[jpcoolguy]

I was checking on how the 2014 new launches have performed in their 2nd year - 2015. Except Elite i20, Ciaz and to some extent Xcent, none of the other cars are able to maintain their sales in their second year of launch.

In fact, Mobilio has fallen from average sales number of 3K+ to just 192 in Dec 2015, while GO is selling less than 500 on an average.

On the other hand, Elite i20 and Ciaz have improved upon their numbers in 2015 compared to 2014 - i20 has improved from 9K+ levels to 11K+ levels and Ciaz has maintained its 4-5K levels.

Xcent has sold almost same number of units as 2014, but in the previous year it achieved the same in 10 months - but it is able to steadily post 4K+ sales, while its competitor Zest has lost the initial momentum and settled around 2K mark. It has even lost its 4th spot in the segment to the newly launched Aspire.

Compared to 2014, the new launches in 2015 has the potential to perform better in their 2nd year and further - fingers crossed.

[shobhitk]

Originally Posted by Teesh@BHP

Its sad to see the Ritz name slowly tarnishing away from the minds of Indian buyers! It was a proper VFM and a practical hatchback (Having owned one in our family for 3 years and using it with nothing but a smile).

If only Maruti chooses to upgrade the car with better quality interiors and a better looking rear end. With this, may be Ritz has a chance of making a comeback?

PS: An upgrade to the rear like the actual concept car would look dope on Ritz, loved it personally!

Attachment 1464030

[FONT=&quot]It is really unfortunate that Maruti has put the amazing Ritz on back burner. Maruti took years to realize that ZDI model of Ritz was missing from its [/FONT]armory. Maruti was slow to recognize the potential of VFM cars. Had the Ritz been properly updated (climate control, indicators on ORVMs etc.) Maruti would have been able to attract the buyers who migrated to similar cars like Polo, Etios Liva, Micra, Punto, and Brio etc.). I mean no offense to other cars but despite zero publicity of Ritz, this car has been selling only on its reputation as a dependable and comfortable car. Even when I went to buy my Ritz ZDI from the oldest Maruti dealer of U.P., they discouraged and suggested that I should prefer Swift as Ritz is not a very popular car. Maruti appears to be afraid that any upward movement for Ritz may dislocate sales of Swift, but they should realise that due to lack of proper support to Ritz, people tend to move to other cars. Maruti has given about 4 updates to WagonR, it’s time for Maruti to give a second look to this beautiful sporty car.

[Chetan_Rao]

I'm one of the few rare specimens who preferred the Ritz to its celebrated sibling (the horror!).

Given Maruti never seemed to care for cannibalization as long as the customer stayed within the brand, I wonder why they were so scared of the practical Ritz eating into the poser Swift's marketshare.

[libranof1987]

ToI seems to have published this report after having a peek at this thread!

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/b...w/50749746.cms

[jpcoolguy]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

Given Maruti never seemed to care for cannibalization as long as the customer stayed within the brand, I wonder why they were so scared of the practical Ritz eating into the poser Swift's marketshare.

This may be due to the fact that margins are higher in selling a Swift than a Ritz - I guess variant to variant Swift is costlier by approx. 50K when compared to Ritz.

There could be other reasons as well, but I think the above might also play a part in this.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

I'm one of the few rare specimens who preferred the Ritz to its celebrated sibling (the horror!).

The Ritz is basically a more practical version of the Swift. However, the latter's success just goes to show the importance of styling & image (Swift = great looker, Ritz = ugly rear).

Originally Posted by libranof1987

ToI seems to have published this report after having a peek at this thread!

I saw it too . Definitely a couple of things picked up from here.

[tejas08]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

I was checking on how the 2014 new launches have performed in their 2nd year - 2015. Except Elite i20, Ciaz and to some extent Xcent, none of the other cars are able to maintain their sales in their second year of launch.

You forgot to mention the Honda City. A C2 segment sedan bettering it's numbers in the second year is a pretty good achievement. Honda City was available for delivery right from January 2014.

Somehow I am surprised you mentioned the Ciaz and Xcent as performing better in their second year.

The second year for Ciaz actually started only from September / October 2015 as the Ciaz was launched sometime towards the end of third quarter / early 4th Quarter of 2014. So ideally Ciaz hasn't seen a full second year.

The sales of Xcent on the other hand are dropping courtesy their own Elite i20 and some other better options such as Figo Aspire. The numbers of 2014 were achieved in just over 9 months, whereas the same numbers were achieved in 2015 over the whole 12 months.

The numbers in 2014 of Elite i20 include some of the old gen i20 too. But then there is no doubt that Elite i20 has held its fort in the second year running. There is hardly any competition in that segment apart from the recently launched Baleno (Which we need to see how it performs in the long run)

[jpcoolguy]

Originally Posted by tejas08

You forgot to mention the Honda City. A C2 segment sedan bettering it's numbers in the second year is a pretty good achievement. Honda City was available for delivery right from January 2014.

You are right, I missed out on one of the most consistent performer in 2015 which sold more than 2014 - thanks for reminding .

The second year for Ciaz actually started only from September / October 2015 as the Ciaz was launched sometime towards the end of third quarter / early 4th Quarter of 2014. So ideally Ciaz hasn't seen a full second year.

Ciaz was launched in Sep '14 and had an monthly average sales of 4,171 units (for the last 4 months of '14) and for the full year of 2015, the monthly average sales has been increased to 4,486 (53,826 / 12). Hence, I mentioned that Ciaz has performed better in its second year which meant the full year of 2015 based on the monthly average sales, not based on the cumulative sales.

The sales of Xcent on the other hand are dropping courtesy their own Elite i20 and some other better options such as Figo Aspire. The numbers of 2014 were achieved in just over 9 months, whereas the same numbers were achieved in 2015 over the whole 12 months.

Xcent was launched in Mar '14 and had an monthly average sales of 5,161 units (for 10 months in '14) as opposed to the monthly average sales of 4,257 for the full year of 2015. Hence, I mentioned that Xcent has maintained its sales to some extent when compared to its competition Zest which has dropped sales number more than expected.

The numbers in 2014 of Elite i20 include some of the old gen i20 too. But then there is no doubt that Elite i20 has held its fort in the second year running.

Likewise, Elite i20 had an monthly average sales of 8,865 for the last 5 months of 2014 and it has increased to 10,840 for the full year of 2015. However, the old i20 had a underwhelming run in 2014 with a monthly average sales of 3,542 - that's an increase of whopping >5000 units in 2014, which says how much the Elite i20 has owned the segment.

There is hardly any competition in that segment apart from the recently launched Baleno (Which we need to see how it performs in the long run)

Now this is where things get interesting, with Baleno already overtaking Elite i20 in the month of Dec '15 and it may continue to outsell Elite i20 based on its long waiting period. However, Hyundai have also upped the ante by adding more features to the Elite i20 like Projector Headlamps, DRLs, Dual Airbags and ABS standard across variants in 2016. The battle should be interesting and let's see who is going to remain on top of the segment.

[sudheeshnairs]

Agree to the point that Ford needs to do something about their sales/marketing department.

I had requested for a test drive of Ford Ecosport Petrol AT a month back in their website. A few days later somebody called from the dealer and told that he would get back when the test drive vehicle is ready. I got another call some days later and was promised a test drive on specific date by bringing the vehicle to my residence. The same day I was promised VW Polo GT TSI also and the VW personnel came and I was satisfied with the test drive. But the Ford guys despite the promise didn't turn up or not even bothered to call again.

Originally Posted by RaghuVis

.

6) Not fair to say that ford is not serious about India. The all new Figo is a very good product and VFM vehicle. They need to do some major shack up in marketing division and have someone with a proper vision there. When I went for a TD for my friend, there was no one to explain anything to us. They did not have anyone call us back for further talks. How can one expect numbers in this scenario.

[deetjohn]

Was doing some research to understand the current utilization of the manufacturers and stumbled upon this pic from LiveMint.

Apart from Maruti, Hyundai and Honda everyone else is sitting with a lot of excess capacity. Ford looks better than I thought helped by exports obviously.



Excess capacity starts to worry Indian car makers

[amtak]

I think I'll be sad, but Fiat should definitely shut the plant if they are not bringing in newer models. And they should target First time buyers and not premium ones.

[blackasta]

Awesome analysis GTO !
One thing that I just cannot get is the dismal sales performance of the Figo twins - they are great lookers, have the necessary bells and whistles, and are priced competitively. What's the magic masala that's missing?

[good.car-ma]

Why are Renault and Nissan not covered in this article? Massive plant in Chennai

[sajands]

Originally Posted by amtak

I think I'll be sad, but Fiat should definitely shut the plant if they are not bringing in newer models. And they should target First time buyers and not premium ones.

I am not sure even if Fiat India have a plan in mind, as for now they are happy as an engine supplier bit for how long? only time can tell. Without any sales or service network and no new models in sight god help Jeep brand.

I am not sure how Fiat plans to sell the Jeep brand or will this also suffer the same way as its Fiat cousins in India

[nkghai]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Was doing some research to understand the current utilization of the manufacturers and stumbled upon this pic from LiveMint.

This is very interesting and thanks for sharing.
Now as usual the excel sheet is an awesome tool and with your data and that provided by GTO on yearly sales number, went about studying export vs local produce by manufacturers. Took four prominent exporters to analyse their pattern. The sheet below throws some interesting data.

Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai India export 8.63% and 28.66% of the cars produced by them respectively.

Ford India and Volkswagen India export more number of cars than their sale in Indian car market. Ford exports 51% of their produced goods whereas Volkswagen share of export goes upto almost 60%. So for every 10 cars produced by Volkswagen India, 6 are exported. This has been stated in some forum earlier too, but now confirmed with available figures.

By adding the numbers from the two reports, while the capacity utilization of Ford and Volswagen is same as in the Livemint report, it is higher for Maruti and Hyundai as per my calculation.