[motorworks]

Here's something that I'm really puzzled about! The volumes in the 20-35 lakh segment whether an SUV or a D / D+ segment sedan, it's a very hard place to be in! There are just no volumes! The T-Fortuner and Innova are sort of exceptions doing a combined 8k units every month, but if you add up the sales of every other car in this price segment right from the Elantra, Octavia to the Superb in the sedan space and the Tucson to the ford Endy, Santa Fe etc in the SUV space, it's not even 2000 units! So why are manufacturers vying for this space? Why should VW launch the Tiguan or Skoda launch the Kodiaq and Karoq etc? Do the numbers make any business sense at all? Or are the margins so high that they can sustain such low volumes?

Sure, I think the numbers are decent enough in the 15-20 lakh space and it's a very growing segment. If you see the sales of the Creta and the XUV500, then it does tell you the potential , so I can understand if Renault wanted to position the Kaptur in India in the 15-20 Lakh segment and if Jeep aspired to bring the Compass with a sub 20 opening price point. But anything above the 20 lakh + price point and it's sub 500 volumes really, unless you are the mighty T-fort or the "can never put a foot wrong" Innova!

[Muski]

Originally Posted by motorworks

So why are manufacturers vying for this space? Why should VW launch the Tiguan or Skoda launch the Kodiaq and Karoq etc? Do the numbers make any business sense at all?

You are right about higher margins but there is another tale to tell here.


They are actually planning for the future. India's story is following China, and our automobile market will mature like China did . There was a time when a premium Hatchback was a laughable concept in India. Today GTI and Arbarth are available in the market. A 40 lakh Fortuner sells more than Etios, which is under 10 lakh. Jeep is manufacturing from the scratch in India today. And this is when we are a $2 trillion economy with per capita income around $1800. In 10 years we will be ~ 4 trillion economy worth far more purchasing power. And with more money, markets will mature more and we will move up the ladder. This is where these companies are focusing.

They are investing in Indian growth story and rightly so. This is another reason for Tata and Mahindra trying to make more polished vehicles and moving up the ladder. This is also why both these companies are investing heavily in electric cars, even though they are not feasible now, they will be the future.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by King_pin09

I must confess, I am yet to find/ spot a brand new FIAT car on our streets. I keep wondering, where these 340 odd cars that FIAT rolled out during last month, are picked. They carry the ‘critically endangered species’ tag in our country.

I always feel that Fiat strong-hold is the southern states (KA, KL and TN)

[feluda86]

May seems to be a month of transition, especially for Maruti. Dzire's sales number is a surprise. I was expecting Dzire to set records this month. The relatively low numbers seem to suggest, these might have been the inventory of the old model which were pushed out in May. The new Dzire (I have already seen quite a few) will hit the charts in June sales. Swift's sales numbers are impressive considering it is an ageing car awaiting a facelift soon. As it has been already pointed out, Swift is selling more than Honda (4th in the manufacturer list).

Baleno has well and truly snatched the crown from i20 in the premium hatch back class. An update to i20 might close in the gap. It would be interesting to see the break up between the Elite i20 and i20 active models. Going by Hyundai's methods, Honda should also club the sales numbers of Jazz and WR-V.

City and Ciaz both see significant drops. City's dispatches seem to be low as priority is given to W-RV. Honda in spite of having vacant production capacity seem to like juggling around their cars resulting in see-sawing numbers- evident more prominently since last year. Any reason for this?

Ignis seems to be struggling by Maruti standards - settling around the same number as (now discontinued) Ritz. The funky rear styling has something to do with it I feel. Rear styling has always been a sensitive factor for the average Indian Car buyer (Brio, Ritz and now Ignis).

It is sad to see VW struggling. Excellent cars with no sales. Only Polo crossing 1000 is shocking. is it only because of after sales reputation?

Tiago with a stylish interior is doing really well. Newly launched Tigor seem to be settling at a number close to the segment average (excluding Dzire).
The compact sedan segment is struggling and so is the compact SUV. Baring the offerings from Maruti, none of the other manufacturers have managed to hold pace. Ecosport is the only doing above average in these two segments. Is it time for manufacturers to look away from these in-between segments and concentrate of "fully grown" segments?

Originally Posted by kbishwa

Further, if you see the segment wise sales, the least price segment A is consistently at 3rd position from sales point of view. Number one is not even B1 segment but B2 segment (PREMIUM Hatchback). So, Indians buy value even at a premium.

Further, in my opinion, this segmentation itself needs revision with changed time. It appears misleading.

The B2 (premium hatchback) segment although has the highest numbers, is it not too crowded? Is it not time to rethink the segment classification of certain cars? Polo, Jazz, i20 and Baleno are the only four cars that deserve being called premium hatchback. Rest of the cars considered in this segment are half a segment lower than B2 in my opinion and half a segment above B1. Grand i10, Brio, Ignis, KUV100 and Micra I feel should be slotted with B1 segment cars.

Is there any data on how many of these cars are for yellow number plates? Should be an interesting analysis.

[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Here's something that I'm really puzzled about! The volumes in the 20-35 lakh segment whether an SUV or a D / D+ segment sedan, it's a very hard place to be in! There are just no volumes!

It may be as simple as this. All people aspiring to own this segment of cars are simply moving to the big three Germans. With the Germans coming down with their entry level cars such as A/Q3, A/GLA Class etc and big discounts on their sticker prices have bridged this gap.

Will it be fair to assume a Q3 will do better numbers than a Tucson/ Santa Fe ? Hyundai dispatched 80 Tucsons in May and double digit dispatch for the Santa Fe. This entire size vs price seems to be going in the wrong direction for Hyundai/VW vs pure aspirational value of the German badges.

I guess it's a mix of companies like Hyundai/VW getting greedy with their sticker prices and the Germans getting aggressive with their prices,discounts and better finance schemes.

[roby_dk1]

Originally Posted by Khushrav

The 110 units of Camry, 80+ of Superb and 1 of Accord are a story in itself. These cars have pushed the price tag so close to the German luxury sedans and hatches that despite being bigger and better in some aspects, they will be cannibalized. You just cant beat the lure of owning a genuine luxury sedan especially in a show-off market like India.

So true. They should be priced as far as possible from the German luxury line. One can see superb having almost all creature comfort but still badge factor doesn't let indian mentality to go for it.

Accord has been priced horribly by Honda and hence a DOA.

[Baddychat]

Originally Posted by roby_dk1

So true. They should be priced as far as possible from the German luxury line. One can see superb having almost all creature comfort but still badge factor doesn't let indian mentality to go for it.

Accord has been priced horribly by Honda and hence a DOA.

Agreed on the accord thing. Camry clocking 110 units is not a bad number especially considering that the demand fr this car is primarily in the bigger cities (read Delhi). I think with GST rates on hybrid vehicles being set at 43%, the end of the road for the Camry in India could be nigh. It seems that the people who were setting the slabs for GST could not figure out the difference between Maruti's Hybrid and conventional hbrid cars.

Also from the sales figures, the largest selling car which is not a Maruti or a Hyundai is the Renault Kwid. Wonder if we can get the numbers on the Dzire which gives us the taxi segment v the regular sales.

[anjan_c2007]

The first four top sellers are from Maruti. After the top four slots, Hyundais alternate with Marutis in three spaces each. Thereafter, Maruti leaves a slot alternately for the Kwid and Bolero. Two Marutis after the Bolero and then the #16, 17,18 and 19 positions are occupied by the Innova, Eon, Tiago and Scorpio. The last of the top twenty is the Ciaz, again from Maruti. Such is the Maruti influence on the top twenty list with eleven slots therein. The Alto and the Swift (rarely DZire) though change places at # 1 from time to time.

Its however a surprise that there is no Honda or Ford in the top twenty. There is only one Toyota, one Renault (the only Western car maker in the top twenty) one Tata and for a change two Mahindras, this time around. Nineteen positions are occupied by Asian car makers. The sinking GM is best forgotten !

The sales figures throw surprises every month for the top carmakers. HM-Mitsubishi, Skoda, Fiat, GM and to some extent Nissan have nothing to get surprised at, because their sales of models are either in single, two or at the most three digit figures.

[oblivion]

After GM I guess its time for Nissan and Mitsubishi to leave India. Its time to launch some new models else the sale figures will go down further.

Don't know what Skoda is doing here they have to take some serious step on ASS as there is no doubt regarding the build and quality of vehicles. They should launch service plans like Ford which are transparent and do some good marketing and advertisement to attract customers.