In my opinion, vehicles which generated a lot of hype among car enthusiasts and in car magazines but became flop are:
Maruti Suzuki :
Maruti 1000 which came with 1L engine. (previous version of Esteem with 1.3L engine)
Zen Classic
Maruti Versa
Zen Estilo
Maruti Suzuki A-star
Suzuki Kizashi
Tata:
Tata Estate
Tata Sumo Grande (New body style did not appeal to masses, felt heavier)
Tata Indigo Marina
Tata Aria
Tata Altroz Petrol
I don't want to include Tata Harrier (V1) yet, we should see V2 sales, as it is basically same vehicle with updates and upgrades.
Toyota:
Toyota Etios Liva
Toyota Yaris
Mahindra:
Mahindra Voyager
Mahindra KUV 100
Mahindra Verito Vibe
Mahindra Quanto
No Jeep model of Mahindra ever failed, even models like Classic, Commander, etc did decent numbers in rural areas and in government force. Thanks to their off road abilities and rough build.
Ford
Ford Escort
Ford Mondeo
Ford Fusion
Hyundai
Hyundai Terracan
Hyundai Elantra
New generation Santro
Chevrolet
Chevrolet Sail twins
Chevrolet Optra
Chevrolet Spark
Chevrolet Enjoy
Nissan
Nissan X- Trail
Nissan Kicks
Nissan Evalia
Renault
Renault Scala (Same as Sunny, while Sunny became a Sales Hit, Scala flopped)
Renault Fluence
Renault Captur
Mitsubishi
Montero
Outlander
Cedia (Ultimate vehicle for petrol heads, my favorite during school days, my friends used to relate it to Mitsubishi EVO from NFS and also used to modify them). I thought this will do great in the market, but only true enthusiasts and Petrol heads could recognize the vehicle's true potential. My friends have 3 of these in Red, Yellow and Black colors. These are the [i] only 3 [/] I've spotted in Hyderabad.
FIAT
Fiat Palio Weekend
Fiat Petra
Fiat Avventura
SKODA
Skoda Octavia Combi (Estate)
Skoda Fabia
Skoda Yeti (Extremely Powerful and capable vehicle for its size)
I honestly think Honda is the only car manufacturer without any flop car in Indian market. All their cars in general bring in lower numbers due to the premium amount they offer in a similar segment compared to other brands. I personally hated V2 of Honda City, the dolphin shaped one, but it too did good numbers. Latest Honda Civic and Accord are also market leaders despite their low numbers as the segments they cater to in general have fewer buyers. After Toyota, Honda is one brand to blindly trust on reliability. Even recent Jazz, WRV, Mobilio did decent numbers. If we have to pick a car and name it as a flop from Honda stable, it would be Mobilio, bit it also did decent numbers (coming from Honda brand, where people are comfortable with Sedans and Hatchbacks) when compared to likes of Marazzo and Carnival. (MPV league)
other vehicles :
Subaru Forester (Great, extremely capable AWD vehicle), we took a test drive and loved it.
ICML Rhino (Came after Qualis was discontinued, many thought it'd do a Qualis on sales charts, but people were intelligent, bought Innova instead of going for this
Sonalika
Premier Rio
San Storm (Was a Sensation for its sport car looks, but its poor build quality made it an instant dud. I remember seeing this in auto magazines back then)
DC Avanti
Opel Astra
Daewoo Matiz
Force Gurkha (Extremely capable vehicle, Pitched against Thar, but did not even do 1/4th of Thar's numbers)
Ashok Leyland Stile MPV
MG Hector, Hector Plus, Gloster - I see hector doing decent numbers, but regarding upcoming Gloster and all MG products, MG's fate in India will be decided probably in the next 1 or 2 years on how Indians receive it with on going Indo-China geo - political conflicts and MG being owned by SAIC motors which is in turn owned by Chinese government. Based on my interaction with people and online forums and website user comments, I don't see many Indians being comfortable in buying an MG car whose parent company owners are working against interests of India.
From all the above information, I guess people look for
niche products from particular brands
1. People want SUVs and MUVs from Tata, Toyota and Mahindra brands as they have tried and tested products and services , changes to adapt to newer SUVs and MUVs. Aria and KUV are one off, but in general people like bigger and tougher cars from the above brands. People liked Indica from Tata 2 decades back, now they are liking Tiago, but they LOVE SUVs and MUVs from Tata.
2. People like Smaller and less expensive vehicles from brands like Maruti and Hyundai. I don't think Hyundai can bring in Genesis and sell high end cars, and people buy them. Tucson and Kona are struggling to bring in good numbers. May be that is the reason they can launch cars like KIA Stinger etc from KIA's side, as they did with Carnival. I think we need some more time do decide if Carnival is a Hit or a Flop. As of now it is going towards flop side, I hope they bring in the latest global updated version to Indian market. Again Indians like Body on Frame RWD SUVs and MUVs, but this is changing with XUV5oo and now Carnival.
3. India is a market for MUVs but not Estates. MUVs like Sumo, Qualis, Innova, Tavera, Xylo, Marazzo, Hexa, Innova Crysta became HITs, while MUVs like Tata Estate, Fiat Palio weekend, Tata Indigo Marina, Skoda Octavia Combi, Subaru / Chevrolet Forester failed to capture Indian market.
4. Van culture in India is still in Initial stages. Back in the day, other than Ambassadors and Premier Padminis, big joint families used to go around in Maruti OMNIs (fondly called Maruti Van), while small nuclear families used to go around in Maruti 800 (fondly called Maruti Car). With Introduction of MUVs like Sumo, Qualis etc, People moved on to Safer, bigger MUVs and ditched poor built Omni. Even Mahindra Voyager Van did not do well when it was released in 2000's. Maruti Versa also failed despite having Big B and Jr B as their brand ambassadors. Only bigger
Mercedes Benz Van did well with rich and elite people who were looking for a family mover for long distant travels. Even latest Vans like Nissan Evalia, Ashok Leyland stile failed to impress the market. Eeco is doing well as an urban cargo, parcel and ambulance vehicle. Carnival has Van like rear doors but is a premium MUV / MPV in design, if it had regular doors, may be (?) it could have done well in the market.