[blackasta]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Not entirely. For many, buying a car is not just about the product, but the availability of after sales and service.

Originally Posted by Dr.Abhi

I dont agree here. Life is nothing but priorities. If one can manage to watch a movie in multiplex once in a 6 months (which are also not there in small towns), he can definately manage once a year visit to car service station.

I have a single car at my disposal, and due to my odd office hours, I need it everyday. Again, service location is also availed for issues other than periodic maintenance service.

Agreed, that in ideal conditions, one needs to visit the service center maybe once in 6 / 12 months.

However, I would feel the most comfortable if there are 3 or more service centers of the company, one each near my home and office, and preferably one in the middle.

Worst case would be a single service center (full service with body shop) between my home and office commute route.

That's why I shall not prefer to buy a car from a company that does not satisfy the above criteria.

[volkman10]

Overall sales and growth in the auto segment -July 2018

- Passenger Car sales dipped 2.7% due to high base last July (where July’17 had recovered post GST implementation). Expect the segment to grow stronger in the coming months owing to festive period and new launches.



Source: Auto Punditz

[adimicra]

I don't think A.S.S is the only reason for Maruti's super success.
EVen if you look at Nexa cars which do not have the same kind of presence like Maruti, they are also doing much better than what the product actually deserves. Look at the I20 and the Baleno numbers. Forget Baleno, look at the Ignis which manages to sell 4-5K units per month. I can bet that if Ignis belonged to any other manufacturer, it would have struggled to cross 1K.
I clearly think Herd mentality is the major factor. May be there are other factors which I don't know of. I am not sure if someone has done a case study but, if not, it sure will be an interesting topic.

[torquecurve]

Originally Posted by adimicra;4442580,

I clearly think Herd mentality is the major factor. May be there are other factors which I don't know of. I am not sure if someone has done a case study but, if not, it sure will be an interesting topic.

I just remembered a discussion I was having with one of my colleagues when he was looking to purchase his first car. He had a budget of about 8 lakhs in mind (2 years or so ago) with low usage pattern and I suggested an i20 or Tiago (was newly launched). His response and I quote " Nahi sir, Papa Bolte pehili car Maruti honi chahiye" - No Sir, my father says first car should be a Maruti .he wasn't able to explain the logic but just mumbled resale, servicing and parts.

These first time buyers - which I suspect 2/3rds of car buyers in India are will stick to Maruti come what may. And as they say once you are reeled in you are caught - even if half of them replace their cars with a Suzuki down the line it keeps driving sales. Also first time buyers are now moving up from Alto to Swift/ Baleno territory due to fund availability. JMT

[cediaowner]

S-Cross can probably add quite a substantial number of units if it launches the petrol version with the new 1.5L engine. An icing on the cake would be AT (even if a 4 Speed). Festive season would be a great time to launch it.

[aniyo]

Originally Posted by torquecurve

I just remembered a discussion I was having with one of my colleagues when he was looking to purchase his first car. He had a budget of about 8 lakhs in mind (2 years or so ago) with low usage pattern and I suggested an i20 or Tiago (was newly launched). His response and I quote " Nahi sir, Papa Bolte pehili car Maruti honi chahiye" - No Sir, my father says first car should be a Maruti .he wasn't able to explain the logic but just mumbled resale, servicing and parts.



JMT

Exactly. One of my friends bought a Dzire 5 Year's back despite he liking i20.
He said the same thing I wanted a Maruti car and referred to Dzire as a badi car..this was his first car.
Even my dad chose Estilo over i10 few years back.. thankfully my brother chose the Honda brio as his first car

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by mathuranuj

It is really strange to see that Skoda Octavia is not even selling 300 cars a month, but still the car is on a 3 month waiting list! What gives!?



Either Skoda takes a really long time to assemble the Octavia or they just make smaller numbers and keep customers waiting to give a false impression of demand so that they can justify the higher premium pricing.

There seem to be a small but steady fan base for the Octavia! In the D segment sedans, Octavia almost matches the Corolla in sales, but the Corolla has commercial usage like taxis and hotel cars. And the Elantra does not do well at all.

One of my friends checked out the Octavia and the Jeep Compass last week and he felt that the Octavia is probably far better built and had more features than the Compass for the mid variants.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Freestyle is probably the only car in its segment(Cross) doing better than its actual hatch model.

Looks like you missed the other car in its segment (Cross) doing better than its actual hatch model. This is the WRV at 3386 bettering the Jazz at 1869

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by adimicra

I don't think A.S.S is the only reason for Maruti's super success.
EVen if you look at Nexa cars which do not have the same kind of presence like Maruti, they are also doing much better than what the product actually deserves. Look at the I20 and the Baleno numbers.

Certainly not, their cars are competitive as well(lets keep the build quality aside). Though Nexa has limited presence, you can visit regular dealer for service/repair. Availability+competitive cars - is something that is helping Maruti. Add to that options. If you are looking at numbers, Hatchback and sub 4M sedan/SUV's are the major contributors. And look at the options Maruti has- not less than 10 . Barring Ciaz and Scross, all their models fall in category which majority of the population buy.

Originally Posted by torquecurve

These first time buyers - which I suspect 2/3rds of car buyers in India are will stick to Maruti come what may. And as they say once you are reeled in you are caught - even if half of them replace their cars with a Suzuki down the line it keeps driving sales. Also first time buyers are now moving up from Alto to Swift/ Baleno territory due to fund availability. JMT

Well 2/3rd of India's population lives in rural area/towns and most likely that many have access to Maruti only(may be Hyundai).

[bhavik.1991]

Originally Posted by payeng

That's an honest confession. Guess it takes Lot of time to change Perceptions, Mindsets and Attitudes.

At the time of my purchase, Nexon & WR-V weren't available in the market; that left us with only two options: Ecosport & Brezza. I was aware that Ecosport
was a better engineered product but went ahead with Brezza due to Maruti's service network in remote areas & potentially higher return & ease during selling. It is very likely that the purchase won't complete even 5 years with us.

[jpcoolguy]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Honda : 1/10 (Yes, it's the new Amaze again, First Honda to cross 10k + sales)

Yes, you are right that it is the first Honda to cross 10K+ mark. However, they came pretty close to that earlier as well with both Amaze and City.

City sold 9,777 units during March 2015, which was the highest by City and Honda before the new Amaze launch. It also sold 9,518 units during March 2014.

1st gen Amaze sold 9,564 units during October 2013, which was the highest for Amaze before this new generation launch. It also sold 9,198 units during August 2014.

Originally Posted by King_pin09

1. Perhaps, highest sale of the Captur, ever.

Captur sold 1,119 units during the launch month - Nov '17.

2. Perhaps, lowest sale of the Duster, ever.

Duster sold 461 units during Feb '16, because of the new facelift launch in Mar '16.

5. Perhaps, lowest number by the Jeep Compass, ever.

Compass sold 935 units during the launch month - Jul '17.

Originally Posted by phoenixash

- While Hyundai is still holding onto their 2nd place, their Elite i20 & Creta facelifts haven't seemed to receive the same acceptance that Maruti's launches have. Infact, sales of both these models are trending down; the i20 routinely used to sell over 12,000 units, and this seems to be first time I recall seeing Creta sales down on a YoY basis. Don't think their constantly increasing prices are helping either!

You cannot be more wrong here. Creta is infact selling like hot cakes after the facelift. To give you perspective, the pre-facelift Creta has sold more than 10,423 units only once since launch - 10,556 units during Jul '17 and that was due to GST issues. And unfortunately for Creta, this month, that was the high base against which it was compared for Y-o-Y numbers.

In case of i20, the sales of facelifted version is yet to dip below 10K units. Also, the average number of units per month is higher for facelifted i20 compared to the pre-facelift version.

[sou_3749]

Originally Posted by payeng

That's an honest confession. Guess it takes Lot of time to change Perceptions, Mindsets and Attitudes.

For example a colleague of mine opted for the Honda Activa even when he confessed that he had liked the TVS Jupiter more after taking its test ride. Why? Simply because it was "Activa".

What a nice observation. Of course these cults are present in every consumer product category. I can relate myself to activa episode.

On the contrary, ask the same question to the activa and jupiter owners after 5 years and you will know why Activa rules. It's the legacy that Maruti and Honda have built over years that works and works really well despite flaws.

[vsrivatsa]

Originally Posted by adimicra

I can bet that if Ignis belonged to any other manufacturer, it would have struggled to cross 1K.
I clearly think Herd mentality is the major factor. May be there are other factors which I don't know of. I am not sure if someone has done a case study but, if not, it sure will be an interesting topic.

The Ignis is being offered at lot of discounts these days and is a proper 4 cylinder car as compared to the Wagon R/Celerios/Tiagos which are 3 Cylinder engines. That way its good value for money for people who understand the refinement levels of a 4 cylinder engine. The class leading ground clearance of 180 mm ensures the speed breakers are not an issue.

Also a look at the Comparison with other cars shows that the Ignis does excel in terms of the power and torque figures as it is lightweight...

Ignis Spec. Comparison

With Power/Weight (BHP / Ton) : 99, it is second only to Ford Figo 1.5L and Torque / Weight : 137 it is leading the segment.
Priced a little lower it would have been a blockbuster and killed the Celerio...

Disclaimer: I own an Ignis AMT

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by vsrivatsa

With Power/Weight (BHP / Ton) : 99, it is second only to Ford Figo 1.5L and Torque / Weight : 137 it is leading the segment.
Priced a little lower it would have been a blockbuster and killed the Celerio...

Disclaimer: I own an Ignis AMT

Recently drove the petrol manual version, I expect it to be similar to my swift overall, but I was totally blown-away by its small footprint and performance! There is no doubt that Ignis is a good car and offers something which most car in its segment do not i.e small car with engine from its elder siblings.

[sasi@8689]

Interesting discussion on 'herd mentality' and Maruti cars. It reminded me of the thought process I had gone through in January of this year while buying a car for my wife. As much as I wanted to get a Brio for her, the fact that both Maruti and Hyundai have multiple options for buying and service closer to my home has played heavily on my mind. Compared to this, the nearest Honda dealer is located some 20+ kms away. I myself drive a five year old, 85k run Gen 2 Swift Zxi and my ownership experience has been absolutely trouble free till date. With Maruti, it runs like a clock work – not more than a day per year for scheduled service, easy and straightforward process wherein all the items to be done during the service are discussed in advance and a fairly responsive service advisors and service centre in general. Agreed that it is not cheap on pocket by any standards, but fits my requirement to the 'T' as my work and personal commitments don't leave me enough spare time even on the weekends to spend on the maintenance or upkeep of the car and I want my ride to be super reliable, it being the only vehicle in home. Considering all this I had finally opted for Grand i10 as there is a dealer with a full-fledged service facility with body shop and all, less than a couple of kms from where I live. But for the year ending offer on Grand i10 that was hard to resist and the fact that wife liked grand i10 more, my only other option was a WagonR Vxi(o)

If a car enthusiast like me despite being in a metro city gives so much importance to the factor of ‘ease of ownership’, I can easily understand why people, especially in tier-II and III cities prefer Maruti over other brands. The fact that the company FIERCELY guards its market territory with capable offerings covering a wide spectrum of the market, further accentuates their dominant position. Yes, the brand loyalty and recall it enjoys might seem unfair in today’s context and some of their offerings may enjoy more success than what they deserve, but that doesn’t take away anything from the fact that they have worked hard to earn that trust and continue doing so