Team-BHP - Hits and Misses of 2009

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- - Hits and Misses of 2009 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/72233-hits-misses-2009-a-2.html)

How about updated versions like CITY-VMT and SX4-VVT??

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manish Rathor (Post 1651020)

Hits

Cruze(Good Car at that price)
Xylo(Entry SUV)
Punto(looks)
Linea(looks)
Nano(Out of the world)
Fortuner(good on road off road and price).

Flops
Ritz,(Price, looks)
jazz( Overprice
Astar(cramped)

IIRCManish, Xylo is either an UV or a MPV.SUV...no ways

Hits

Fiat Linea
Fiat Grande Punto
Toyota Fortuner
Chevy Cruze
Nano
ANHC
i 20

Average
M&M Xylo
MUL New Estilo

Misses

A Star(What an eye sore and the cramped space)
Honda Jazz(Was definite that this will lose out because of the price)
Ritz(Obnoxious Looking rear killed a good looking front end car)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gaddiwale (Post 1648589)

I find this kind of comparison is funny and misguiding. In the month of Nov 2009 Fiat has sold 1153 (GP) and 807 (Linea) units, comprising both Petrol and Diesel models. Where as Jazz sold 546 units, only has petrol version. Same true for Ritz (sold 4851 units), though I dont have the break up of pertrol and diesel. Just looking at the cars on the road of a town/city we should not jump in to a conlusion of Hits and Misses, the scenario may be different in other parts of the country or in totality as the sales figures indicated.

am looking at the sales figures primarily and expectations vs actual. Surely FIAT was expected to be on its way out, and however great the cars they bring out, people had lost confidence. The market response to punto is not as great, but it saved FIAT and so did Linea. If one looks at the product and the response - its a miss, but from FIATs past and the expectations they had, its a hit for both.
Ritz was slated as the successor to the Swift, it has not lived up to the expectations so far, swift still outsells by far even though its a model of many years now..
Jazz has clearly been a flop- look at the inventory piled up and look at the sale of its nearest competition, the i-20..

Quote:

Originally Posted by nurni76 (Post 1649363)

Hits:

1. Fortuner (8 months waiting and bookings closed)

Average:

2. Linea (Coming down from Hit to Average, hoepfully doesn't move to the miss category)

Miss:

1. Jazz (from a monthly target of 2K, currently selling 0.5 K)

Dont know why people give so much premium respect to fortuner and wait for almost 1 yr.

Good that Linea sell is coming down, so that we will get some new/upgrade version from FIAT again.

Jazz, lets Honda realize and reduce the price as the way i20.

For me the hits and misses would be the cars that dared to change the rules of the game vs the ones which were me too or simply stupid...so here it goes:
HITS:
Ritz Petrol - fresh design and stonker of an engine
Superb - SUPERB VFM
Fortuner - Fresh and amazing performance
Cruze - Shouts out 'I'm the MAN' in every possible way
RIO - a new segment that looks interesting

Average:
Linea and GP - beautiful cars but need much much better engines...just coz ppl love Fiats doesnt mean we will take anything they make.
A-star - people might not like it much but it has a fresh design and a supercool engine thats the best in its class...the driver's car for less than 4.5 lacs
Indica Vista and Manza - cool cars but for me neither the interiors nor the drive cuts it for me...

Flops:
Jazz - Superb car but at the price...SORRY
Estilo - A-star engine combined with bad looks

Hits:
Nano
Fortuner

Miss:

Estilo
Astar
Jazz
new Sumo MKII

Quick reflection on the previous year:

HITS:

Fortuner - All the good things about Toyota body-on-frame trucks. Stonker of engine. The market just can't have enough of them. A little known stat is that, after the Altis, the Fortuner is the best selling vehicle in the 10 - 20 lakh segment.

Ritz - An average of 4,500 - 5,000 cars a month is lower than that of sibling Swift, yet the Ritz is amongst the best selling new hatchbacks from the 4 - 5 lakh segment. Gem of a 1.2 L petrol, all-rounded nature and an absolutely ugly rear end.

Tata Manza - Along with the Fortuner, the Manza is a segment shaker. Of all the cars I've driven in the last 6 months, the Manza & the Fortuner have impressed me most (relative to their segments). Space, the national 1.3 MJD engine, good ride quality and a VFM price tag.

Fiat Linea - In time, the Linea could even overtake the Punto for sales. Fiat's comeback sedan, great ride + handling + fuel efficiency, nice Euro build. I wouldn't call the Linea an overwhelming success from any perspective, yet an average of 900 cars a month @ an 8 lakh rupee price is respectable for a brand like Fiat.

Skoda Superb - A runaway success in the 20 lakh segment. The way that I see it, the Superb is 40 lakh rupee luxury for half the price.

AVERAGE:

Tata Nano - Nope, not because of the product or price, but due to the West Bengal trouble. Their production is restricted to a mere 2,500 cars....and that won't change until the Gujarat facility is up and running (end 2010).

Fiat Punto - Strictly average market performance for the hatch segment. Now settling down to about 1,000 cars. In terms of market share from the same segment, the Punto's performance is poor.

Mahindra Xylo - Couldn't match the success of the Scorpio, Bolero or the Innova. 2,500 cars a month is respectable, yet way below Mahindra's projections.

MISSES:

Honda Jazz - 8.xx lakhs for a stripped down hatchback? 'Nuff said. 1.5 lakhs too overpriced.

Chevy Cruze - In only the 2nd month of sales, the Cruze dipped down to 500 cars. This at a time when older competition (Altis, Civic) manage 500 - 800 cars in their 3rd year of sales. Expect heavy discounting soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 1653680)

Chevy Cruze - In only the 2nd month of sales, the Cruze dipped down to 500 cars. This at a time when older competition (Altis, Civic) manage 500 - 800 cars in their 3rd year of sales. Expect heavy discounting soon.

OT.

My friend visited Halol GM facility recently. He told me that Cruze chassis comes from US or some other place. Gearbox comes from some asian countries. Currently they are having production constratints for Cruze and if one books a Cruze today, he has to wait for one and a half months for the car.
I came to know this yesterday night and thought of starting a thread. But I am not sure about how much authentic data this is. He managed to extract this information. Lets wait for a couple of more months for Cruze to settle down. I admit that the sales have been disapponting speically given the car that is quite good, but production constraint cannot be ruled out. The localization was about 65-70% as told to my friend.

I would also add the facelifted Honda Civic also to the "miss" category. It simply failed to pose any threat to competition such as Altis or the ones from Skoda stable. I also hear that they are planning a 3% price hike from next year on top of this!

Apt to the name- it really has made a fortune for toyota india:)- looks like it will do so in 2010 also, just saw an ad today in TOI that they are opening bookings on Jan 4th 2010 and with delivery committed for April 2010!!!- Man what a position to be in- people waiting in line to buy a premium SUV..wow!!- wish i had a toyota dealership

Hits:
1. Toyota Fortuner
2. Tata Nano
3. Hyundai i20
4. Chevrolet Cruze
5. Toyota Corolla Altis
6. Skoda Superb
7. Honda City
8. Kawasaki Ninja 250

Flops:
1. Maruti A-Star
2. Maruti Ritz Diesel
3. Suzuki Grand Vitara
4. Maruti Estilo

The Fiat Grande Punto and the Fiat Linea did a very good job given Fiat's poor image in India. Although their sales are just average, these two cars have brought Fiat back in the contender's list which has been a really good job. Honda Jazz was never a mainstream product so I won't consider it to be a flop model. Instead it did well as a niche product but when compared to the i20, the sales of the Jazz are surely way down.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 1653680)

Quick reflection on the previous year:

MISSES:

Honda Jazz - 8.xx lakhs for a stripped down hatchback? 'Nuff said. 1.5 lakhs too overpriced.

Honda needs to be whipped on their backsides heavily till they weep and drop the price. That is so much attitude to price a hatchback at 8+L.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkh (Post 1655677)

I never knew that Fortuner is launched. Any one test driven it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by LandCruiser (Post 1655978)

Honda needs to be whipped on their backsides heavily till they weep and drop the price. That is so much attitude to price a hatchback at 8+L.

For this attitude 600 cars per month is way too high! For Honda to realistically do a price correction on Jazz Indians should give a CRV sales figures:D