[Aditya]

NOTES:

1: Thanks to the team at Auto Punditz for sharing these sales numbers with us!

2: Only cars that sell 500+ units (and thus, the relevant ones) have been included in the gainers & losers chart.

3. These manufacturer-reported sales numbers are factory dispatches to dealerships. They are NOT retail sales figures to end customers.

[Aditya]

[Aditya]

[Aditya]

[Aditya]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Indian Car Scene.

[vigneshkumar31]

D2 SUV segment is the first I latch onto. Eyes drawn to the Alturas G4. Even with the supposed year end discounts, seems to have managed only 140. A dip from the launch month figures.
While the established Endeavour seems to be doing consistently well at second place. Fortuner's domination continues outselling all others put together and then some.

The hedgehog must be jumping with joy as the Kodiaq shoots at an all time (?) high crossing 200 mark.

[Car-Agey]

WagonR down 2500, unlivable for a consistent performer. Swift falls to half

[blackwasp]

Thanks for sharing Aditya. The sales across the industry have been going slow, but looks like dealers managed to move existing stock to end the year rather than the new factory dispatches. Couple of car dealers I knew pushed nice discounts on whatever 2018 stock they had lying with them to clear as much as possible.

Originally Posted by Car-Agey

WagonR down 2500, unlivable for a consistent performer. Swift falls to half

The WagonR numbers a down due to the upcoming launch of the new-gen WagonR.

Swift could be due to bi-annual plant closure for maintenance / high stock with dealers despite being a new model. Surprisingly cars like the Brezza, Baleno, Swift which commanded months of waiting periods initially are now available in all colour / variant / engine combos with the larger dealers in cities.

[SPARKled]

I20 outselling both Baleno and Swift is unbelievable. Is there is a producion constraint at Maruti? The Maruti twin numbers are way too low to believe. Only reason could be space for the new Wagon R or a plant shut down.

[S.MJet]

What is with Ecosport, second consecutive month with below average sales? Nexon seems to be taking the game away.

As per this report Nexon beats Ecosport in Jan-Dec 2018 cumulative sales as well.
Nexon - 52519, Ecosport - 51973

[blackasta]

• Datsun - ambling along with no sense of urgency. Wonder what the upcoming releases would do (or fail to do) for this brand.
  
• Fiat - Getting ready to call it a day
  
• Ford - Almost business as usual - the increase in Endeavour numbers should compendate for the other dips
  
• Honda - Brio getting ready to pack up. Other models don't see any huge spikes or dips.
  
• Hyundai - Goodbye Eon. Santro IMO is selling lesser than I expected. i10 / i20 selling as they normally do (a lot), but Creta suddenly sees a big dip.
  
• Jeep - business as usual
  
• Mahindra - Nothing out of the ordinary, however Bolero falls to sub 5K levels
  
• Maruti - Alto is back as king of the hill. Big dips for Baleno / Swift / Dzire / Brezza. Good uptick for Scross / Ertiga / Ciaz. Dispatches understandably low for WagonR for which stocks are being cleared now.
  
• Nissan - running on fumes. May soon follow the path of GM & Fiat(?)
  
• Renault - Kwid keeping this company afloat. Sudden uptick in Duster numbers.
  
• Skoda - business as usual, looks like they are content with what they have got.
  
• Tata - Tiago / Tigor numbers declining which is not a good sign. Nano refusing to die. Nexon going steady.
  
• Toyota - Business as usual, if that means Yaris touching a new low number every month.
  
• VW - Mixed bag with few highs and few lows keeps them content

All in all, the lowest selling month of 2018 sees few ups and a lot of lows. Hopefully 2019 shall start in a better note.

[narayans80]

Why is there such a huge dip in Baleno and Brezza numbers? For cars that have waiting time associated.

Hyundai seem to have hedged the overall numbers by their lower segment cars (i10, i20 and Santro) for the drops seen in Verna and Creta.

XUV seems to have dropped a good 1K sales the last 2 months. Rotating production lines, or Marazzo's eating into XUV's pie?

Overall, numbers don't seem too bad for the last month of the year.

[volkman10]

Thanks Aditya for the December sales data:

Here are some observations including the 2018 overall round-up.

Slump in the auto industry continues even as discounts seemed to be the highest.

The condition for the dealerships are also at a critical stage as they are carrying an average of 45 days stock with wafer thin profits as well due to additional discounts being offered from their margins to liquidate stock.

The situation is even worse pronounced for the challenging brands (bottom 6 OEMS) where dip in volumes is hitting their bottom line really hard and justifying the investment is an uphill task.

New Launches/Facelifts- Effect: With the impending New WagonR launch, it loses its position in the top 10. Baleno too loses its position due to the face-lift expected soon. Discounts bring Hyundai’s Grandi10 in the top 5. Maruti Suzuki rejigs its production and smartly brings Celerio volumes up to take it in the top 10.

Seven Maruti Suzuki cars and 3 Hyundai cars that cover the top 10 cars. Also Maruti Suzuki still holds on to a Market share > 50%, in fact its market share has grown 0.5% (YOY).

Hyundai too has gained 0.8% market share and in the other side of the spectrum FCA has lost the highest Market Share in Dec’18 due to the dwindling volumes of its flagship Compass.

Maruti Suzuki: Leading in most segments, sees its mass market product Alto back to its Nr. 1 position. Dzire the car responsible for revival of the compact segment seem to be growing stronger leaving the second in that segment far behind. Ertiga with its strong demand is now the leader in the MPV segment, Ciaz leading the sedan segment, Vitara Brezza in the Compact UV and utility vehicles (Eeco +Omni) helps to consolidate the dominance of Maruti Suzuki in December dispatches. New 2019 launches like WagonR, face-lifts like Baleno and Power train changes to its line-up looks promising enough for Maruti to defend is commanding position. But 2020 is the period to watch for exciting launches.

Hyundai: Despite the hype of the new launch Santro, Hyundai is having just 5% growth. The highlight of the month is i20 reaching the 3rd best seller beating Maruti’s Baleno and Grand i10 ahead of WagonR. Santro falls to ~7k units even with a strong booking seems priority in production could have been changed in the product mix. Expectation from Hyundai is the promising Compact SUV slated for an early 2019 launch.

Tata Motors: Holds on to the top 3, with the help of its newer launches. New launches like Nexon helps but fail to understand the drop in Tiago volumes (M-OM). Discounts have helped Hexa to show marginal increase as compared to November dispatch figures. Harrier and its Premium hatch will be Tata’s promising offers for 2019.

Mahindra: Not so good for Mahindra as it de-grows 1 % when most top auto manufactures see a positive growth (YO-Y). Almost all products shows de-growth with abysmal numbers coming from KUV. Too early to pass a verdict the flagship Altura . TUV and XUV show a flat growth. 2019 growth depends on the pricing of XUV3OO,

Honda: Shows a healthy growth of 4 %. Amaze stabilizes at ~ 5.5K, City establishes as second to Ciaz in the sedan segment, WR-V is now a 3rd in the CUV segment. CR-V shows respectable numbers while Jazz de-grows further and Brio seems to have ended production? Honda Civic is the much awaited launch, but with Honda’s expected pricing might not fetch the desired volumes.

Toyota: Grows at 10 % mainly with volumes from Innova and Fortunerer. Yaris further decreases, what is next with Yaris? For 2019, Toyota has Corolla and Suzuki badged products for launch. Camry too is due shortly but not expected to garner any substantial volumes.

Ford: Grows at 15% due to a low 2017 base number. EcoSport overtaken by Tata Nexon. Aspire and Freestyle volumes drop. No clue on how Ford is going to sustain with no new models are being speculated for a 2019 launch.

The rest of the Auto Manufacturers: Have all registered double-digit de-growth! The bottom 6 is finding it extremely tough to maintain their Market Share and is losing their ground rapidly.

Overall 2018:

Maruti posts highest sales while Tata Motors post highest growth.

- Tata find themselves at an enviable position at the top of the list at 26.3 percent sales growth.

-Hyundai Motor India has reported its highest sales volume in a calendar year

- Despite strong sales volumes from Honda Amaze for a few consecutive months, Honda Cars India reports 2.3 percent sales decline for 2018.

- Datsun India reports sales volume drop of 12 percent despite launching 2018 Datsun Go, and Go Plus in Q4 2018.

-Volkswagen at 22.9 percent sales decline. Renault India reported 28.3 percent decline complete the bottom end of the chart.

Sales:




Growth:



Source +Auto Punditz

[Samba]

My observation -

Top gainers of the month has 8 out of 10 cars whose sales are low or mediocre.

The list - Duster, Sumo, Endeavour, Vento, Ameo, S-Cross , Hexa, Etios

This means the companies have billed these cars to their dealers to clear their 2018 stock. As these cars are slow moving, am sure these stocks will be available with the dealers till Feb or March.
So we can expect some discount/offers on these models and expect lower sales figure for the next couple of months!

Wagon R - Looks like the new face-lift WagonR is very close to its launch?

Yaris - In-spite of giving heavy discount, Toyota still couldn't save the Yaris. The damage is already done. Plonking the D4D to the Yaris and making it available for the cabs may be the only option to save the Yaris!

[strawhat]

Originally Posted by S.MJet

What is with Ecosport, second consecutive month with below average sales? Nexon seems to be taking the game away.

As per this report Nexon beats Ecosport in Jan-Dec 2018 cumulative sales as well.
Nexon - 52519, Ecosport - 51973

Sad to see Ecosport and Freestyle sales falling on consecutive months. I think they are underperforming to a certain degree. Calls for a refreshed marketing and sales strategy. Aspire facelift doesn't look like a capable competitor to Dzire and Amaze. Ford should be really concerned.

Of all sub-4 metre cars only Nexon seems to be selling consistently and why not? It is backed up by GNCAP ratings. Isn't that something none of its competition can boast of!

Talking of GNCAP, shouldn't Ford also test their cars and drum beat about it as they seem to stuff them with safety features at least on top variants.

Brezza and Creta have also seen a huge drop in sales while S-Cross surprisingly has posted positive growth. Expecting normalcy to resume in the new year though.

Alto is the runaway success of the month. This old horse just won't stop running.