[pqr]

Isuzu India: Passenger vehicle sales analysis

Isuzu India’s product portfolio is composed of commercial (pick-up) as well as passenger (pick-up & SUV) range of vehicles.

• Since entry, till March 2022 - Isuzu has sold 9,502 passenger vehicles in India
• The pick-up segment accounted for 64% of sales and the SUV segment accounting for the remaining 36%
• 2017-18 was the best year for Isuzu in India with 2,831 units wholesale
• It seems like Isuzu had a very challenging BS6 transition in 2020-21

• V-Cross pick-up is the best-selling passenger vehicle for Isuzu in India - 5,881 units sold till March 2022
• The Isuzu MU-X is not selling well right now, because Isuzu failed to bring contemporary new generation of MU-X, already available globally

Data source: SIAM library

[achyutaghosh]

Interesting set of numbers. We would think that the transition to BS6 hurt the brand, but to me, the transition from VFM to expensive positioning hurt it even more. Buying a Isuzu made sense so long it was sturdy and cheap, offering off-roading to the masses, but it does not do that now. For example, back in 2017, the MU-X used to sell for 23.XX, and today it starts at a Fortuner rivalling 35.XX and makes the Toyota look VFM. Maybe that's its purpose in India?

[CarNerd]

What is Isuzu doing? Where is the 2022 MU-X? Why are they selling last gen models? Have they forgotten what happened to Ford? Either launch new models with competitive prices or pack up and leave. Isuzu has a real chance of success in the SUV market only if it acts fast.

[Pam81]

Originally Posted by achyutaghosh

Interesting set of numbers. We would think that the transition to BS6 hurt the brand, but to me, the transition from VFM to expensive positioning hurt it even more. Buying a Isuzu made sense so long it was sturdy and cheap, offering off-roading to the masses, but it does not do that now. For example, back in 2017, the MU-X used to sell for 23.XX, and today it starts at a Fortuner rivalling 35.XX and makes the Toyota look VFM. Maybe that's its purpose in India?

Very well said. Isuzu's engines are really abuse friendly and goes on and on. I always thought, for India, Isuzu's competitors moved on in focusing on other bits of the vehicle to provide a luxury + capable vehicle. Isuzu appears to be adamant in upgrading it's interiors to match (still plain vanilla today IMHO). Or, the other way around, they should strictly position themselves for the buyers looking for upgrade in capability & functionality but their pricing is not addressing that.

[amtak]

I am curious to know, what is going on in Isuzu employee's minds? If a company like Ford wrapped up, how is it that, Isuzu is still surviving with such miniscule numbers? What is their future roadmap?

[Durango Dude]

Looks like the British Cottage Car Industry Numbers. Isuzu may be Going, going, gone before we know it.

[autocratic1107]

I bet people in smaller cities wouldn't even have heard about the brand name or its existence due to scarce dealer and service network. On top of that, they have positioned themselves as premium operators and their products spread, pricing doesn't do any good. With these sales numbers, they may be exiting into oblivion even before you realise their vague existence in the country.

[ACM]

The issue right now is simply that they have out-priced themselves from the market. They have pretty much doubled the price of the VCross and DMAX range since launch and it no longer is VFM.

The only real update is transition to BS6. The feature set is basic. That is in itself ok. The top end model is still about as bare bones as the base highlander version. AT 4x4 is only available on the top variant.

Toyota is an exception and others cannot get away with anything but VFM pricing in India. Even Ford sold what I would call a Prado segment Ford Endeavour at Fortuner segment price points to get decent numbers.

A customer will today refuse to buy for 38L what was available at 18-19L 4 yrs back. Even the showroom guys know this. It has transitioned from a niche product to a rare product.

They are selling a previous gen model and have yet raised the prices. Sadly even getting in the current get version will not help them get out of this mess.

[rkw]

Originally Posted by autocratic1107

I bet people in smaller cities wouldn't even have heard about the brand name or its existence due to scarce dealer and service network.

That might not have been the situation if they had capitalized on their market presence & product performance. There was a time when Ambassador used to come with Isuzu engine & it was quite popular due to performance. I am surprised how the company is continuing operations with such low numbers.

[GreasyCarb55]

The sad thing about Isuzu especially in India is the fact that they have two amazing products in the 2nd Gen MU-X and 3rd Gen D-Max.

The current D-Max sits at 22.96 Lakh (Ex-Showroom) for the V-Cross Z 4x2 AT variant and 23.44 Lakh (Ex-Showroom) for the V-Cross Z 4x4 MT with the top of the line V-Cross Prestige Z 4X4 AT variant being another 3.5 Lakh more.

The current MU-X is priced at 34.9 Lakh (Ex-Showroom) for the 4x2 variant which is on par with the base model Fortuner Diesel 4x2 MT and the 4x4 variant is priced at 37.9 Lakh (Ex-Showroom) which is on par with the Fortuner Diesel 4x4 MT.

With these prices no wonder Isuzu is barely able to sell 630 D-Max's and a pathetic 61 MU-X's a year. Here's what I think they can do :

1. Scrap the Hi-Lander variant, if they want a cheaper model to appeal to rural markets and farmers there is already the commercial D-Max and the S-Cab.

2. Introduce the new 3rd Gen D-Max with the 3.0L Diesel (190hp/450nm) and lower prices to these levels:

• V-Cross 4x2 - 21 Lakh (Ex-Showroom) + 80,000 - 1 Lakh for AT
• V-Cross 4X4 - 22.5 Lakh (Ex-Showroom) + 80,000 - 1 Lakh for AT
• V-Cross 4X4 Prestige AT - 24 Lakh (Ex-Showroom)

3. Introduce the new 2nd Gen MU-X with the 1.9L Diesel (163hp/360nm) and 3.0L Diesel (190hp/450nm) and reduce prices to these levels:

• MU-X 1.9L Base MT 4x2 - 27.5 Lakh (Ex-Showroom)
• MU-X 3.0L 4x2 AT High - 30 Lakh (Ex-Showroom)
• MU-X 3.0L 4x4 AT High - 31.5 Lakh (Ex-Showroom)

Isuzu needs to understand that they have the 20-30 Lakh Pickup truck segment to themselves and capitalize on it, that the MU-X can be a good seller and should compete the Fortuner while being one step down in price and most importantly that trying to take on the bull (Toyota) by the horns is a losing battle in India.

[corneliu]

Originally Posted by ACM

The only real update is transition to BS6. The feature set is basic. That is in itself ok. The top end model is still about as bare bones as the base highlander version. AT 4x4 is only available on the top variant.

A customer will today refuse to buy for 38L what was available at 18-19L 4 yrs back. Even the showroom guys know this. It has transitioned from a niche product to a rare product.

I can vouch for this point, as I went through the exact same thought process.

I was looking to buy a utility vehicle and at the time the Vcross was the only option. However, seeing the insane price jump for the 2021 BS6 upgrade and considering the features it offered (i.e, almost none) vis-a-vis the earlier version, rejecting this option was a no-brainer.

The second option was to look for a pre-worshipped 2nd hand second hand BS4 model, but not only are these are extremely hard to find (most of the inventory available is doubtful/abused cars), the second hand market for these has taken a cue from the irrational price jump in the primary market, and so now we have 2017 model BS4 cars (with doubtful ownership history + 80-90kms on the odo) selling for a nominally higher price than the aquisition cost (post inflation it might be a 5-10% depreciation at most), which again made this option a no-brainer in terms of VFM.

Add to this the wafer thin service network, and the doubtful future of Isuzu in India, given their extremely poor sales, I decided to reject Isuzu completely.

Which is a shame, given their product portfolio is made up of extremely capable & durable cars.