[TheHelix0202]

Originally Posted by volkman10

That is the last of BSIV.



Will come in the form of face-lift with the 1.0L TSI engine.

I meant actual comfort, convenience and safety features; but yeah, I guess a better engine would be welcome too. How does the 1.0L TSi compare to the 1.2L TSi?

[chaturgaurav]

Originally Posted by aniyo

C2 sedans are having the worst time in recent memory. Thier total sales is less than half of Brezza alone. And quite less than Venue alone.

Originally Posted by abhishek46

5. All the mid-size sedans are taking a beating. Ciaz, City, Verna trio are languishing at ~1000 units/month mark.

Well there is already a discussion going on another thread on the diminishing value of C2 sedans and quoting GTO from the same thread

Originally Posted by GTO

Would say that C2 segment sedans are still enjoying healthy volumes...they haven't been annihilated like the D1 segment sedans. That said, there is no doubt that their volumes are stagnating because:

- C1 (compact) sedans are getting so good.

- Crossovers & SUVs galore! The market loves them.

So, this says it all. The pie is now being eaten by the Ecosports, S-crosses, Brezzas and Seltos. Moreover the price overlap makes it an easy decision to opt for the SUV/ crosses.

Originally Posted by Equus

Honda City also barely managed 4 digits! Perhaps their lowest ever?

Honda City ZX CVT is about 17.45 L on road Mumbai. This easily puts the buyer into Creta and Seltos' decent variants and add about 1.5 L one can opt the top variant of the SUV. IMO, if a C2 sedan were to survive the SUV onslaught, that would be Ciaz as even with its top variant, the price gap is still sufficient to make a buyer think before spending the money in excess of 15L. Having said that, even Ciaz has competition from sub-compact SUVs and lower variants of compact SUVs.

[manjunathkl]

All the top 6 are from Maruti Suzuki stable. Kudos to Suzuki for holding the
position > Selling more than half of passenger cars in Indian market that too with such stability. It is virtual monopoly in A through B2 segments.

Not sure what happened to Seltos sales, it has taken a severe beating. Till Nov it was looking invincible.

Nissan Kicks is literally kick in the face for Nissan. <1k sales simply an insult, a great product in the hands of a wrong manufacturer.

Renault, Nothing other than Duster and Kwid platform is selling well. Captur has sold 1 unit in Dec. Maybe this is to give consolation to Kicks. Duster is dying a slow death. Kwid, Triber at their prices cannot support the brand. It needs to do something serious, otherwise, it will be lost into oblivion.


Overall 2019 car scene and 2020 predictions:

1. Japanese brands are very slow to adapt to market condition, it has already started to hit the business for most of them except Maruti. Maruti has a total dominance, so it won't affect them soon.
2. Chinese brands are planning a Blitz which is going to affect every brand except Maruti. Hyundai/Kia will also bear the impact but not as much as other slow performers.
3. Tata has tried its best to reinvent. Nexon and Tiago are its saviors but it needs to learn to sell more. Very competent cars led down by ineffective sales teams. Harrier desperately needs a serious revival and better spread of variants.
4. Mahindra has to get rid of non-sellers and cars that have no future. Concentrate on next-Gen XUV500. XUV300 needs better pricing and packaging. Ladder on frame cars segment is doing good for them. They must refresh them and continue to improve sales and service network.
5. Hyundai's moves are great so far, but it is not resulting in increase of market share. Great new launches, doing great numbers but not so much in A to B2 segments. New gen Creta will only improve things. It is not easy to dethrone the King, but they can do better than what they are doing now. New Santro deserves to sell better. Hyundai has not lauched anything in A segment. This is easily a 10K/month segment.
6. Honda's next gen City is not going to turn-around the company because the segment itself is in ICU. Brio platform cars and Jazz variants cannot support the company through the new decade. They need to bring something fresh. Otherwise, it will be the next Nissan.
7. Electric/Hybrids must become cheaper otherwise, it is simply not going to do volumes and justify running the assembly lines.
8. Safety standards have improved in 2019 (Only slightly) and going to improve further in 2020. Great news for Indians.
9. Auto transmissions are on the rise, will give relief to stressed city commuters.
10. Chinese entry will also alter the price dynamics, it will be interesting to see what will be the impact on price of Maruti Suzuki cars once we the entry of 3-4 chinese brands. Great Wall is the next Chinese brands to enter.

[jessie007]

Since my father bought a Brezza in December, i noticed and checked that its sales of 13,658 is its highest in the financial year i.e. from April 2019. Must be a very unique aspect wherein a model's sales peak in the month of December.

Little time left till Maruti extinguishes its stock of FIAT sourced diesel engines. High sales are a testament of the popularity of the former national engine. Sad that no small capacity 4 cylinder diesel engines are in store for the future.

[bluevolt]

Seltos numbers are justified. Kia deliberately dispatched a lower number of units as they already had announced price hike and they wanted to make the best out of this situation. No wonder, the waiting period was increased from 1 month to 2 months from December onwards.

I am sure Jan 2020 figures will cross 10k+ easily.

[Lalvaz]

Can we also have the sales figures for Force Motors?

[PrasannaDhana]

The unhealthy obsession of Indian population with the C-SUVs and SUVs is affecting the C2 sedan space. I fear the companies would focus lesser and lesser on C2 sedans in the future.

Honda City barely getting 4 digit sales!! Damn, that's something no one would have imagined a few years ago, when it did consistent 6k+ units every month. Skoda Rapid gets the second spot, due to the irresistible combo of overall package + discounts.

[gasinveins]

I have been tracking the Skoda's numbers for the past three months. They have consistent sales numbers even though they aren't selling high volumes. December Rapid's sales might be due to the price discount offered to clear BSIV stocks which provided a good VFM than overpriced City and thus the numbers have increased. Since Zac Hollis took over, I can only see the brand growing under him and cannot wait for their 2.0.

VW's polo is still selling 2,000 units for a 10-Year-old car proves that there are people who value quality engineering. Hope their 2.0 plan also works out.

[powershift]

Though consistent in its sales number and a top seller its segment, I hardly manage to see any ownership reviews or new delivery or any updates about Bolero (power plus).
Is it because its being sold in non-urban areas and we dont have members from these areas?

[Miyata]

The domestic manufacturers contribute only 12% of the overall sale! Every likelihood of that decreasing further in the coming years. In the December 2012 analysis, the domestic contribution was at 19%. This is still with protection schemes for Indian companies via high taxation on imports (CKDs).

More varieties and competition will even out this distribution. I also hope the market would be made more fair and open - to give us better value for our money!

[livetodrive]

Originally Posted by manjunathkl

All the top 6 are from Maruti Suzuki stable.

Renault, Nothing other than Duster and Kwid platform is selling well. Captur has sold 1 unit in Dec. Maybe this is to give consolation to Kicks. Duster is dying a slow death. Kwid, Triber at their prices cannot support the brand. It needs to do something serious, otherwise, it will be lost into oblivion.
[/list]

I think its too early to knock Renault off the competition. YoY they have shown improvement in sales and market share. Its important to first survive this brutal market which Renault is doing now. Just Kwid and Triber are close or more than entire sales chart of Tata, Honda or Toyota. Once they have strong grounds under their feet, they will or should definitely deliver a strong punch which marks their brand value.

[volkman10]

TOP SELLING CARS of 2019!



For more:
Link (Maruti Suzuki Alto becomes best selling car of 2019; Dzire comes second)

[Pkumarblore]

As an Alturas G4 owner, happy to see their sales jump to more than 3.5 times from 35 to 123. I think Mahindra has good product on hand to take on the likes of Endeavour and Fortuner. They need to market the Alturas G4 very well. I am surprised I do not see much of TV Commercials of the Alturas like how the Ford did with the Endeavour. Mahindra cant' take serious buyers for granted. They should reach out to them.

[manjunathkl]

Originally Posted by livetodrive

I think its too early to knock Renault off the competition. YoY they have shown improvement in sales and market share.

I agree with you. I'm not writing-off Renault. Compared to Nissan, they have done far better.

Originally Posted by livetodrive

Once they have strong grounds under their feet, they will or should definitely deliver a strong punch which marks their brand value.

They already had a strong ground provided by Duster. I don't think any other brand other than Hyundai could garner such numbers. They couldn't capitalize it even partially. List of their failed and successful cars:

Failed Renault Cars in India:
Fluence
Scala
Pulse
Koleos
Lodgy
Captur

Successful Renault Cars in India:
Duster
Kwid
Triber

6 cars that failed are from B2, C1, C2, utility and D1 Segments. Successful models are one each from A and Utility segments (except Duster - which is seeing sun-set soon). With Duster's successor failed miserably, they don't have a single INR 10L+ Car. Going by history, all their successful cars have no DNA of Renault. Either they are Dacia platforms or Renault-Nissan's low-cost platform like Kwid/Datsun Go (A segment). It is proof that true Renault cars can't sell in India.

They simply need a massive hit from C2 segment or atleast C1 segment.

Originally Posted by Pkumarblore

They need to market the Alturas G4 very well. I am surprised I do not see much of TV Commercials of the Alturas like how the Ford did with the Endeavour. Mahindra cant' take serious buyers for granted. They should reach out to them.

Mahindra was a tractor, truck, and jeep (rugged) manufacturer just a decade ago. They have come a long way. Having said that, entering premium segments is not easy. Customers of the premium segment want snob value apart from a great product. One or two good products are not enough to change their brand perception (especially when already there are established players in the same segment). Please remember, Maruti failed to sell Kizashi in India and other markets. No amount of promotions is enough. There is no easy way, Mahindra has to launch a series of great cars to establish themselves in the premium segment. I think they are doing that wisely.

Ford and Toyota have a long history of such premium cars. so naturally the trust factor is high.

[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

The unhealthy obsession of Indian population with the C-SUVs and SUVs is affecting the C2 sedan space. I fear the companies would focus lesser and lesser on C2 sedans in the future.

Honda City barely getting 4 digit sales!! Damn, that's something no one would have imagined a few years ago, when it did consistent 6k+ units every month. Skoda Rapid gets the second spot, due to the irresistible combo of overall package + discounts.

India has always had this unhealthy obsession with SUVs. Back in 2011, when the only non-sedan you could buy in the C2 segment were the Scorpio, Safari, and Innova, people still bought as many of these SUV/MUV as they did sedans. We just did not buy more of these because these SUVs were relatively crude and unrefined when compared to the plush sedans. In 2013 we got the Ecosport, Duster, and Ertiga as well in the C2 price range. That year people bought twice as many SUVs as they did sedans.

In 2018, we bought four time as many SUVs as sedans. And mind you, C2 sedan sales had still not dropped in 2018 - they were still ~5% of the overall market.

2019, especially the second half, has been a bloodbath for the C2 sedan. We bought almost 7 times as many SUVs as sedans!! Plus, the proportion of C2 sedans sold has now dropped to about 3.5% of the total market size - the lowest it has ever been. In terms of absolute numbers, since 2011 (the first full year I have data) the industry has managed to always shift about 1.5 lakh or more C2 sedans a year. In 2019, they shifted barely over one lakh units. Next year's numbers will be interesting - I think the C2 sedan will become super exclusive simply because so few are sold!