[maxbhp]

• At the launch of Qualis many , including myself had seriously doubted on the cars future, its looks seriously hinder entry to an Indians heart but it went on doing strong figures month after month and I guess its the only model whihc did close to 2600 when it was pulled out of production line.
• Corolla seemed to have struck the right chord at its launch but destiny proved otherwise blame it on lack of diesel option or uninspiring looks. It never really pulled back inspite of 'a baby free with baby food'-kinda discount . Corolla which is Altis in the international market is quite a competent product but Indians Dil always mange more.
• Then comes Camry . I personally am a big fan of its back seat comfort , great car , good mileage....with disastorous price tag and a profile and look too similar to Corolla. It may have been a big hit with fleet owners but never quite made into many Indian's garage.Did a revival in 2006 but Hallelujah ! what a !@#$ price ? 22 lacs for this ? rather buy an accord and Mugenise it.
• Whats left is Innova , a very ambitious monthly sales figure of 4000 . Did well for initial months crossing the target but after 3 months its only discounts that had really pushed the sales above the supersonic range.
• If only they had retained Qualis . Keep it as a bread winner and get Innova as a premium MUV with alll bells and whistles for around 13 lacs with 3.0 D4d , it would have easily sold 1000 units a month without any hiccups and with substantial margin . Corolla needs a facelift, next to civic it really looks a generation or 2 old.
• I just hope they dont release Fortuner in a similar trend as Innova expecting 3000 units for a 14 lacs car .
• It needs Aygo to battle out the new Zen , with 1.1Hdi it may find many takers over Zen if priced well afterall Toyota surely enjoys great respect among Indians.

[GTO]

Sweet and extremely informative report, Steeroid. Heres my two cents:

- Indigo sales are flat because of production problems, and not lack of demand. The paint shop issue caught them very badly.

- Good intentions + Terrible execution : Tata and Fiat alliance. The Fiats are still selling pitiful numbers. I mean...what kind of a stupid idiot decides to sell some models in exclusive Fiat dealerships and the rest in Tata-Fiat dealerships. "Availability" is a very important in the four A's of marketing and confusion to the customer sucks. Being a car guy, I dont remember which model is available where.

- Maruti has the volumes segment covered. The Alto, Swift and WagonR are doing stupendously well. I never expected the WagonR to bounce so high but the repositioning and duel fuels appear to have worked very well for the tall boy.

- Surprising that the Esteem is still selling at 2200+ units per month. I have yet to see a sedan do so well. Consistently for a decade and a half!!

- The Camry - at 50% more of a sticker than the Accord - yet manages 50% of the Accords sales numbers. Not bad.

- Major resource hoggers are the Petra,

- The Baleno is back to the old days. Shows that a price cut can only take a product so far. Sure, it could also be because of the pending launch of the new Baleno.

- How much ever we dislike the Endeavour, it is still the best selling SUV from its segment.

I've always felt that we should have DIRECT access to SIAM submissions - what say GTO?

Done. I can assure you of my best efforts in procuring that information.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by GTO

Done. I can assure you of my best efforts in procuring that information.

Terrific - now thats something to look forward to. Contact Joz who can help you out with SIAM.

[typeOnegative]

Nice work Steer.

One of the points you made caught my eye. And that was the one about the Sonata. I really feel bad for that car - given a choice between an Accord and a Sonata I would pick the latter, even if the prices were the same. Dont know what has gone wrong. In the US it is doing pretty well.

Will Hyundai ever really break into the upper segment? Their offerings are improving in quality and backup support so it is kind of tough luck on them to lose out.

[supremeBaleno]

Well if it was not for the old Sonata's success (I believe it did much better than the current Sonata), I would have fully agreed with your theory, Jathin. Do partly agree with the Hyundai image problem you mentioned.

One reason why the previous Sonata did well, but not the current one could be the quality of the competition. The previous Accord was pretty plane jane (though I do like that look) compared to the previous Sonata (which I understand was a big copy/paste job as far as looks are concerned) and thus people might have chosen the Sonata over the Accord.

However the current Embera had a mighty competitor in the new Accord which is a damn good looker (I guess it is leading one of the tbhp polls on great looking cars) and this could be one reason why the Embera got left behind.

[adarsh76]

Perhaps hyundai should do what Honda and Toyota did with their premium cars. They should market their high end cars with a different name like Lexus of Toyota and Acura of Honda.

[Debasischatterj]

It is official now. A research analyst from ORG -MARG visited my place on behalf of MUL and filled-up an extensive questionnaire regarding the launch of new Baleno.The photograph he showed me is the same as we had seen in TBHP.The launch date will be some time in April/May,2007.The price tag is 6.5Lacks to 7.5Lacks for different variants Ex. Showroom Delhi.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by typeOnegative

Will Hyundai ever really break into the upper segment? Their offerings are improving in quality and backup support so it is kind of tough luck on them to lose out.

Nope. As someone pointed out, they need to create a new brand for the upper market. When they took over Kia the idea was that Kia would address the budget market while Hyundai goes upmarket. Unfortunately Kia now produces much better looking cars than Hyundai - on the same Hyundai platforms...kind of shooting themselves in the foot.

So they will either have to create a new brand or take over some existing or disused marquee to push their products. Dig something up from the past, perhaps?

BTW you're right - the current Embera is a better car than the Accord. But they havent marketed it enough.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by Debasischatterj

regarding the launch of new Baleno.The photograph he showed me is the same as we had seen in TBHP.The launch date will be some time in April/May,2007.The price tag is 6.5Lacks to 7.5Lacks for different variants Ex. Showroom Delhi.

If this is the price at which it will be launched, I would not be surprised if MUL shoots itself again in the leg with the new Baleno.

At these prices, if you slap on the insurance / taxes etc, the on-road price will be like 7.25lakhs for base model and 8.3lakhs for top-end, in Chennai. Compare this to the current Chennai onroad prices of 5.75 lakhs and 6.50 lakhs, which means the new Baleno is going to be costlier by around 1.5 - 2 lakhs. I am not sure it will find buyers at these prices - people might rather go the Honda way.

Maybe MUL is banking on finally going the heavy discount way a la the current Baleno, if its strategy fails.

[suman]

Today's Times of India are talking about a tag of 9 lacs for the Baleno replacement & 5 lacs for the Esteem replacement. Methinks they will be shooting themselves somewhere much higher than the leg if they talk about 9 lacs! At that price I would think it should be. a lot more than just a "replacement"

[tsk1979]

Hyundai has another problem. They sell a car for 15L and then drop price by 3L. If I buy a hyundai at 15 and 2 months later its sold for 12L, I will never buy a hyundai again. They need to stick with their pricing, and introduce products at a reasonable price.
Price cuts destroy customer faith.

[GTO]

Price cuts destroy customer faith.

And brand value. Absolutely spot on with Hyundais policies in the pricing of the Elantra and Sonata.

[suman]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

.
Price cuts destroy customer faith.

Agree with you completely.............lot of people (including quite a few of our members) seem to feel differently though..........at least about the Baleno, which has sold whatever numbers solely of the basis of major price cuts which make it perceived VFM

[GTO]

lot of people (including quite a few of our members) seem to feel differently though..........at least about the Baleno, which has sold whatever numbers solely of the basis of major price cuts which make it perceived VFM

Post-pricecut buyers love it! Its the people who bought at the original price that lose confidence.

[Mpower]

We have learnt to accept price cuts in all high tech electronic and computer gadgets, but why not in cars?

As a product becomes outdated, you have to cut price to attract buyers. The people who bought initially paid extra so that they have the latest and greatest.