Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   The Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/)

-   -   April 2015 : Indian Car Sales Figures & Analysis (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/163623-april-2015-indian-car-sales-figures-analysis-3.html)

Mods please merge my earlier post and this one, I forgot to mention a few points which came to my mind later.

Observe the top losers category, the numbers have fallen like a STONE.

Mobilio is at 689 in April 2015 against 3049 in March 2015. WHAT IS GOING ON? Amaze too, March 2015 it sold 8126 vs 2862 in April.

Duster too, 1700 odd numbers in April 2015 vs 3800 in March 2015.

I agree April is a lackluster month for Auto's but it has selectively played out this time. I think people are finding it hard to digest the Price Vs What they are getting for the Mobilio and Amaze.

Duster too seems to be losing its charm without any updates in all these years. Yes the 4X4 came along, a little lighter clutch too, but it's time for an Automatic, its time for better interiors and its time for people to feel they are getting their worth for 15 lakhs.

Tata has to end this Indica-v1-like looking cars. Vista, Manza, Aria and now Zest and Bolt. None of these cars can be called as 'hit'. It is really beyond me as to why Tata would like to retain the Indica-like look, considering the Indicas weren't favorites in the non-taxi market. I really do not think Zest and Bolt were a step in the right direction.

Brand? I don't think so. Consider Renault's example. If they can sell the Duster after the Logan, then Tata is in a much better position to sell the Zest and Bolt.

First and foremost thing that Tata needs to do is to launch awesome looking desirable products, bearing no resemblance to Indica-v1. That has to be the start.

Honda is an ace marketeer but then Hyundai is no less. For me, difficult to imagine Honda gaining 2nd spot anytime soon. They are still to cement their third position which they off and on lose to Mahindra.

Honda has a monthly production capacity of 20k units. Even if they were to add 1 more shift, the capacity would increase to 30k units per month. No way they can beat Hyundai which on an average ships 35k units per month.

Honda can however easily consistently claim No 3 spot from Mahindra post launch of Jazz and their compact SUV.

While sale of Maruti and Hyundai is rock solid, it is heartening to see that other manufacturers like Renault and Volkswagen are finding their feet. I think Renault made a brilliant move by launching Lodgy and that should help them boost their sale while for Volkswagen it is DSG transmission which is doing the trick. Lot of positive reviews leading to positive word of mouth and hence consistent sales.

I think next 6 to 9 months will be exciting as we have a slew of car launches from Maruti, Honda, Ford, Hyundai and Tata. Premium hatch back from Honda and Maruti is keenly awaited it will be interesting to see whether it impacts sale of i20 and Polo.

This is easily the most eagerly awaited thread every month. It's great to have GTO's in-depth expert analysis back as well. Thank you for this 5* thread! :thumbs up

At ~ 2.14 lac units, the overall passenger vehicle market sees a big improvement over the same month last year (~ 1.8 lac units).

Are these green shoots indicative of an improvement in the overall economy? I guess it's too early to tell. Many carmakers are sensing that growth in sales of new cars is beginning to flatten at least in the large cities, and are increasingly looking at ways of reaching out to the smaller cities and rural markets. If economic uncertainty continues to affect rural areas, then growth prospects will continue to get hampered.

I'm surprised that Ford didn't begin dealer dispatches of the Figo Aspire last month itself. What are they waiting for? The sub-4m compact sedan segment has become highly competitive now, and the earlier they join the fray, the better it would be for them. I do think the new Figo twins will turn out to be successes for Ford, as long as they get the pricing correct.

I think the Jack in the Box is the understated Mahindra Thar. 1000+ figures for April 2015 without any marketing or sales push is a great achievement. Mahindra can do so much with the product :Frustrati Compact, Powerful engine, Classic looks and Rugged. Hope the Marketing team at Mahindra gets some thoughts behind this product.

What I am surprised is the low figures for the Zest and the Bolt. Both are very good products even if they are old. Tata sure has a long way to go. Maruti is still impressive. Month on month they seem to pile on more and more numbers! Superb show by Hyundai as well, somehow their cars seem to ooze vfm. Just a few days back, I was looking at a colleagues Grand i10, and I was very impressed with the interiors of the car. Nice!

Tata Motors needs to do something to get all the negative energy off the brand.

- I believe they should re-brand, including the logo. That should be the first step to get some positive energy coming in.
- Move away from Indica design platform and philosophy. Get something fresh.
- Restore customer confidence in the products' service infrastructure.

I think Tata Motors' management suffers from a negative bias as this time. They do not seem to believe in their own ability to turn around the brand. If they would, then they would have come out with a new design platform rather than bringing out out Bolt.

I believe that they can turn around with new thinking. Alas, they themselves do not want to think fresh and have faith in themselves. How else can you explain the profits being earned in China and a complete mess of operations in India? Clouded vision? Hazy approach? Mixed-up strategy?

I dont think the Zest resembles Vista/Indica. It actually is a very good looking car. The only resemblance it has with Vista is cabin space.

I can say from my experience that Zest is superior to Dzire and Xcent. It seems it suffers due to negative image of Tata. It may take time to re establish trust.

Great looking designs, robust mechanicals, competent after sales service are the need of the hour. I do believe the Zest is a step in that direction.

The Verna I feel should have done more numbers. Despite its age it imo looks more contemporary than the Ciaz or the City. Ciaz has the Maruti tag and City on its own is a powerful brand.
The Bolt and to a large extent the Zest are officially sales flops. I feel Tata should have looked to continue the launch offer on the Zest longer and the Bolt was over priced by around 50-75k no matter how much Tata fans will shout about it being totally "new" or carrying lot of features. Come on guys, after around 3 yrs of ownership a swift petrol commands better resale than a diesel Vista. So launching the Bolt XE at around the same price as a Swift lxi was a huge misadventure. While I personally would buy a Bolt over the Swift it hardly is desirable for the average car buyer. I strongly feel Tata should play the role of a price warrior to target regaining marketshare. Probably reach a stage of selling 25-30k units per month and then start thinking of premium pricing.

Fair comment. But i forgot to add that im looking at a used pajero sport because im looking at factoring in the depreciation .

Somehow feel that if i had to buy new, i should probably postpone my decision by a year and go for the all new fortuner

I believe you meant the Bolt than the Zest. Maybe the below picture and the write up can give a different perspective, but discussing it might be digressing off the main topic of the thread.


http://carnoise.blogspot.in/2014/12/...a-vista-3.html

Used pajero sport should be a rarity in the market and if you can end up with a good one it should be a good buy. As for the fortuner the new 4*4 AT variant adds a few things (navigation, all black interiors) which make it more desirable. I think it's a good buy. The new fortuner will indeed be a good buy but expect prices to rise quite a bit (maybe up to 5L) and we will be getting a similar powertrain. So if you want a car there is no point waiting as the wait may well be over an year and the 4*4 AT variant is new in the market.

I have always wondered why cant we add another column with the mid variant ex-showroom price (Delhi to standardize which is easily available & assuming the mid variant as volume driver - it would help average the low/Top variant sales) and depict the approximate revenue generated by each car & company each month. I certainly think the rankings would be reasonably different, at least below the 3 rank onward.

For example Toyota selling 1500 Fortuners & 5000+ Innova got to help it rank higher.

End of the day revenue generated (and of course profit margin) is the most important factor for each company success.