[Hayek]

Maruti is going from strength to strength. I remember, back in the early 2000s, seeing some ultra bullish forecasts from bankers on the Maruti IPO - and all of them assumed that Maruti’s market share would gradually decline with time towards the high 30s. To be at 53% of a hyper competitive market is truly astounding. What’s even more amazing is how well each product does - the Celerio (which is by far the ugliest contraption they have produced ever) does 7000 units (EDIT: oops sorry, 8500 units); the “flop” S Cross outsells the super hit Compass by 25%.

Glad to see Tata Motors making a comeback - if there is one house all of us root for, it is them.

[oli.ferns]

I think one of the reasons both the Aspire and the Figo aren't doing well is because of the outdated console. While most of the cars in the compact sedan segment are offering a touchscreen music/ navigation system (take the dzire, xcent, tigor or the amaze for example), Ford still continues to harp on the old pilot style system With Google maps being a must for any long drive, the lack of a navigation screen hurts. Sure you could mount your Android phone to use Google maps but when other cars in the segment are offering such features, it creates a reason to think about other options while choosing a Ford. The other issue is that Ford would probably not provide any year-end discounts for the Aspire automatic cvt which seems to be a class apart from the rest in the segment. Neither are the discounts on the other cars worth mentioning.

[SILVERWOOD]

My take on Nov 2017 sales

I was pretty sure Datsun will hit 3,000 mark soon going by their July/August numbers but they have managed only 2,200 in November. December figures will be crucial.

What is Fiat still doing in India.? I am not sure if Fiat dealers are able to recover electricity bills of their showrooms.It is just a matter of time before they exit our market.

Ecosport holding the fort for Ford India.Imagine their plight if ecosport was not in their basket.

WRV has crunched more numbers than city for Honda in November.Accord yet to open its account.

Hyundai is doing great and i am sure Tuscon will meet Santa Fe's and Terracan's fate very soon.

Overall decent numbers for Mahindra.

Brezza is touching 15,000 mark.Baleno is way ahead of i20.Great going MSIL.

Is Nissan serious about India market.?

Duster sales are below 800 and it be a major worry for Renault.

Rapid contributing 50% of Skoda sales.

Good performance for Tata but storme numbers should be a major worry for Tata.

Average performance by Toyota.

Vento under 500.VW should be worried.

[Lone Ranger]

Originally Posted by Hayek

the Celerio (which is by far the ugliest contraption they have produced ever) does 7000 units

Fully agree with your post, expect for this part - back in the day (either the 90's or early 2000s), Maruti launched a zen variant called the 'classic' which makes the celerio look like a bertone masterpiece

[Ashdel]

Seems one of the best sales month for Maruti. Top 6 selling cars are all Suzuki.

[AYP]

Finally, the number of SUV's sold in India has exceeded that of sedans. I can see this difference growing in the future. Also, going by the sales of the C-2 segment sedans for the last couple of months, I think that the mini-SUV's are doing what the bigger SUV's did to the D-1 segment sedans. The D segment sedans had a gradual fall in sales and once the SUV craze picked up(and after the XUV was launched), the sales of these sedans had a steep fall.

It might be too early to say this, but I won't be surprised if the C-2 segment sedans show a similar fall in sales.

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by AYP

Finally, the number of SUV's sold in India has exceeded that of sedans. I can see this difference growing in the future. Also, going by the sales of the C-2 segment sedans for the last couple of months, I think that the mini-SUV's are doing what the bigger SUV's did to the D-1 segment sedans. The D segment sedans had a gradual fall in sales and once the SUV craze picked up(and after the XUV was launched), the sales of these sedans had a steep fall.

It might be too early to say this, but I won't be surprised if the C-2 segment sedans show a similar fall in sales.

Nice observation. Perhaps this is an effect of our hopelessly bad city roads (which is why SUV sales have picked up)?

[narayan]

My limited observation -

Nexon: Maruti is clearly choking the dealership network with Brezzas to ensure the Nexon doesn't succeed. In the Indian herd market, its all about which car sells more - if it sells more - it will sell EVEN MORE. Hence Maruti's plan could be to halt the initial success of the Nexon by offering decent consumer schemes at a dealership level + making the Brezza available off the shelf ( which the NEXON isn't ) --- Brilliant strategy in my view. The Ecosport is another threat. But I think Tata motors is doing well to market the Nexon. Can't do better i suppose.

Hexa - unfortunately seems to be a bit lost. Only folks who prefer a large car are looking at it. The pricier Compass seems to be garnering more buyers. But I feel Tata is doing enough to keep the Hexa afloat - with new variants, colours and of course discounts. They have no choice but to do this until the new SUVs are launched hopefully by 2018 mid ?

In the cab market ( which incidentally is slowing down big time due to poorer payouts in Uber/Ola ) - I wonder why Tata is not aggressively pushing the Zest/Bolt. With more space and boot volume compared to competition - they should be selling more.

[deehunk]

Eventually, Brezza, Nexon, and Ecosport will survive in the confused SUV segment, till Hyundai launches its own C-SUV. Hexa is not an ideal car for daily driving because of its size, Tata should change the interiors of Bolt and Zest, it still resembles the Vista.

[Mad Max]

Really glad to see some Tiguans selling and I really hope some have been sold in Bangalore / KA.


Sorry, if you thought I was happy for VW, you're wrong. My selfish intent - I am just looking to buy a second car somewhere down the line and this would be definitely in contention.

[us.dash]

1. The 7 Seater car market seems to be slowing down. XUV 500 and HEXA numbers are down, without any corresponding increase in Innova Crysta's Sales.

2. Any possible reasons? Are people looking at these cars settling for smaller
cars.

[narayan]

Originally Posted by deehunk

Tata should change the interiors of Bolt and Zest, it still resembles the Vista.

Sorry for going OT in this thread but - are you sure about the above point ? I have owned both the Vista and Bolt and can say that the interiors are totally different

1. dash board - layout, materials, fit/finish

2. seats - similar share but the fabric is totally different

3. door pads - different shape - door open handles are different - only similarity is the lower portion of storage. even plastic quality is different

4. Steering - totally different ( part of the new series which is used also in Hexa, Storme, Tigor, Nexon etc )

[ampere]

Tata Sales look good with Tiago, Tigor and Nexon. Saw a couple of Nexons on the road. Definitely look good and stand out. They have definitely covered their basics well. Now they need to move the ladder of customer engineering.

With both aspects taken care off, the results would bootstrap itself.

Also all they now need a good moncoque 5 seater to take on Creta (a bigger Nexon).

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by narayan

Sorry for going OT in this thread but - are you sure about the above point? I have owned both the Vista and Bolt and can say that the interiors are totally different

My suggestion is to make it look like a Nexon or something different.

[jpcoolguy]

A look at the Top 25 vehicles sold in the month of November over the years.





1. Alto was able to maintain the top spot all through these years and amazingly the numbers too remain the same almost. WagonR, like Alto, was able to maintain the steady sales figures.

2. Swift was popular than Dzire during start of this decade, but then Dzire took the lead in the last 3 years. Hopefully, the upcoming new generation Swift may be able to change that.

3. Grand i10 inherited the same numbers from the older i10 (when it was retired and relaunched with 1.1 L engine), but its big brother i20 was able to take the game to next level in the premium hatch segment with the launch of Elite i20.

4. Santro's popularity was reduced once the Eon is launched (or is it Hyundai giving importance to Eon being the new launch?).

5. Compare the numbers of Ritz with Ignis and that shows why Ignis is not a bigger hit for MSIL. Likewise, compare the older Figo numbers with the new one, but Ford seems not bothered about it.

6. Bolero was and is the best selling Mahindra and its bread and butter model.

7. See how popular, the Indica and Indigo, during the start of the decade - Indica was in 4th position in Nov '11.

8. Innova is one vehicle whose popularity seems to be growing with every iteration year after year (along with Dzire).

9. When Fluidic Verna was launched in 2011, City was out of Top 25 and was almost down and out. But Honda was back with a bang in 2014, launching the Diesel version as well, and rest they say is history.

10. Duster, Ecosport and Amaze were blockbusted vehicles (relatively) when launched, but only Ecosport was able to maintain that - even able to increase, whereas the other two have been selling in meagre numbers now.

11. Some of the models which are discontinued now - i10, Santro, Ritz, Estilo, A-Star, Spark, Beat, 800 (mind you, that these are only vehicles which appeared in Top 25 earlier, there are more models which are discontinued due to disastrous sales - one immediately comes to mind is SX4).

12. Liva, Figo (old), Nano, Indica, Indigo were some of the popular vehicles for their respective manufacturers (now in a sorry state).