[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

The Corolla might not be a great looker. But come on, it surely is much better looking than a Dzire, any which way you look at it.

I fully concur with this view. Only issue with the Corolla is that it has begun to look a bit dated as it has been around for quite sometime.
But no car in India,IMO, is as unseemly as the DZire. I am not able to digest its looks even now.
The Swift, however, is one of the best-looking hatches in India.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by sridharps

The Dzire numbers are third behind Indigo and City, whew! One of the ugliest cars, IMHO. Even I don't see many of them here on the road. But then, I see a lot of Aveo's and Aveos sales numbers are showing 1/7th of Dzire! Just the sampling, I see in front of me, I guess!

The Dzire's third on that list because the numbers include sales for the Jan - June period, including month's prior to the Dzires launch. Month on month, I expect it to be a better success than the NHC & the Indigo.

But no car in India,IMO, is as unseemly as the DZire. I am not able to digest its looks even now.
The Swift, however, is one of the best-looking hatches in India.

Strange, isn't it? What a boot can do to an otherwise fantastic looking car. I concur, the Dzire is the worst looking sedan in our market.

[tsk1979]

On the topic of dzire, the sales numbers are not reflective of the demand, but reflective of how many Dzires can Maruti make. If they could make 1.5x the number a month, it would sell that number. There is a 6 month waiting list, which in this day and age is simply astonishing.

[amit]

Funny thing is if it was Chevrolet Dzire, Ford Dzire or Fiat Dzire priced at the same level with the same features, it would have been a flop.

[sridharps]

Originally Posted by GTO

The Dzire's third on that list because the numbers include sales for the Jan - June period, including month's prior to the Dzires launch. Month on month, I expect it to be a better success than the NHC & the Indigo.

Sorry, GTO, didn't quite get that - did you mean that since Dzire was launched late March, this sales data here is just three months of sale for Dzire, but 6 months of sale for City/Indigo. Ok!

Strange, isn't it? What a boot can do to an otherwise fantastic looking car. I concur, the Dzire is the worst looking sedan in our market

Yeah, It is the shape and the highpositioning of the boot actually. Each time I look at the car, I freeze, because a human equivalent image about the rear always crops up in my mind..no, wait let me stop here, before I get thrown out of this forum for being a pervert and posting improper comments!

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by amit

Funny thing is if it was Chevrolet Dzire, Ford Dzire or Fiat Dzire priced at the same level with the same features, it would have been a flop.

This is indeed a good thing. Why? Because this way the companies know that indian customers will not forget
GM's opel brand had insane spare prices. And even today they are being punished for that
Ford faltered on customer service, and people still don't trust their cars
As for FIAT, they completely bungled on service, and deserted their customers, and even with Tata deal they are slowly inching out of the muck.

This is a lesson the the car manufactures, either treat your customers with care, or make sure you have a vehicle which no one else can make for that price(Indica/go)

[GTO]

Originally Posted by amit

Funny thing is if it was Chevrolet Dzire, Ford Dzire or Fiat Dzire priced at the same level with the same features, it would have been a flop.

Nothing really funny in there, is it? Brands command trust & mass acceptance after years of toiling and taking care of their customers. If people believe in Maruti with a blind eye, there is an absolutely strong reason for it.

Maruti has consistently provided reliability, good FE, a low cost of ownership and an acceptable level of quality. A brand like Fiat isn't even in contention here, with its default record on deposit refunds, dismal after-sales, rare dealer network and long wait periods for parts. I dont want to start yet another flame war between Maruti & Fiat, but the attitude & reputation of the two companies just cannot be compared.

That said, the Dzire has neither class-leading space, nor looks / handling / ride quality. But its a well-priced modern Maruti diesel. And hence, will sell I tell you, some parts of the Indian car market are so predictable. And then, some are so unpredictable.

[rajneeesh]

To add to what gto just said, Maruti and Tata have identified unserved niches and designed products to cater to these unserved niches. In case of Tata it was the niche for a simple, spacious car with low acquisition and running costs ( IndiXX) and Maruti did the same with Dzire ( Mid size model diesel at an attractive price), The Swift a beautifully designed B+ segment hatchback with performance to match and the SX4 ( fully loaded). This in addition to the credibility MSIL is held by the Indian Car buying public = success at the showrooms.

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by amit

Funny thing is if it was Chevrolet Dzire, Ford Dzire or Fiat Dzire priced at the same level with the same features, it would have been a flop.

that a Chevy Dezire/Ford Dezire would have been a "flop" is highly debatable - except for FIAT. But agree they wouldn't have been the runaway successes like Dezire.

the problem is that nobody gave a diesel sedan in this price range with reasonable level of refinement like Dezire offers so far. Logan could very well have - but they screwed up in price!

[phamilyman]

SkyWalker, the Fusion lost out despite being a good vehicle. Add ugliness in droves like the dZire (an afterthought at its very best) and we'll see where it goes.

Not to mention it'll have the killer Ford pricing as well. I mean, the (almost) discontinued quite-discounted Ikon fetches almost as much sales as the Fusion does with its dual brain advertising

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

SkyWalker, the Fusion lost out despite being a good vehicle.

IMHO, Fusion lost coz it was and still is overpriced. Not many in Indian market will pay a Sedan price for a hatch.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Add ugliness in droves like the dZire (an afterthought at its very best) and we'll see where it goes.

it was never about looks. Bring in a reasonably priced car, with good mileage and low maintenance and Indian customers will lap it up.

There's no point in blaming the customer. customer pays and gets what they want. Smart companies will try to adapt to the market rather than blaming customer taste.

[ravibhat]

I heard Maruti July sales gain 1% which is slowest in 4 months. I guess other automakers have tough times a head.

Its mainly because of high inflation. Food / Fruits every sort of items are costly day by day!

Regards,

Ravi.

[oss]

Originally Posted by ravibhat

I heard Maruti July sales gain 1% which is slowest in 4 months. I guess other automakers have tough times a head.

Well, that's only the July 2008 sales as against July 2007. But hte YTD sales upto July-08 compared to the same period previous year has shown good growth.

The slowdown in July can however be an indicator of the impending slowdown on the car sales for the rest of the year.

With the increasing fuel price and inflation, etc people might differing their purchases.

In any case, what with all those 8 month waiting period for Dzire; i don't see it reflecting in the numbers. The waiting list probably is on account of supply/creation of artificial demand (read manipulation) than real demand i guess :(

[TeddyBear]

The Indica reported sales of 7,525 nos., a decline of 32% over July 2007. The Indigo family recorded sales of 4,487 nos., a 73% growth over July 2007.

The Sumo and Safari accounted for sales of 2,640 nos., a 20.6 % decline compared to July 2007, impacted by the sudden and unexpected increase in excise duties in the latter half of June 2008.

Cumulative sales of passenger vehicles in the domestic market for the fiscal in the first four months were - Cumulative sales of the Indigo family were 17,539 nos., a growth of 79%.
Cumulative sales of Sumo and Safari were 15,006 nos., a growth of 12%. The Sumo recorded a 19% growth with sales of 9,407 nos., while Safari sales at 5,599 nos. grew by 3%.
------------------------
Looks like Indigo CS is eating the Indica Pie or Indigo CS is contributing / compensating the defaming Indica.

[undead]

NEW DELHI: The slowdown has hit Motown. Rising inflation and interest rates, and lower availability of finance have pushed auto demand into skid row as sales for most car companies remained flat in July.

Maruti Suzuki, car market leader, saw its sales increase by 0.1% to 52,911 in July this year against 52,839 in the same month last year. Sales of Maruti’s M800 hatchback and Omni minivan, which account for a fifth of total domestic sales, fell 15% to 11,206 from a year earlier. The company managed to remain positive on the sales chart, with a 37% increase in sales in the mid-size car segment on the back of huge demand for the newly launched sedan Dzire.

South Korean major Hyundai Motor India also posted marginal growth of 0.4% to 15,066 in July against 15,003 in the same month last year.

HMI senior V-P (marketing and sales) Arvind Saxena said: “It has been a challenging month for the entire industry with the combined effects of increase in interest rates, hike in fuel prices and inflationary pressures affecting sentiments. This quarter is expected to be a tough period.”

Tata Motors posted a decline of 14% to 14,652 in July this year against 17,629 units in July 2007. The sales of Indica declined 32% to 7,525 cars, and the utility-vehicle range of Sumo and Safari dropped 21% to 2,640 compared to July 2007. Utility major M&M reported a 6% decline in July sales at 17,302 this year against 18,407 in the same month last year.

American major General Motors India posted a 25% increase in July sales to 5,706 against 4,570 during the same month last year. The company is offering huge discount on its small car Spark of around Rs 50,000, which increased its sales chart in July. Honda Siel Cars India saw sales dipping 4.27% to 4,339 in July 2008 against 4,533 last year. Skoda India posted a 83% increase in sales to 1,550 units in July 2008 against 845 units in July 2007.


Source : Car sales flat, bikes fare better- Automobiles-Auto-News By Industry-News-The Economic Times