Team-BHP - Is there market potential for XL size hatchbacks in India?

The reason CURRENTLY is in caps is that i'm referring to the next 3 to 5 years and not in long term in 10yrs.

The car i've taken as the prototype is the Lancia Delta. It measures 4520mm in length. It's around the length of a honda city.

Lancia Delta

Lancia is owned by fiat.

I've always been of the opinion that hatchbacks are always more practical than sedans of the same size. The jazz is a perfect example. As a personal example, i can carry a full size bicycle inside my indica vista with some maneuvering. I wouldn't think it's possible in most sedans unless you have the appropriate roof rack, ropes etc.

So far, the excise duty rule giving rebates to sub 4000mm cars with engine sizes lower than 1.2l(petrol) or 1.5l(diesel) scares manufacturers away.

I'm of the opinion that with proper marketing, the practicality aspect of this type of car can be used to create a new segment as the practical alternative to C, C+ and maybe to early D segment sedans. It should make perfect sense to the value buyer, to the highway cruiser and someone who occasionally has to carry a fair amount of luggage such as airport luggage.

Opinions please.

India has never been a market for big hatches. Even in the near future I do not think there will be much success for big hatches.
Couple of big hatches that were launched in India, Ford Fusion and Chevy Optra SRV did not enjoy much sales as they were priced closed to sedans and the general Indian mentality is "why should I pay more to get an Hatch, when I can get a sedan for similar price"
Even Honda Jazz suffers from this and you can see it's sales number dwindle.

There is. But in India we value VFM products. So if there is added functionality of carrying more passengers and also if Ground clearance is enough to carry the vehicle over our car-breakers then such a large hatchback has potential. Maruti R3 comes to mind which is going to be launched in Jan 2012, but it is expected to have two child seats in the boot, enhancing its functionality. Jazz is good but the engine is small and GC is not enough to make it successful.

As for me, I personally do not have any issue with a large hatchback, I guess two things that need to kept in mind before launching the large hatchbacks:

1) Engines should be kept at par with the Sedans that are currently being sold, as in terms of technical specifications.

2) Pricing - Keeping a note of point 1, if with the same tech specs, the hatchback is available for a couple of lacs less, it makes all the more sense.

Dying for the Cruze hatchback to be launched here in India, with 150 PS and 327 Nm of torque.

I agree with speedmiester. In India the general mentality when buying a hatchback that costs upwards of 6-7 lacs is "Why should I pay so much for a small car?". To most buyers, I would say sedans seem to "increase" their status compared to a similar spec'd hatch. :D To take an example, I havent really seen many i20 1.4 CRDi or 1.5 gamma (petrol AT) top-end Asta variants on road which are priced upwards of 8L (on the road) Bangalore, even though they are loaded with features. Most i20s seem to be the 1.2L variants in the 6-7L bracket. Anything beyond that is sedan territory here I guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ajay0612 (Post 2279980)

Maruti R3 is not an hatchback, but coming to your point. There is a huge potential for mini SUVs like mini xylo, rio and Jimny.
At this point we have only Rio which is definitely not worth the money because of its engine, lack of features and lack of literally everything. With the launch of mini xylo we can see that most people who need a five seater with sufficient ground clearance will move from regular suvs/muvs to mini suvs.

Come on Maruti, launch the diesel Jimny soon.

I don't agree with some posts on this thread.

For us Indians, bigger is generally better. Sell the Swift for the price of the Alto, or the Camry for the price of a Corolla and watch the sales shoot through the roof. I know of several people who rejected a car for being "too small"; however, I know very few who rejected one because of being "too big"

Is there a market for large hatchbacks in India? Absolutely Yes!. BUT, at what price? 8.25 lakh rupees OTR, a la Jazz? Nope. Some members have brought up the Fusion and the SR-V; neither of them were failures because of size. They bombed in the market due to poor marketing, price positioning and other product disadvantages.

Indians like big cars, because a larger car generally has more space (for our many family members) and is more prestigious (a significant purchase motivator).

Net net, large hatchbacks are welcome but not at large prices :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 2280175)

+1. Having bought the jazz, I am now tired of answering stupid questions like "why did you buy a small car when you can afford a large one?"

To them, a DZire is a larger car than jazz just because it has a boot and is cheaper too! So, I am a big fool. Now, how can I explain to them that Jazz is infact a much more spacious car than Dzire with much better quality,looks etc etc?

Large hatchbacks will be definitely priced similarly or more than C segment sedans, which means there will be very few takers for those! Period.

The Fusion & the SRV are two prime examples of how a large hatch should not be marketed. Ford has corrected this with their Figo and has been rewarded by the consumers. At the other end of the spectrum is the i20 vs Jazz war, with the former being the unchallenged winner.

We always love a good bargain and when we get it, we buy like there's no tomorrow. Manufacturers and products that get this right shall reap the benefits even in the future.

I do not think big hatches will be successful in India as people may prefer to go to Sedan (the reason for success of hatchbacks in India is its price and size and a big hatch will defeat both).

Personally, i would prefer a small (5 seater) offordable SUV instead of a big hatch and i hope Duster will get some success in that category when it launched.

This is an interesting thread. I'd definitely like a big hatch, and like nukeblitz mentioned - with proper marketing such vehicles can be sold in India.

I disagree with the Jazz being a large hatch. The car is under 4m in length. The Jazz has good space utilization, but its still perceived as a 'small car'. These large hatches should not be marketed as 'small cars'.

The Indian market is maturing fast and it will not be long before some one brings in these models. For eg, before the i20 and the likes, the thought of spending 7+ Lakhs on a 'small car' would have been shot down vehemently by family and friends.

EDIT: Just came across this thread - Its just a matter of time !
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/52456-there-market-premium-hatchbacks-india.html :D

+1 to all those who say it is Possible. For sure it is, the only issue is marketting the product the right way.
For many, there are just two types of cars , hatches and sedans. Hatches cost less, are small while sedans cost more and are big. But offlate we have seen launches entering into each of these domains. So you have a sedan cheaper than a hatch *may be Indigo/Dezire vs Jazz etc.
A bigger hatch is all the more sensible than a boot hanging sedan. And as the market has matured, buyers have started seeing practicality more seriously.
GTO rightly said, you start selling corolla at hatch prize and swift at alto prices, the sales charts will burn. Manufacturers got to give the right product at right pricing. And even SRV could have been a success.
I was dissappointed at the failure of Fusion, because as a hatch, it made a lot more sense than a sedan.

I have noticed that a lot of us have been taking about sub-4000mm hatchbacks like the jazz. I agree, over priced sub 4000mm hatchbacks would not sell as people would still consider them as small cars.

However, i'm talking about very large hatchbacks like the Lancia delta i talked about in the first post. It measures 4520mm in length. That's the same length as a honda city (ANHC). I don't think that anyone, even a layman, would be able to call that a small car. Granted, it's still a hatchback, but one would just need to see it standing next to any of our regular sedans to see it's size. And for the same size, it's a LOT more practical. I think the indian public would appreciate that.