April 2009 Sales Figures & Analysis Report compiled by GTO & Vasudeva. Only possible due to Vasudeva’s contribution. Thanks man!
The important comparison is YOY (Year on year) as March is generally a month of high sales (depreciation benefits). Overall Market:
- Passenger car sales up 4.2% (year-on-year) from 98,752 to 102,899 cars, mainly due to higher compacts & premiums. Great way to start the fresh financial year, though not everyone is optimistic of the economy recovering just yet.
- Utility vehicles nearly the same @ 22,300 UVs. Seems like Xylo is a success and is perhaps the only UV that is posting positive growth (not considering niche or small segments). Could be that commercial buyers have tightened their purses more than individual buyers?
- Diesel cars now account for 31% market share (source : BusinessWorld) helped, no doubt, by India’s national engine (the Fiat 1.3 multijet ) Hatchbacks:
- Maruti’s erstwhile champion – the 800 – is now down to its lowest ever monthly sales report of 2,345 (down 47% YOY and 3.5% MOM). Pull the plug, MUL, or reposition (read = cheaper) to take on the Nano?
- The competent Alto continues its domination while all A2 segment Marutis (Alto, WagonR, Zen, Swift, A Star) total up for 46,810 cars sold in April! That’s nearly 60% of the 3 – 5 lakh hatchback segment.
- News has been filtering in that the Zen Estilo sales are sliding. I don’t see the point in making this car which is nothing more than a WagonR clone under the skin. Behead the Estilo and move on! Too bad about what happened to the “Zen” badge though. Everything that the original zen created, was washed out by the weird Estilo.
- The i10 has driven Hyundai’s cause to growth, this car combined with the Santro sold 20,140 units – a 7.3% YOY growth.
- While the Indicas (old + new) have grown 16.2% YOY, their monthly fall is in line with the worst. A whopping 37%. Clearly, the Vista is not doing for Tata what it should have done (bad positioning, too similar to the old Indica). This explains Tata’s recent move of introducing a cut-price Indica Quadrajet. The Indica at one time enjoyed its supremacy as the only diesel hatch, that has changed with the Swift, Palio and soon-to-be-launched Ritz.
- GM’s repositioning of the Spark (lower price, cheaper variants) is giving it relatively better volumes. The Spark is now selling about 3,000 cars a month.
- The Fabia is officially a flop (363 cars). Sales are down 57% compared to last April, and 35% to March 2009. The Fabia continues as the second worst selling hatchback in India : surely an unenviable position. I hope Skoda realizes that you can’t get away with selling lousy engines backed by shoddy service, at an inflated price! Skoda is selling 1-2 month old Fabia (only 90 produced in 4/09).
- Palio : Why is Fiat hanging on to this outdated poorly performing hatch? With only a 104 cars sold, it isn’t making Fiat a fortune. And the Palio will only ruin Fiat’s image….something that the Italian company is keen to resurrect. Fiat, do yourself a favour and sell only modern cars like the Linea, upcoming GP etc. This car is more of a "polio" on Fiats current resume. Sedans:
- Will wonders ever cease? The ANHC sells 2,800 cars, a whopping 41% more than the cheaper practical NHC (previous Honda City). And this in an economy whose confidence is lower! This, when the C-segment market size has stayed pretty much the same at about 17,000 – 18,000 cars. Who would have thought?
- The Dzire has single handedly taken Maruti’s C-segment numbers to 7,066. A 69% YOY growth rate. Dzire clear leader in mid-size.
- Hyundai is in deep sweat. Their Accent + Verna arsenal has weakened; 2,067 cars….a massive 23% hit over last year. The Verna is a lacklustre sedan at best, only saved by the stonker diesel. The Accent has been around for like forever.
- Indigo is now selling a lot less. Lots of discounts on this and Tata is clearing out old stock (368 produced in 4/09)
- Fiat’s Linea seems to be settling down around the 1,000 figure mark (April = 1,101 cars). Pat on the back to Fiat for recovery. We can only hope that they don’t make a mess of the situation in the future.
- Ford is now back to selling an average of 1,700 sedans (Fiesta + Ikon combined). I am surprised that the value-priced Ikon TDCi hasn’t had a positive effect on Ford India’s market share here.
- Prepare to bid farewell to the lacklustre Aveo soon. A paltry 151 cars, and a 55% YOY decline. Bye bye to the Optra too : Market will decide its fate (only 136 moved in April, diesel notwithstanding).
- The Ambassador is losing favour with politicians, the Lancer too old and the Cedia really never clicked. These three combine for only 500 odd cars. Really a lost opportunity when you consider that HM used to sell about a 1000 Lancers alone 10 years back. Poor ol’ HM, could never keep up with the times and continues to market vintage horses.
- Logan is another flop! YOY sales down by 68%. The Indian customer is clearly smarter than to accept a low cost car wearing a premium price tag. Logan is close to its death-bed.
Last edited by GTO : 12th May 2009 at 17:06.
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