[iamahunter]

Toyota Yaris

This car created hype being a Toyota. But the sales numbers said otherwise.

[haisaikat]

Mahindra Marazzo is one example falling in this category.

Mahindra did most of the things right for such a capable product

• Right spend on ads across various channels
• Bringing the Italian design factor
• Paid Propaganda via some youtubers
• Shark inspired design (although shark fin antenna only added later on)
• Good build quality
• Marketing it as segment higher than Ertiga and positioning between Ertiga and Innova
• Very spacious cabin
• Competent engine if not enthusiastic

But inspite of all these the product failed to generate numbers due to below reason

• Mahindra's reputation as a commercial vehicle manufacturer only, something they could not turn around even with hit products like XUV 500.
• Incorrect pricing, even if the product is worth, they should have positioned it more closer to Ertiga than the Innova. This segment is highly price sensitive and it's evident from the success of Renault Triber where inspite of not having any success beyond Duster they made excellent numbers only due to pricing the product very wisely and understanding what the segment craves, FE and lots of features, hence the segment first 1 litre engine for a 7 seater, that is competent research.
• The 12 - 20 lakh segment became interesting with lot of competitive products (like Hector and Seltos) including the new Hector plus and even XL6.
• Delays with BS6 and not having petrol
• Not having automatic as an offering, look at MSIL who seems to be still managing with that age old 4 speed auto box

[motor spirit]

Fiat Grande Punto !
so highly appreciated for the handling , built , looks & even the engine .
I wish it was a success .

[TRANSAM]

The below cars come to mind:
Sipani Motors- dolphin ( fibre glass outer body if I recollect) don't recollect seeing many adverts though, just featured on Auto Mags in those days.
The Peugeot 309 created some buzz initially, sold a few cars, before they exited India. We had booked one as well and cancelled thereafter.

[balenoed_]

Etios LIVA (barring the taxi segment)

With AR Rahman as ambassador, Toyota's entry into hatch segment was looked upon with great curiosity and expected to be a benchmark but the bland and below average interiors and overall outlook made people to stay away. It's big brother made it big in taxi segment at-least.

[navtiwari]

Tata cars are known to create a lot of buzz be it Safari Storme, Hexa and now Harrier. Above all, I don't think any car has created more hype than 1Lakh rupee car for all sorts of reasons and then failed.
Tata engineering, design and marketing is right on top only to be put down by horrendous Quality, testing and A.S.S.

[Kishen.padiyar]

While we have had quite a few cars that made a lot of noise only to disappear silently, in the recent past it has to be the Tata Hexa! Before I am countered that Hexa is not a dud, a quick glance at the sales figure will confirm that less than 10,000 units were sold in total in a segment that sells around 6,000-8,000 cars per month!

Huge fuss around the development, pre-bookings opened 2-3 months before the launch, video reviews by reputed channels piled on lakhs of views in within the first couple of days, Tata showrooms saw footfalls like never before and some showrooms even ran out of brochures, price lists and booking forms

Fancy adverts showcasing lakhs of kms of testing under difficult terrains with a tagline that read 'Whatever it takes' but then did Tata really do whatever it took to come late to the party and yet steal the limelight? Well, the numbers speak for themselves. The cons overshadowed the pros (I shall not go in detail, the respective thread has it all covered) and each of the moves such as feature deletions, downsizing of wheels etc. were nails that kept closing the coffin more!

To cut the whole story short, for a car that was based on a proven platform, Tata could have done a much better job. Instead of sorting out the niggles the previous vehicles that were based on that platform faced, Tata have managed to add a few extra niggles. Sometimes it feels like the strategy from Tata for Hexa was not to sell in huge numbers but just a stopgap measure before the Omega architecture based vehicle takes over the baton for good!

[infiniti85]

I agree with many names that others have shared such as TATA Harrier, Mahindra Quanto etc. but one name that is itched in my memory and is probably retaining #1 in this list since long time in my opinion is - Maruti Suzuki Versa.

I say so because it had managed to create a lot of hype in the era when there was no social media, thanks to the endorsement by Mr. AB Sr and Jr.

[Hells Bells]

Octavia vRS245? I know it is a limited edition but against the hoopla, the string of cancellations and unquoted available units makes it quite a big sales dud.

[RaghuVis]

All said and done, I find it very hard to believe that there was a hype for Mahindra Quanto!
A close relative of mine was still working in Mahindra when this was launched and I remember him telling that there was no other car Mahindra ever made which made their own employees cringe with embarrassment. Of course Mahindra continued it up with Nuvosport but by then he had quit the company!

Agree with many of you guys that Nano undoubtedly is the biggest hyped sales dud. Kizashi, Vitara, Harrier, S-Cross, Uno all can be put in same group but nothing can beat Nano.

Can we put Daewoo Matiz, Daewoo Cielo(fastest car to go from hit to dud in matter of months) and Hyundai Getz(Of course Swift killed it but on it's own it was a flop as well right?) also in this list ?

[for_cars1]

Not to forget the hype around Tata Aria with its extensive Ad campaign 'comfort of a sedan, muscle of an SUV...' It had the potential but was a big sales dud.

[JamoonDriver]

With a heavy heart, i would like to add Baleno RS to this list.

Being the 1st Turbo Petrol engine car from Maruti, it had lot of potential. Now dont know where it is, apart from one in my garage.

[darkLightning]

From the currently available cars the biggest one would be

Jeep Wrangler

From the older ones I would pick

Nano and Kizashi

And I would like to go one step further and predict another about to become sales dud

Suzuki Jimny - why ? simply because whole country went gaga over it but Maruti simply refuses to listen and for sure will launch it once people have moved on.

[Asmt_b]

A few other models are :
1) Nissan XTrail


Again a nice reliable international japanese car but probably let down by poor pricing,marketing and after sales.

2) Chevy Spark & Aveo


Even though the spark had some decent sales early on it has to be considered a big sales dud considering that its main rivals the santro and wagonR did so well at that time.

[Sandeep500]

Fiat Uno may be also be considered in this category as it generated quite a handful number of bookings but eventually could not become a success story.