[AB@TVMBHP]

My observations.
* Kwid has become a super hero for renault. 10k mark is not far away. Really awesome product by renault comparing the competition.
* 35 plus LC? Toyota really have to show justification to indian market. Localised production of the entire range is needed. Even mercedes is locally assembling the maybach here.
*Fortuner feeling the heat of the awesome Endy.
* Tata in 6th spot is shocking. Really looking forward for their come back with the tiago and nexon. I expect the nexon to bring a good reputation to the brand. I do really hope the after sales service is taken care of.
* Really weird seeing the aspire and figo in this manner. Quite a good product and is also well priced.
* Fiat!! The exit door is near by.
*Chevy- must really stop selling the outdated products and bring proper american products. Even the trailblazer was brought too late at a really high price tag. Would love to see the tahoes and suburbans in a chevy showroom here if they do come with a diesel rather than the guzzling big block v8's.

Originally Posted by Rover2000

Great compilation! Was waiting to see the March numbers.

Wonder what is going on with the NEW Ford Endeavour, still struggling at less than 400 units. Fortuner who's numbers have dropped drastically, still outsell the Endeavour.

The word struggling used for endevour sales is quite a joke and inappropriate . Its priced at 37 lakhs OTR Trivandrum , as i've checked it just a week back. And such an expensive product selling at 385 odd units is commendable.

[sourabhzen]

• Eon seems to be loser in battle between Alto and Kwid.
• Once selling at 10k units, Bolero has gone down considerably. Who is pushing it down?
• Swift is sharing it's pie with Baleno. I20 is unfazed.
• Will Wagon R ever show it's age?
• Figo and Punto make me sad. Such good cars but can't find buyers.
• I, personally, don't want to se so many KUVs on road.

[needforspeed88]

I have said it all along with improving road infrastructure in semi urban and rural India manufacturers simply cannot ignore comfort/quality/finesse/fuel-efficiency in the name of ''tough'' product.

The compact SUV segment is such a sought after area right now. This is simply because the new breed of monocoque compact SUV offer car like comforts and ease of driving on one side and SUV like high seating position, commanding view and ground clearance on the other side in a smaller footprint of under 4m.

Despite having so much time to prepare and already having a monocoque XUV why did Mahindra not go for a ground up moncoque compact SUV? Fuel economy and handling traits of the vehicle are so intricately connected to the kerb weight and this is one are where Mahindra seem to have got their strategy wrong. KUV100 is a decent effort in a monocoque construction from Mahindra but despite what they say this is more of a hatchback than a compact SUV.

Yes the ladder on frame construction still has it's place in full blown SUV's but in compact sub 4m segment the added weight, average handling and sub par fuel economy make the ladder on frame construction pretty much redundant.

The TUV300 has seen a consistent slide since it's launch and the likes of Brezza and Ecosport will make it's life even harder. The Nuvosport has been already priced out of contention by Mahindra. Upcoming Tata Nexon is a much awaited compact SUV and there is talk of other manufacturers jumping in to the fray as well.

The monocoque compact SUV is the hot bed of activity right now. With rising living standards in semi urban and rural india just having a tough vehicle isn't enough. The vehicles cannot be just utilitarian. Mahindra need to wake up quickly and see where the market is going. They are risking loosing out on a major chunk of the market in the name of sticking to their roots.

[AYP]

• Kudos to Renault for launching a great package in the form of the Kwid. I hope that we see more such products from their side.

• Nice to see an increase in the sales of the Jetta. This is the first time in a long time that it has sold almost as much as the Octavia.

• Brio has gained quite a lot of sales in March. Discount effect I suppose.

• Sad to see the dismal sales of the Figo twins. As a Ford owner, it pinches even more.

• I wonder what's the reason behind the dismal sales of the Elantra. It is an excellent package and is priced significantly lower than the Germans and even the Corolla by almost a lakh rupees. Even the Cruze has sold in much higher numbers. Is the Hyundai badge that big a reason? Or am I missing something?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by AYP

• Brio has gained quite a lot of sales in March. Discount effect I suppose.

• I wonder what's the reason behind the dismal sales of the Elantra. It is an excellent package and is priced significantly lower than the Germans and even the Corolla by almost a lakh rupees. Even the Cruze has sold in much higher numbers. Is the Hyundai badge that big a reason? Or am I missing something?

One answer for both these questions IMO- Facelift.

The new generation Elantra and the Brio facelift are both just around the corner.

In case of Brio, I feel it's factory stock clearance dispatch to dealers to make way for the new version. While in the case of Elantra, the news is already out regarding the launch of the new generation, and all knowledgeable prospective customers would rather choose to wait for few more months.

[mukul32]

Wow! This is an interesting month to say the least, and it seems to give us an insight into what sales trends to expect in the near future.

A fact that I noticed in general is that we are now moving from a 'one car to rule every segment' trend (Alto, Swift, City, etc) to a sort of 'one type of car to rule every segment' trend. Say there is one car that absolutely owns its segment (eg.City). Another car copies the exact same formula (eg.Ciaz). Now instead of pulling each other down as we may come to expect, in fact both end up selling well. So we have the City and Ciaz in the midsize sedan segment, i20 and Baleno in the premium hatch segment, and Dzire and Amaze in the compact sedan segment making the others feel the heat. The EcoSport and Brezza seem to follow suit as well. The reason for such a trend is simple to predict: pricing strategies and waiting periods. Your favourite car feels too costly or has a crazy long waiting period? There's a similar one wearing a different badge waiting in a showroom right across the street. But consequently the competitors those who have a different type of product, end up in a deeper ditch than before.

Also, I think we should now make sales stats as templates with Maruti at the top by default. They are absolutely unshakeable. Their four top-sellers have successfully kept Hyundai's hatches at bay, while even the Celerio, which now comes across as somewhat mediocre after the arrival of newer competition managed to move close to 9000 copies! Cosmetic makers should look at the Swift for inputs on absolute anti-ageing. 14000+ copies of a 5 year old model that is short on space and just competent on the engine outputs is a stupendous achievement. And it doesn't even have the taxi quota like the Dzire does. So almost all of them are personal car customers. And again, as everyone has said, they have the Brezza just in and the Ignis incoming, and all.
But they have another newly risen concern - NEXA. Whether the 'premium' arm makes any real difference to customer appeal and results in an impact in the pricier segments, or just becomes a parallel channel to keep shifting Balenos by the truckloads (literally, Maruti sends their cars via container trucks!) and do nothing else, or actually create fragmentation and confusion, should be something to watch out for.

Among the others, it seems largely the usual business. The Kwid surging further in the top ten is good news, well deserved for a thorough effort. Watch sales skyrocket further with the litre engine and AMT. The City and Ciaz are real neck and neck, and with no fresh competition in the pipeline, they look like they are gonna carry on the dogfight at the top. The next Verna, the immediate threat, is more than a year away.
The ol' Scorpio still manages respectable numbers despite the Cretas and XUV's sitting to gobble up sales. But I wonder how many of those are the well-loaded variants for private users, rather than the barebones base variant for commercial and utility applications.
I also feel for the customer who put his hard-earned money on the solitary Quanto sold last month. Nor did Mahindra stay particularly loyal to him, launching a replacement in a matter of days. The Ecosport made a comeback of sorts after the price revision, which was evident from all the buzz it created here in the community.

A thing that hurts though, is the failure of seriously competent cars, which repeatedly fall prey to perception or herd mentality and face a sorry state. The Figo sold <1400 units. The Aspire too had nothing better to show. Shocking for cars having class-leading engines, equipment, safety kit and looks - all in place.The Verna sold just fifteen hundred despite having the same 1.6 CRDi as the costlier blockbuster Creta and being cheaper than the City. The funky little Chevy Beat is struggling to make four figures despite having a cheap and efficient diesel variant. The Hyundai Elantra (I've spoken about this one sometime earlier as well IIRC but its still a shocker) despite its jaw-dropping looks, premium interiors, laundry list of features and Hyundai's service, sold just 74 units! It seems the sahibs have forgotten their beloved sedans for the new crop of crossovers of all sizes. (AYP you stole the words off my mouth!)

Originally Posted by needforspeed88

I have said it all along with improving road infrastructure in semi urban and rural India manufacturers simply cannot ignore comfort/quality/finesse/fuel-efficiency in the name of ''tough'' product.
The compact SUV segment is such a sought after area right now. This is simply because the new breed of monocoque compact SUV offer car like comforts and ease of driving on one side and SUV like high seating position, commanding view and ground clearance on the other side. Despite having so much time to prepare and already having a monocoque XUV why did Mahindra not go for a ground up moncoque compact SUV?
Yes the ladder on frame construction still has it's place in full blown SUV's but in compact sub 4m segment the added weight, average handling and sub par fuel economy make the ladder on frame construction pretty much redundant.
The monocoque compact SUV is the hot bed of activity right now. With rising living standards in semi urban and rural india just having a tough vehicle isn't enough. The vehicles cannot be just utilitarian. Mahindra need to wake up quickly and see where the market is going. They are risking loosing out on a major chunk of the market in the name of sticking to their roots.

This is much a topic of my interest, and I fully disagree with what you have to say. Compact SUV's are here to stay for sure, but because they are the best possible compromise between two worlds, not because they are the ideal solution. There is no point pretending that they are the ideal solution either.
First take your definiton of a compact SUV. These cars aren't the all-rounders that some people like to believe they are, but in fact bits-and-pieces cars. They may be bought because the owner's needs (as both a car and SUV) are limited enough to be met by them, and not because they will apparently meet any needs that the owner has of them.
And that they are popular means they work for most people, and doesn't automatically mean they have to be perfect. For instance, the Dzire was the top seller in our country a while ago. How Desirable is it really?

That compact SUV's provide 'car-like comfort along with the commanding view of an SUV' is an often-used overrated cliché. The term 'car-like comfort' itself in the modern car era is questionable. Gone are the days of barebones cars which seemed better only to the clunky gas-guzzling SUV's. Today, the standard of comfort is the sedans (the proper ones), and the same can't be applied to efficiency-oriented hatches in the same voice. Now, almost all these compact SUV's are based off hatchbacks and not sedans. So the 'comfort of a car' term doesn't make sense there, as the real benchmark of comfort is in fact from a different segment. In fact, proper SUV's generally provide better space and comfort than the raised hatchback-sized cabins of the compact SUV's.
Neither does the 'commanding view of an SUV and ease of driving' make sense, as the ease of driving of a car is down to the much lower set body and lower seating position of the driver closer to the road, which gets compromised in these compact SUV's. Nor is the actual seating ever as commanding as the ladder frame based vehicles. Again, as I said, the best possible compromise, but far from the ideal solution.

As for the TUV300, it is not your regular 'SUV', it is an SUV. And it is a great product for what it is. It is not meant to directly rival the soft-roader competitors in the metros at all. (For that they had the brilliant idea to create the NuvoSport ) It is for those who want an SUV that works and feels like an SUV. Being able to just about cope with bad roads is one thing. Being comfortable on them is another. Going to the beach on a rare weekend is one thing. Going to a farmhouse on a regular basis is another. The TUV is for the latter type of user. And it is still very decent as an everyday car as well.
And totallly agree, they need another product in that range, and this one with all the kit loaded, (which the NuvoSport simply can NOT be) but that doesn't mean the TUV is short. It is only different.

[AYP]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

One answer for both these questions IMO- Facelift. While in the case of Elantra, the news is already out regarding the launch of the new generation, and all knowledgeable prospective customers would rather choose to wait for few more months.

But I wonder how many non-BHPians even know about the new Elantra.
And Elantra's sales have been low from the past 1 year. To me it looked like a very good package when we checked it out, better than the Corolla(other than the reliability, in which Hyundai is not so bad either, and of course the brand value). This holds true especially if diesel is the choice of fuel.

[RaghuVis]

As usual, great work Aditya. I was thinking why this month there is an unusual delay in the sales figure and was eager to go through it.

1) One of the most important aspects for this month is:
All the Vehicles in top 20 have crossed sales of 5K This has not happened before If I am not wrong. Oct 2015, the Festival month was the closest when 19 cars crossed 5K.
2) I think TATA has made a smart move by not billing even a single one in March. They can post a huge numbers in April for sure. The 1000 odd cars billed in Feb seems to be Demo vehicles. A little on high side but the kind of promotion they are doing needs a lots of cars.
3) With Tiago in picture and Kwid doing superb business, the first victim was surely going to be Eon. But they seem to have done a bigger impact than expected. Surely a cause of worry for Hyundai if TATA is going to maintain introductory price for Tiago till festival season.
4) Surprise package seems to be Celerio with a stunning 9K sales. maybe the last month dip was a one off thing.
5) Ciaz and City are Neck to Neck to be at top and it really is exciting. City doing consistent sales despite no discounts and Ciaz benefiting from the SVHS tag seems to be the plus points keeping the competition tight.
6) Every month I crib about low sales of Figo twins but this month it seems to be even worse than before. I cannot simply digest the fact that Brio can sell more than the figo twins.
7) I thought Lodgy sales would pick up but they are consistently selling on the lower side. With sales less than Sumo, I am sure Renault expected much more.
8) With the stop in production of Innova, did we just see the last invoice numbers from them? Since Crysta is going to be launched in May, perhaps April there might be a standstill. The numbers are really amazing considering everyone knows the production has stopped.
9) There seems to be no stopping for Creta and I20. So much consistency. Will have to see the impact in Arpil because of Brezza.
10) Dream opening for Brezza. Just shows the network of MSIL and the enthusiasm dealers have shown in buying them considering they sold only for 6 days in March.

[saion666]

Celerio and Brio are interesting cases!!
Brio may be a case of Honda's production strategy which has one car or the other having extreme low followed by an extreme high.
However, Celerio generally does constant numbers(around 5k), not sure how it went above 8k this month.

Mahindra dispatched a Quanto as well, with the ugly Nuvosport !!

Good start by Brezza. Test drove it the other day. I think the numbers will get stronger with each passing month for this "SUV".

[King_pin09]

It appears the month of March has brought a bit of good luck for old war horses, viz., Brio, Duster, Ecosport, Tavera and Ritz, as they have reclaimed some portions of lost grounds. Aspire also takes the recovery path, albeit not by big numbers. Yet it is a sign of encouragement, for a very capable sedan running in turbulent weather.

What comes to me as a shock is the Zero sales posted by Tiago. Despite it being a very good car and all the demonstrations made in recently concluded endurance tests. It gives an idea as how much the brand perception would matter in the world of product marketing.

[rrsteer]

All due to respect to organization complexities, processes and management capabilities but Tata Motors response to their dwindling market share has been utterly disappointing. Horizon next, roping in Messi, getting international leaders - all good but what about the most important part - execution?

I don't understand why was a car shown to media in December, displayed publicly in February, shipped to dealers in February, underwent an open name change exercise - launched in April? Beats me. Probably their stars, planets and maybe meteors were aligned beneficially in April!

[satrikon_454]

Thank you Aditya. Brilliant compilation as always.

Last year, Renault said that they were hoping for a 5% market share in India by 2017. With the new kwid on the block, looks like they'll be there in a month or two. Good going

[RSR]

Originally Posted by King_pin09

What comes to me as a shock is the Zero sales posted by Tiago. Despite it being a very good car and all the demonstrations made in recently concluded endurance tests. It gives an idea as how much the brand perception would matter in the world of product marketing.

Although it's very surprising indeed, I believe this was a conscious decision by Tata Motors not to invoice any Tiago in the month of March. The ones dispatched in February would have probably been invoiced as Zicas (and later re-badged).

They could have inflated the March (& hence FY 2015-2016) numbers with Tiago dispatches if they so wanted, but I guess they consciously decided to make a fresh start with the Tiago in FY 2016-2017.

There's nothing to worry about, IMHO. Tiago dispatches will pick up rapidly from April, and after about six months time, we can find out how well the car is doing.

I believe Tiago will become the top selling Tata vehicle in April itself.

[King_pin09]

Originally Posted by RSR

Although it's very surprising indeed, I believe this was a conscious decision by Tata Motors not to invoice any Tiago in the month of March. The ones dispatched in February would have probably been invoiced as Zicas (and later re-badged).

They could have inflated the March (& hence FY 2015-2016) numbers with Tiago dispatches if they so wanted, but I guess they consciously decided to make a fresh start with the Tiago in FY 2016-2017.

There's nothing to worry about, IMHO. Tiago dispatches will pick up rapidly from April, and after about six months time, we can find out how well the car is doing.

I believe Tiago will become the top selling Tata vehicle in April itself.

I cannot comment much / predict on the sales for any model during forthcoming months. I do consider it safe to express views only at relevant time. As the phrase goes, “res ipsa loquitur”.

May be you are true and Tiago is an exception for this month in terms of sales. Tata has made big investments on the Tiago, and the final product shows it all. Moreover, it has been priced very sensibly making it an undeniable competitor.

I sincerely believe Tata is making serious efforts to rebuild confidence among buyers for its products through many ways one of which is the Tiago. All this makes Tiago, the most important product from Tata's perspective.

[NiInJa]

April figures will be more than March as people hold on to deliveries on occasion of Gudi Padwa/Ugadi/Baisakhi and other occasions.

But honestly, Brio surge is baffling. I am guessing it is just more dealer dispatches and discounts for this month as stated above.

Wont discuss strong performers here but laggards should focus on cars which are doing better compared to others.

Fiat: Punto maintains a steady figure, better than Pulse/Micra. Should do more marketing and advertisement of the car at least in tier 1 and tier 2 cities, and do some changes internally (Rubbery Gear, clutch, seating position etc)

Chevrolet: Tavera and Beat still has some pull towards the brand. Should launch the next generation (major facelifts) of these cars at the earliest.

Tata : Tiago numbers are confusing, lets wait for a month or two. Zest shows that Tata can pull a master stroke by launching the superb looking Kite 5 sedan at the earliest. Tata should see if the Bolt works in rural or semi urban areas (take the example of KUV100), it is a nice car but a little overpriced.
Safari not bringing in good numbers despite being a good car, need to know what are the plans for this car.

Nissan: Need a Kwid-like game changer, why focus on Datsun ?

VW/Skoda : Doing just about well considering how old their mass models (Vento/Rapid/Polo) are. Future plans not showing anything promising.