[abhjain]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Skoda, Fiat, GM is not worth a mention in the March sales figures.

Sweet Lord, with the new management in place hope Skoda will be able to turn things around in coming months. 700 odd vehicles is really poor show for any manufacturer!

[vikrantpatnaik]

Safari + Storme with 426, dismal figures against that of Scorpio with 5250 - its direct competition.
Would love to see this product climb charts, hopefully the new Storme changes the current scenerio.

One more gem of a product, Fiat Linea not touching numbers that it deserves.

Maruti, proves it yet again, brand matters.

[arun_josie]

The number that caught my eyes is Tata Bolt @ 1118. Even Indica/Vista @ 3746 is selling 3 times more than Bolt. And Zest struggling at 2653, again Indigo/Manza are selling more @ 3188. Good upgraded products, but not able to sell more than their older models. Sad!

Seeing Maruti probably for the first time below 45% market share. Its, may be due to the Hyundai, Honda effect.

City @9777, introduction of Ciaz and Verna facelift has only increased the sales of City just like what Dzire was doing when other Sub 4 models were getting launched.

[sonics]

Tatas are losing the ground in passenger vehicles from past couple of years. I just opened previous year's report (http://www.tatamotors.com/investors/...s-report2.html ) where they admitted this decline and remedy steps to come back stronger. This included Zest and Bolt launch. But as the figures here show, the Indian consumers are smarter now and amidst all negative perception of Tata brand in private vehicles category it is going to be an uphill task for Tata to buy back their confidence.
Looks to me only yellow plate vehicles - Sumo, Indica & Ace would be sustaining. On private category of vehicles, the decline would continue further looking at heated up competition down the road.

[sumzup]

Originally Posted by CarNerd

Most Indians are clearly mad about Maruti. May be some don't even know that other brands exist! Maruti is like what Hero-Honda used to be a few years back. It will take a long time for others to convince the majority about having better cars. Till then, Maruti will profit from hypnotized Indians.

I completely agree with you. I have been with Maruthi since 1986-87 and feel that they have not kept pace with their growth in terms on trim quality. In fact, over the years that I have driven my own Maruthis' (three of them and own still one) and my friends' is they lack finesse. The best of them was the zen which was then exported and that made all the difference.

[Aficionados]

Many blamed Tata for poor marketing when Storme flopped, and for poor pricing when Aria flopped. Sure, they heard it and corrected everything when they launched Zest. Pricing was spot on & so were specs , and the marketing was something that was never seen from Tata's for their earlier products.
I'm perplexed to see the downfall of Zest numbers month by month. If I put myself in Tata's shoes for the moment, I would have no clue what needs to be done to sell the cars?

MSIL already has 43% market share, I wonder how much it would be with a diesel Celerio, Ertiga Facelift, New Vitara, SX4 Cross & sub 4 small SUV (Alpha?) which are speculated to be launched in 2015. Kudos to their capability to launch products at will, whereas companies like VM, Skoda & GM fails to launch single new product in years.

BTW, looking at swift sibling numbers in 2015, looks like the global NCAP results & the negative publicity it gained in media did not affect its sales

[Crazy_cars_guy]

If Fiat wants to sell cars in India, they really need do better marketing of their products. Most importantly, target to improve their brand value.

Fiat cars are brilliant to drive. The difference between Fiat and other competitors is not inferior products, but inferior perception of common man.

Ask a non-enthusiast, common man Indian, about which car does he think is good. In all probability, he will state Maruti, Hyundai and Mahindra. Pester more, and he will come back with Toyota, Honda and maybe even VW. Will he say Fiat? No.
This is what Fiat needs to target for change. It is a gradual process. And the beginning of this process starts with visibility.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by Aficionados

I'm perplexed to see the downfall of Zest numbers month by month. If I put myself in Tata's shoes for the moment, I would have no clue what needs to be done to sell the cars?

2 simple tests:
[A] Would Maruti Zest have been a hit?
True: Problem with Tata
False: Problem with Zest

[b] Would Tata Dzire have been a hit?
True: Problem with Zest
False: Problem with Tata

[bhaskaracs]

Compare and contrast this with the 'quality' and volume of car sales in the US market in March 2015. From the list you can locate in the source below, barring Hyundai, Honda and Toyota (to some extent) none of the players enjoy even 2% market share in the Indian market. No wonder, we continue to remain last recipients of any benefits from innovation in the auto industry. Their equipment is fully depreciated by then.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...cars/25281141/

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by Aficionados

Many blamed Tata for poor marketing when Storme flopped, and for poor pricing when Aria flopped. Sure, they heard it and corrected everything when they launched Zest. Pricing was spot on & so were specs , and the marketing was something that was never seen from Tata's for their earlier products.
I'm perplexed to see the downfall of Zest numbers month by month. If I put myself in Tata's shoes for the moment, I would have no clue what needs to be done to sell the cars?

Tata group has deep pockets and should be able to sell products at a loss for a few years in the interest of longer term strategy. The Zest was priced well but a few months after the launch the prices were raised, the free assurance deal was withdrawn and alloy wheels removed. If I were in Tata's shoes, I would flood the market with Zest so that people started seeing them everywhere and slowly started admiring them and accepting them. That needed the price to be cheaper than the competitor offerings by at least 1 lakh along with a free 5 year warranty to get customer trust. Similarly the Bolt needed to be at least 1 lakh cheaper than the Zest. Failing this both models will slowly but surely get old before they even have a chance to catch the public imagination. Another things needed is to get away from the Vista platform rather than launching slightly modified products. Leasing is another option: a Zest for Rs 5-8K per month for 3 year lease with 50K downpayment might do well.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

The number that caught my eyes is Tata Bolt @ 1118. Even Indica/Vista @ 3746 is selling 3 times more than Bolt. And Zest struggling at 2653, again Indigo/Manza are selling more @ 3188. Good upgraded products, but not able to sell more than their older models. Sad!

That shows where the primary clientele for Tata comes from. With Zest and Bolt, they've discouraged cab and fleet operators who are still buying the older models. The sustained numbers there indicates that they were getting practically no sales from private buyers in the past.

Even if it is small, almost the entire numbers for Bolt and Zest came from private buyers and hence Tata is slowly climbing the uphill path. It remains to be seen if they stall midway and start rolling back downhill once the current momentum is gone. They have no clue how to sustain the interest in their car models over an extended period. Their marketing department should be cleaned up overnight!

[rsidd]

Originally Posted by Crazy_cars_guy

Fiat cars are brilliant to drive

You and I think so, but look at the number of posts here regularly complaining about the clutch travel, gearshift, seat ergonomics, power, yadda yadda. Which may even be true, especially if you're test-driving it after being used to your previous car.

[apachelongbow]

Tata IMO is on the right track. They have fired their idiotic vendors, restricted parts to ones with good quality, improved the fit and finish, handling of their cars, and improved the price versus quality ratio. What they need to complete this exercise, is to fire their existing dealers and ensure they get motivated dealers who are interested in selling cars, who are hungry to compete. Also Tata should keep improving their after sales and service experience and in a couple of years they can be the healthy number 2 or 3 they keep targeting.

[Autolock123]

I agree with apachelongbow.
As rightly mentioned by zenren in above post about the fleet owners being primary customers for TATA vehicles, slowly we are seeing it changing and Zest and bolt numbers are testimony to that. Private buyer is considering Zest & bolt while making a purchase decision.

After looking at Spy shots and render of kite, i think , sales picture is gonna change for TATA and it is on a way to make comeback.

[jessie007]

Originally Posted by rsidd

You and I think so, but look at the number of posts here regularly complaining about the clutch travel, gearshift, seat ergonomics, power, yadda yadda. Which may even be true, especially if you're test-driving it after being used to your previous car.

I agree. On a holiday, I drove an Indigo for about 2 days, almost four years after selling mine and felt right at home (even though it also doesn't have the best driver's dynamics - steering position, clutch pedal location, etc). I had driven the Indigo for five years before that. When I returned home and sat in my Punto after 10 days, I felt a bit awkward and it took a day to adjust. I though my dad had adjusted the seat / steering position, but he said that he hadn't driven it at all.

So the Punto doesn't allow a driver to get adjusted instantly and then during the test drive they have to deal with its long clutch travel, well-weighted hydraulic steering (which seems heavy in the age of electric power steering systems) - so it gets rejected in the test drive itself.