brio to anyone who listens to me though!

In my neighbourhood itself we have 7 Brios so I guess people are still buying it but its just that the full potential hasn't been realised.

Honda quite honestly doesn't need to push it. The dealers are quite happy selling the more profitable Amaze and City.

I suppose that in the end It all boils down to the buyer wanting a fun to drive car or a feature packed car that has been tamed for city driving.
Indian masses will go for the car they see is selling.moreover Suzuki and Hyundai have created a brand image as a company making peoples carriers, unlike Honda who are still perceived as premium buyers brand.
Honda did a lot of cost cutting inorder to get the pricing below 7L.seems like that cost cutting turned back on them.a 200 rs parcel tray ruining the image of the car is what they might not have anticipated.
As I user I can point out a few more costcutting measures they took.
1)no lighting in they engine bay or boot.
2)power window and steering buttons not back lit.

I think that Honda has a larger profit margin for the amaze and that the amaze has a diesel option too makes the proposition better. It makes sense then why dealers refuse to offer a discount for brio but will sweeten the deal for amaze.
I guess brio will join the likes of A star,Ritz and jazz soon.

@sandeepmohan is spot on in his observation.

Brio is normally preferred by families with multiple cars and can't be a sole and primary car. This was a determining factor for my purchase decision too and it works brilliantly that way.

Its sufficiently feature rich offering everything the competition does, give or take a few unimportant things. Dash layout is a bit odd but that makes it different.

Prime reason for lack of demand is myths such as unsafe due to glass back, expensive to maintain and lack of space. People fail to understand its a better engineered car overall than its competition.

Way back in 2012, when we were out hunting for our first car, Brio was one of the contenders. and below is what I observed ::

1. Brio has a minimal boot space, competition like Ritz and Swift (mid variants) offer better preposition. Hack even the tall boy Wagon R has more boot space.

2. Back seat is like sitting in a cockpit of a fighter jet. If you know what i mean ;)

3. The On road cost of a top end Brio was around 6.10 Lakhs in 2012, which really is not VFM for first time buyers when they are getting other options in a similar price range.

4. The back glass is still perceived as a major drawback, in Indian driving conditions, where nicks and cracks are daily affairs.

Regards
Dieseltuned

I got a decent deal on a second hand Brio because the owner was finding it difficult to sell the car in the market. To be precise, got a 5 month old SMT done only 6K for 3.9.

After driving for more than a week, I was thoroughly impressed with it's dynamics. So much so that I found it better to drive than the city, except for the noticeable difference in engine power and refinement. But the 50-60K premium a similar vintage Swift commands in the resale market, is definitely not worth it IMO.

As for the reason it doesn't sell, it's mostly to do with the looks it seems. Folks going for a car purchase at 5-6L price point are mostly a conservative lot, and the youngsters in the family are more than happy as long as swift is in the contention. The Brio simply doesn't come across as a complete package.

I am currently looking at a hatchback to replace my esteem within 5.5L OTR. When I compared the drives of Grand i10 and Brio, the latter wins hands down anyways. Coming from being used to driving an esteem none of the 1.2 L hatches appealed to me other than Brio. The SMT Exclusive with all black interiors is awesome and its 5.3L on road in Cal including EW and RSA. The Sportz Gi10 is 5.5L. Is it worth going for the Gi10 which will give me Start/Stop button, Electric Folding ORVMs and rear A/C vents (which I do not need) as extra. Where as I will get rear de-fogger and Steering mounted controls as extra in the Brio. Also use the saved 20k for alloys and wider tyres. While writing this, I do realize the Brio is a better package along with a better drive. lol:

Brio is one car which is heavily under rated in our market. I never considered it too, till I took a test drive of the car. Simply amazed with the driver's delight the car can offer!

Honda has not struck the right note of marketing with this product. It has ABS+Airbags+EBD and Honda's reliability to back it too. The a/c chills in Hyd summers within no time and car has a definite 'zip, zap, zoom' feel to it!

clap:clap:

I have a Brio in my family and boy, do we love it? Its the best NA engine available in the hatches in our market. Be it driving pleasure or efficiencyagree:

Reason for not selling much : Well, I would say its 50% to do with perception of our market and 50% with the car's shortcomings.

Perception :
I have been lately involved in atleast 3 car purchases(first time buyers) in a span of 6 months and first thing I notice is folks don't even consider BRIO as an option. If asked why, what they say is "yaar, dikhti hi kaha hai road pe?(buddy, do u see it on road?)" . That's how a first time car buyer gets started. Maruti/Hyundai comes naturally to them. Our market believes "what's good sells, what doesnt aint good enough", not everyone can be a fool to buy something bad. I myself was a victim to this thought process when I bought my first car an estilo, as it was for dad who just wanted a peace-of-mind car.

Shortcoming's of the car:
The boot space is criminally small. We can't fit an average sized suitcase in there let alone airport baggages. India is not a place where an average Joe can usually afford two cars for specific requirements(Point A to B commute & driving pleasure). So straightaway the BRIO goes out of the window for them.

The looks of the car is not upto everybody's taste. I was infact sold to the catchy rear glass but then its just me.

The dash-board though pretty informative, looks spartan.
Most of all, honda totally sidelined the Brio looking at the interest in iDtec engine. And it did pay them off. They are having a dream run with the City and Amaze. They want to utilize whatever production line they have for these two.

Total package is where they failed, I guess. They did cost cutting where it is visible. Like the seats and the dash board keeping it structurally strong (I hope this is the case ) unlike swift, desire which some people call a tin foil car .:uncontrol

You do, many don't. Let us know what you decide.

The tag line for the brio is 'it loves you back' :).

You summed it up pretty well.


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Last year I was looking for a small car for city driving as the old Indica was giving up after 10 years of service. And this time I was by no means interested in a similar size replacement so “small” and “safe” were the only key considerations and “budget” was not.
I was ready to spend around a million for a good safe small city car. So my pick was only top end fully loaded models.
My list included:
- Beat
- Brio
- i20
- Ritz / Swift

And the excluded ones were:
- Vista (Was not interested in repeating TATA)
- Liva (Made to cost)
- Vibe (No way – they have no idea how to make a hatch; they never claimed Vibe to be a hatch either!)
- Polo (My freind was facing troubles during warranty period, poor after sales, non-availability of parts - the fuel pump of the car failed and it was kept for repairs for about 10 days)

- Among the selected lot, the interiors of i20 and Swift were good; I could survive with Ritz but had to reject Brio. The dashboard planning of Brio is not good (atleast to my liking), the ICE was not in sync with the dash colour, seems an open market addition to the dash.

- Safety features, though Brio on paper looks good, I had serious doubts on the strength of body shell (I do not understand what safe cage design is – the SA had a complete story to tell around the state-of-art Honda shell design etc). I finally placed it below MSIL products as I could find even Ritz to be better in terms of shell strength; no doubt i20 was the best.
I was about to finalize i20 Asta (Diesel) – fuel was not the choice here, the performance of diesel was much better;

I could not like what Brio was offering
- Interiors (miserable)
- Body Shell (Poor)
- Boot storage (Is there any or am I missing something – I think even Beat scored better here)
- Drive (Good even better than i20 petrol, but i20 diesel is a different beast)
- Sales Experience (BAD – “Jai Jai Honda, Jai Jai Honda as if Honda is the only “knight in shining armour” for Indian automobile sector; the SA had the audacity to say that if I buy Brio, I will have to take insurance from them else they cannot assure good service etc) I decided there itself that I will buy anything but will not buy Honda.

Though, the story ended with Punto Emotion (Diesel), I saw a FIAT Punto Test Drive car parked in our neighbourhood on the same weekend, and could locate the FIAT guy, he was happy to let me have test drive and yes, I was sold in next 30 minutes. The family for whom he got the car for test drive were not home or something but he got business.
- The car drove well / extremely well behaved.
- Interiors were okay (i20 is much better, but I could safely give it no. 2 position)
- Body Shell / safety features (Airbags + ABS /EBD) – no one could beat it, its rock strong
- 15 inch alloys with thick rubber (I think Punto Emotion has the widest tyres)
- 5 years warranty, Hyundai was not keen on longer warranties leave aside others
- And the deal was finally sweetened through a 1 Lac discount and some free accessories

The long and the short of it is though Brio may be a competent car and carries a premium badge value (Honda), it still cannot be considered as “arrived” the way MSIL Swift is. MSIL has now started offering some real good interiors and technology to mass market and its large reach is unbeaten.

Honda will have to also sensitize its dealers and sales force on

- Design philosophy: Hatch back segment is full of choices with compelling technologies and brands – SA praising Honda and saying “Baki bakwass hai” will not hold, the SA clearly misses out that the perspective buyer might not have drove to the showroom in a Honda and could be comfortable with the present car (his previous purchase) and its performance and therefore unnecessary praising of brand Honda may offend

- Customer preferences, not to force things on customers as if they are doing a favour by letting them buy a Honda Car

Cheers !

Came across the official review of Grand i10 here on team bhp, in the comparison chart for vehicle specifics the brio wasn't even considered!
here is the link to the post.
I guess not having a diesel engine was the reason since all other cars there have a diesel option.

@i74js : bad sales staff can be a real bugger. Hope the fita ass is treating you well.

Brio is either a hit or a miss. I like Brio for:

1.The sheer refinement, efficiency and fun to drive nature of the engine.
2.Butter smooth power steering which weighs up nicely at high speeds.
3.Design which stands out from the crowd. I actually like the funky rear design which is very unique.
4.Functional dashboard which compliments 'Man Maximum, Machine Minimum' design theme.
5.Overall quality especially of rubber components like door beading which is miles ahead of the competitors.

There are few perceptions about this car and here's what I think about them:

1. The all glass hatch door is unsafe: Needless to say that the glass is toughened and even if it breaks, it will break into ultra small pieces without sharp edges. Honda, since they are using a glass hatch, has used high strength steel at strategic places which disperses the energy or the force to protect the occupants. And frankly, I have seen many cars with dented hatches but not heard or seen Brio with cracked/broken rear glass.
2.Its cute and feminine: Although I have seen this car driven more by the fairer sex(probably because of compact dimensions and effortless maneuvering), there is nothing feminine about the car. Micra? probably yes! but not Brio.
3.Higher Maintenance cost : Maintenance cost is at par with competition and so are spare parts cost.
4.Customer Service is below par : I am satisfied with the Customer service. The SA's are not exceptionally good but not bad either.

Swift, no offence to owners, is too common on Indian roads, is cramped in rear and overall the design it not to my taste. Grand i10 has classy interiors and the best feature list but for me the inefficient 1.2 ltr kappa engine and higher maintenance cost are a deal breaker.

So overall, Brio makes more sense to my heart and mind so naturally that's my choice. Not many people in India deviate from popular choices and Honda not aggressively promoting the car is probably the reason why Brio is not doing well.