Team-BHP - August 2010 - Indian Car Sales Figures & Analysis

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 2063144)

Entry-level cars:

- With Tata's Sanand (Gujarat) plant gaining traction, India's cheapest car - The Tata Nano - finds 8,103 new homes in August.. Within a couple of quarters, the Nano should easily overtake the Alto for the mantle of "India's best selling car".

I say, release 500 limited edition 800s with the 1.6 VVT under the hood (collectible edition :D), have a grand farewell party and R-I-P.

>>> GTO,

Your article made excellent reading, not only for all all the motorheads here, but also for guys who interest themselves in understanding car buying patterns reflecting our socio-economic changes.

I agree that eventually we should see the Nano overtaking the Alto; however I expect Maruti to have a worthy Alto replacement to join battle in the next year or so.

The Tatas should ( and I've been very firm on this) set up assembly ops overseas asap to saturate the bottom of the pyramid. There is no time to be lost to build presence, create a brand awareness and then work your way up with the Indica, Manza and the rest. Essentially a pincer move ( with the other pincer being JLR) to gain a strangle hold before its rivals gain a bridgehead. Africa, Latin America, Russia, the Central Asian republics are sitting ducks for the Nano variants. Obviously the Nano will have to be tailored to suit the driving environment of each market.

Your idea of a grand sendoff to the 800 is fine with guys like us:) but may draw frowns from Maruti's bean counters who'd like to flog it for the next year or so - completely depreciated dyes, efficient (read inexpensive) sales & service ops, potential market in the less affluent regions of the country are the likely reasons. Plus it has the numbers to show for it.

Another idea : Maruti can export the dyes to countries one level below ours and prolong its life and earn royalties.

VW might well be co-ordinating with Suzuki for the Up!, which is at this level.

Regards
issigonis

Excellent analysis, as always, GTO. Like others I also read the entire information in one go. Thanks a lot for linking to your earlier analysis at places, it was good reference..

FIAT's slide is a bit unexpected. The marriage with TATA has helped TATA more than FIAT for sure.

Alto was the leader anyways, but with K10 it seems to be burning the charts!
SX4 is doing decent numbers, crossing 2k.. CNG variant helping the numbers?

excellent analysis GTO. It is spot on the market behaviour and how the auto manufacturers are reacting to it. Rather some are still not reacting to it.

i20 surpassing Santro sales -- good for Hyundai, cut down versions of i20 to blame ?
i10 beaten by Swift -- I remember Swift selling around 7-8 k units per month some time back, now its upto 11k, thats an impressive bounce back, seems like more cars are rolling out of the factory, I have seen the waiting periods of Swift diesel has reduced quite a bit now, less than a month now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 2063146)

The premium-priced Hyundai i20 sold a staggering 7,134 cars in August. Who would have thought that a 6 - 7.5 lakh rupee hatchback in India would ever manage such success?

This is the first figure I looked out for, and I was astonished with the 7000+ figure myself. It is indeed a sign of the market maturing, even if the i20's sales these days are helped a lot by the Era and Sports versions introduced during the facelift and model expansion.

Quote:

The Chevrolet siblings, Spark (2,462) and Beat (2,461), bring the General a respectable (total) volume. However, I'm surprised by the Beats mere 2.5K level.

Must say I'm disappointed. I really hoped the Beat would take off. The looks turning off so many buyers, I somehow can't digest that. It has to be GM's brand perception. Even now, however hard they try, the perception still doesn't change.

Quote:

Corporate edition or no corporate edition, Mercedes (with its renewed vigor) sells more C Class (258) than the BMW 3 series (229).

Don't they have an Executive Edition in place? A lakh or two dearer to the CE. No surprise that the C is leading, it's a newer car and yes, definitely more comfortable for the typical buyer of the segment. In fact, the 3's numbers are a little higher than I expected. I'd say BMW is doing pretty well for itself with the CE idea, else their sales would have been fledging by now. And disappointment for the A4, despite being the most desirable of the three, it sells half as much as a car which is almost 6 years old now. What is Audi doing?

GTO, you never fails to impress us with your reports. I finished reading the whole thread in one go.

I'm quite worried to see the low numbers from Fiat. Let me hope that Fiat acts quick by improving the quality of the plastics and service. And once they succeed in these areas then their sales will start to increase gradually.

OT: Earlier I used to eagerly wait for your test drive reports and from today onwards, I'll be waiting for your 'Car sales figures' too. :D

Amith

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoolFire (Post 2063316)

GM and to an extend Ford seems to be losing pace. Beat is beaten and Figo success has almost killed the Fiesta.

I would certainly blame dealers for this, during my recent visit to one of the largest dealers in NCR specifically for Fiesta the sales lady would simply compare 1.6 Fiesta with top end Diesel figo. I was very clear about looking at Fiesta but she would simply drag in Figo at some or other point(Boot Space, FE, running etc etc) to depict that Figo is superior(and look you get same 1.4 diesel engine at significantly cheaper price!!) and would simply at the end say that 'I was just letting you know about Figo'. :Frustrati

It seemed as if either the dealer or Ford is selling Figo and Fiesta is rival's product in the same showroom. They should stop pushing prospective Fiesta buyers to look at Figo unless they show specific interest into buying a hatchback.

PS: Oh yes, at the same dealership one single hint about Team-Bhp and no more pushing on Figo.:thumbs up

Awesome review as always, GTO! Sometimes, I wonder how you manage to get such detailed nos. Quite a few of them are not easily available indeed.:thumbs up

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 2063146)

A2 Hatchback Segment:

- There's another pleasant surprise here. The premium-priced Hyundai i20 sold a staggering 7,134 cars in August. The customer will pay top rupee for top product today.

- Bottom of the class : Fiat Grande Punto 1,012 (a premium hatch with not so premium interiors, fit, finish and brand)

A study in contrast! i20, who everyone thought, including Hyundai themselves probably, was richly priced is doing wonders. These days when one goes to a H.A.S.S. there are so many i20's around that one does tend to get surprised. On the roads too, you see so many of them.

Punto on the other hand is just falling behind month after month. And they just won't change. Agreed, they had to differentiate with the Linea, so they gave dull interiors. Agreed, they had the "once bitten, twice shy" deja vu with the Palio 1.6 fuel-guzzler image while launching the Punto so they gave short gears. But once sales started falling, shouldn't they have learnt? Couldn't they understand that in the Indian psyche, a boot is a differentiating factor enough? Couldn't they have understood after reading it on T-BHP that customers are unhappy with the short gears (and with just 1800 of Fiats selling, I'm sure they have enough time on their hands:D) and with the Punto 90hp, changed the gear ratios to actually make the car worthy of "The Most Powerful Hatchback" tag? They'll have to get their act together very-very soon or risk being a has-been.

The deserving do indeed win. And the rest just fall by the wayside.