[Inquisitive]

May be very much OT here. But with all the discussion going on about Japanese car manufacturers in India, just searched the JAMA active matrix for their domestic performance in the passenger car segment.

New Registrations-Sales (Motor Vehicle)


1. As of January 2003, vehicle categories for New Registrations-Sales are number plate-based rather than chassis-based.

2. As of January 2004, Japanese-make motor vehicles produced overseas and imported into the domestic market are included in manufacturers' data, where applicable. "Other" refers to all non-Japanese-make motor vehicles (excluding motorcycles) sold in Japan.

Jan 2013-Aug 2014


1. Toyota- 2,110,626
2. Honda- 1,191,416
3. Nissan- 908,160
4. Suzuki- 886,069
5. Daihatsu- 822,812
6. Mazda- 309,544
7. Subaru- 242,406
8. Mitsubishi- 166,307
9. Lexus- 69,220
10. Others (non-Japanese)- 422,268


Isn't it funny how the table has reversed in India? I leave the judgement to individuals.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sajusherief

I'm bewildered to see the very low sales of xcent, amaze and zest compared to the high number of dzire - a clear indication of how choosy are people when it comes to brand! I always wonder how difficult the job of product planners are to decide on a product which sells (read 'which caters to the variety of preference').

Not just the brand, Sajusherief. It's Maruti's sales & marketing function. The network, efficiency & aggression of its sales channel is unbeatable.

Originally Posted by rajneeesh

The Ecosport is still under 5 K units per month. 15 months since the car was launched and Ford is yet to get its production constraints sorted out.

I believe the EcoSport (most variants) now has no waiting period at all. Whoever I've spoken to recently got their EcoSports delivered in 1 - 3 weeks (tops). What you're seeing is the actual demand of the vehicle.

IIRC, the only variants that have a waiting period are the petrol base & automatics. Supplies of the petrol base variant are deliberately restricted (lowest price), while the AT has a wait because of gearbox supplies.

[dinesha]

I am been deciding a petrol vehicle between Dzire VXI vs. Amaze S for my wife. The sales figure encourages me to go with Dzire.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by GTO

I believe the EcoSport (most variants) now has no waiting period at all. Whoever I've spoken to recently got their EcoSports delivered in 1 - 3 weeks (tops). What you're seeing is the actual demand of the vehicle.

Quite true. The waiting period is only for base petrol and diesel variants, ATs and for slow moving colours of specific variants. And hopefully by Deepavali, perhaps, we will see discounts too.

[Neel]

Any reason we cannot get updates for Mitsubishi (Pajero)?

[Ferruccio]

Originally Posted by humyum

To be a product planner, they have to think like a customer and should have been a customer at some point in their life of the segment they are aiming. Driving Mercs and SUV's and planning smaller and medium size cars won't really help.

ROFL. Most product planners I know use public transport or use the company bus. Those that can afford cars or are given one by their employers get to use the cheapest ones, most likely already pushed to the point of destruction by the testing guys or journos.

I know more than a few product planners who have given up the field in a huff because their peers in other fields drive / afford far better cars! There are few roles as thankless as being a product planner in India!

[Aditya]

Originally Posted by Neel

Any reason we cannot get updates for Mitsubishi (Pajero)?

Hindustan Motors (or Mitsubishi) seems to have stopped providing its sales figures to Management Punditz, who we source these figures from. Going by the past figures, I'd imagine them to be in the region of 100 units. Wonder if the company is actually interested in doing business at all. Very sad to see a company that has the capability of making fine products go down this way. Yes, I am a Mitsu owner.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by Ferruccio

ROFL. Most product planners I know use public transport or use the company bus. Those that can afford cars or are given one by their employers get to use the cheapest ones, most likely already pushed to the point of destruction by the testing guys or journos.

I know more than a few product planners who have given up the field in a huff because their peers in other fields drive / afford far better cars! There are few roles as thankless as being a product planner in India!

Its not these guys that take the shots baba, the heads over their heads, VP's etc give the go ahead. Look at Tata's product planning team, some 5 guys at the top of the bunch, take the shots.

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by humyum

Its not these guys that take the shots baba, the heads over their heads, VP's etc give the go ahead. Look at Tata's product planning team, some 5 guys at the top of the bunch, take the shots.

So that means the higher management has no confidence in the people they employ?

[drsingh]

Originally Posted by CoolCarNi

.According to an article in livemint.com published on 7/7/14, 92 out of 100 people will not have a TATA car as their new car!
So, if Zest is good it will take 3-4 months for the perception to change by way of word of mouth publicity and improved A$$ from TATA. Till then keeping fingers crossed!

This perception can change rapidly on the strength of a new product and relevant marketing. Hero has done well after splitting up from Honda with their excellent marketing campaign. And mahindra with their 'mahindra rise' campaign. And now successfully getting into two wheelers with efficient use of capital.

I believe in the third time lucky theory in product development. It takes three generations of products for a company to get its act together. Next gen hatch/sedan platform, next gen SUV, MUV, from Tata's will be on par with the competition and reflect synergies with JLR.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by drsingh

So that means the higher management has no confidence in the people they employ?

Would you launch an Aria at all ever after such debacles over the year ? Would you have conceived something like a Quanto and expected it to sell if you were Mahindra ? Would you have thought of Nissan and Renault having exactly the same products in the lineup and the one's not having the first movers advantage to ever gain ground unless something drastic is done about them? Would u imagine a company having any sense at all of the Indian market to sell products (Skoda) which don't last in India and still expect to survive?

There is a disconnect between what the ground realities are, there has to be a reason for the same. I can go on and on but we'll be going off topic

[puchoo]

Thank you Aditya for yet again a wonderfully engaging and comprehensive audit!!

I would not read too much into the Hatchback figures at 49% - if one looks at the trend over 2014 then we see that there is enough fluctuation which takes place in terms of % share within the segment , enough up and down movement -and i will go out on a limb here and project that the next month analysis will see a rise in this owing to the increased sales in the festive period which we are now going through

If i map out all the numbers since Feb 2014 (for some reason i could not locate the Jan 2014 thread) , it becomes clear in terms of what i am referring to.



The average for 2014 for hatchbacks (minus Jan) works out to 49.5% so operating nevertheless at 50% share .

The Zest might not have broken into the top 20 yet but i think it is still early days for it and we should wait and see what happens in the coming months - but what is not to be ignored is that it has gone from 2700 to 3300 in 2 months - this is an increase of 22% month on month which is a very good path to be on.

The Skoda Yeti goes upto 27 from literally 0 in the previous months , but what % of this is shipment to dealers vs sales to end consumers is the question , i would be very happy if it is all sales but i doubt that.

Ciaz at 1300 - i expect double the number if not more next month , news and Maruti themselves indicate 10,000 bookings for the car prior to it being launched - even if 50% of those get converted to sales we are looking at 5000 as a number which will get reflected next month. Will be keenly looking forward to the next number as this is a segment entry win or fail for Maruti.

Marginal increases in the twin Sails from GM - again what % of this is new facelift shipments to dealerships? Even if all of them are sales it is not a major improvement and unfortunately for GM - and i use the word unfortunately for GM each time this report comes out - we are looking at Twin Dud's - but the new face-lift did only come out in the last 10 days of the month so the full effect of the (weak) upgrades will probably be felt in October itself , add to it the Diwali season and October might turn out to be a decent month for GM - my bigger question is how many units of the old cars do they have lying around , heard from someone that they had close to 2000 units - do we expect to see a massive discount from dealerships to clear inventory?

[simplyself]

Less than expected sales of Zest may be attributed to the perception about the brand Tata.

Most people do not even think about it while planning to buy a sub-4 m sedan.

The scenario is changing slowly. Foot falls are increasing at Tata dealerships. Once inside and with a feel of it, most people are impressed. But even that may not be enough for many of the impressed prospective customers who may have bad experiences with Tata or with a preconceived notion about Tata's reliability.

While Tata has done good job in building Zest, its marketing is not still upto the mark in showrooms. Sales people are not as knowledgeable as one would like them to be. While it is true about sales people of other brands too, the Tata people should have been better than the rest what with the earlier failures of this kind.

Tata is offering 3 years / 45 K km AMC along with standard three year warranty along with an option for extended 4 th year warranty. These aspects needed to be shouted from roof tops ( figuratively, ofcourse) but emphasis in showrooms is, more often than not, on its music system.

The car looks good and the interiors and space impress many, features at that price point sets many thinking into buying the car. But many prospective customers lack confidence in Tata reliability and service. So why not highlight the warranty and service aspects for a very good product like Zest?

[balajisv]

Am in market for my Swift VDi (2008) upgrade. Am considering a compact sedan and hence had a look at Amaze, Xcent and Zest.
When I visited Hyundai showroom and mentioned about Zest being one of my options, he spoke so low about Tata cars (in general).
I guess, this kind of drubbing by competition also has major negative impact on Zest sales.
And lastly, when I handed over my business card with the Tata logo to the SE, he said "Sir, Zest I heard is a good improvement but, bla bla bla"

[avdhesh15]

Assuming that September was a normal month for Honda City production, the number is now 4500 which is down from the 7000+ levels. I wonder if it is settling down at these levels or does Honda still have some production constraints?

Also, Ciaz will be a good one to track. I am assuming this would be Maruti's make or break for getting into the premium segments and hence am sure there will be no stone left unturned to try and make this succeed.

Have nothing to say on the Swift / Dzire... the 30k+ figures just leave me speechless every month!