March 2011 : Indian Car Sales Figures

[Dippy]

Those are some interesting sales figures for March. The Vento is finally king of the C segment making short work of the Honda City which was untouched till now. Competition is such a good thing really. And I feel this is only the beginning. The new Verna will be out soon and the fantastic diesel is sure to dent the City sales further. Honda's pricing strategies are now killing the brand and if they dont give a nice price to the Brio, that would spell real trouble. Now only if the learn from the sad sales figures of the Jazz. Brilliant car getting killed by bad pricing.

Ford will launch the new Fiesta soon and that would be another blow to Honda. Ford has learnt well from the Figo on how to offer a fantastic product package at a very competitive price. Look at those Figo numbers. They are doing everything right at the moment. And I'm sure this will continue with the new Fiesta. Ford have learnt well.

Looks to be a good month for Toyota for sure . The Innova is anyways selling in good numbers and the Etios has just taken the game a notch higher. Once production is stabilized, the Etios will be a segment leader. Its just a matter of time. Despite its shortcomings, its a VFM proposition. The sale of 8 Prius' was another thing that caught my eye. Not bad at all for premium priced Hybrid.

[TaurusAl]

Frankly, i have always wondered why the Honda cars are sold at huge numbers in the past. They are expensive to maintain and also expensive to buy. Maybe there was no competition in the market. But as the competition is getting more complex, they are bound to loose their market share.

Waiting to see the Maruti Sales Figures.

[anb]

Very interesting sales numbers for Honda City.Apart from Vento, SX4 Diesel is also a reason for low sales of city.

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by 333

The competition would soon be doing this for Honda ~

It won’t happen in this way for sure. New Hyundai Verna diesel and Ford Fiesta diesel are due for launch very soon; this will actually affect the sales of Vento diesel as Ford and Hyundai have stronger A.S.S department. If someone can provide a breakup in the numbers of Vento petrol and diesel then we can judge things in much better way. When it comes to diesel car I consider them to be in entire different segment. So comparing the sales figures of a ONLY PETROL powered car with a PETROL + DIESEL powered car will not give the clear idea. The competition should be like this - ANHC versus SX4 Petrol versus VW Vento petrol versus Hyundai Verna and Fiesta Petrol models, diesel models should be compared to their diesel counterparts only.

Let’s watch the market for around 6 months so that the market can stabilize with all models available for sale. Off course there are reasons for ANHC low sales which I mentioned in post # 6.

[xingamazon]

Great work as ususal GTO thanks for the data.

Some observations from my side:

Etios good sales figures, I read that Toyota is going to make sure the Etios manufacturing line runs seamlessly. Has that happened or is work still pending??

Great job by Vento in dethroning City. Though I am still amused what took guys so long to beat it..By seeing at Polo and Vento numbers one can assume VW is almost running in full capacity.

Amazing numbers by Figo these are really unbelievable. One can easily assume Figo will
move into the 10K mark sooner.Fact is they have not launched the new Fiesta yet, the old one is still clocking 1.8K. In fact Figo outselling Indica and Santro is not something even Ford would have had as a vision.

Micra outselling Fabia, its time Skoda makes a rethink of the Fabia strategy. Its a good vehicle not sure whats putting the market off

[souravc]

Originally Posted by GTO

Some performances that stood out:

- History in the making, folk. For the first time in a decade, the Honda City has been dethroned as the king of the 8 - 9 lakh rupee sedan segment. The Vento records nearly 4,000 shipments!! In my Vento test-drive, I had clearly mentioned that this all-rounded sedan is the only one that can take the fight to the mighty H. It's got the badge value too. The Vento's diesel is as much an advantage to VW, as the lack of one is a disadvantage to Honda.

Yahhhhhhhhhhoooooooo Yooooo Hoooo !! { mods please allow it }
Only reason why this was a quick kill for Vento was the smugness of Honda. India was clocking record sales month after month while Honda car sales had stagnated. City is a very good product which charges an unfair premium, it was a sitting duck waiting to be taken out by a comparable competent product with the right pricing . Vento with better build quality, good brand name, aggressive pricing and exciting performance shot it down - that too with absolutely shoddy dealership experience . When we try to rationalise that City sales might have been hurt as Honda does not have a diesel , it would be pertinent to consider what would have been if VW had a well oiled superb dealership experience like Honda ! With improvement expected on the dealership experience front and waiting period likely to reduce , the coming months look more bleak for City sales. I am glad that this happened to Honda

Originally Posted by volkman10

Nice to see the new king of the C segment.
It can't be a better time for giving this jolt to Honda. Lets await the pricing of Brio to see if really Honda is serious about the Indian market.

Cheers!

+1 to that . We needed a shake-up in the C(ity) segment , will only lead to happier Indian consumers with better value for money

[Sahil]

The new financial year clearly starts of with Honda being safely dethroned by the VW group. City has been killed by the vento, accord has been murdered by the superb and jazz is butchered by the fabia as always.
Germans are the new japs for India. High maintainence mindsets of the Germans are now long gone.
Honda needs a complete strategy makeover. If not lower prices atleast benchmarking features should be given to differentiate their product in the market.

[ivar1951]

Skoda Superb regains the numbers it lost to the Honda Accord in February.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by MAS

It is quite surprising why Honda is not bringing in their Diesels.

Isn't Honda still saying that India's diesel won't suit its Cars?

- Figo seems to be ticking most of the points that we Indians look for in a Hatch. The 1.4 L diesel seems to have done the trick. Any information on the Petrol/Diesel split up would be useful.

I believe the petrol one too is doing okay. A big Ford hatch at 3.5L ex showroom is doing the trick for the petrol variant.

Edit:-
Sunshine Honda at Siliguri shut down its operation around a month back.
Reason - Poor sales and extremely poor/haughty sales & support staff.

I believe the staff of Honda have been hired by Ford. Similar behavior is belted out by them across two states.(Siliguri/Patna) I believe automotive companies should keep a check the code of conduct. Sorry to go OT.

[androdev]

15 VW phaetons?! wow. who is buying these?!

Honda has a much larger problem at hand. The equipment levels in their cars is pretty poor compared to the competition and buyers will find it hard to pay a premium.

[drsnt]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

It won’t happen in this way for sure. New Hyundai Verna diesel and Ford Fiesta diesel are due for launch very soon; this will actually affect the sales of Vento diesel as Ford and Hyundai have stronger A.S.S department. If someone can provide a breakup in the numbers of Vento petrol and diesel then we can judge things in much better way. When it comes to diesel car I consider them to be in entire different segment. So comparing the sales figures of a ONLY PETROL powered car with a PETROL + DIESEL powered car will not give the clear idea. The competition should be like this - ANHC versus SX4 Petrol versus VW Vento petrol versus Hyundai Verna and Fiesta Petrol models, diesel models should be compared to their diesel counterparts only.

Let’s watch the market for around 6 months so that the market can stabilize with all models available for sale. Off course there are reasons for ANHC low sales which I mentioned in post # 6.

I don't agree to this logic, I believe the segment is divided cost wise. A person going for a 8-10 L car will consider diesel variants of other cars along with City as city being at par with most oil burners price wise. With rising petrol prices driving a big car equated to almost 5-6 Rs per Km while diesel still hovers around 3-4 Rs/km.

Originally Posted by androdev

15 VW phaetons?! wow. who is buying these?!

Honda has a much larger problem at hand. The equipment levels in their cars is pretty poor compared to the competition and buyers will find it hard to pay a premium.

Being a NHC owner I know how Honda charges it's customers for a new car. I almost gave 1L more for NHC then similarly priced other options. But that was 4 yrs back competition was less or non existent. This day I would happily buy other car as the quality and refinement levels are not far off. Even the "image Honda" has now diminished. Honda seriously needs to reconsider it's pricing.

It's one thing to maintain a lead when you are better then competition but entirely different story to keep it at top when every one else is constantly improving and at your back and you are acting blind to them.

[sidindica]

Fiat sales=1,865 units.
Jaguar Land Rover=891 from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011.

Figures from Tata Motors press release.

[jasmeetsingh]

Originally Posted by GTO

Some performances that stood out:

Verna sales down to 500. Production stopped. New Verna comin'!

After the diesel, the Micra has happily settled at the 2,000 monthly mark. Rather good for a fresh car from a relatively fresh brand, and an extremely limited dealership network.

Someone from Hyundai i dont remember the name, had announced yesterday that if India wins the world cup they will give the new Verna to each player which is going to be launched very very soon, maybe this month itself.

Nissan is still not focussing on speedly increasing the dealership network. Their dealership in Raipur was given more than a year ago and still the showroom is not prepared and they are giving the service in other shoroom of the the dealer.

[rajneeesh]

The King is dead. Long live the King. Honda City has been displaced by the Vento. The SX 4 figures have not been released . I am sure that SX 4 will definitely outsell the City. Thing can only get tougher for Honda when Ford and Hyundai launch their new mid sizers.

The party is over for Honda. They had one bread and butter product that has now been cornered. It is high time HSCIL smelt the coffee and did something about the pricing.

Honda needs to realise that they are selling Honda City and not an Acura City. They had been successful till the time real competitive products arrived to take on the City , Civic and the Accord.

The fun and games have begun for the customer who s now spoilt for choice.

Skoda has done realy well with the Fabia.

Eagerly awaiting the breakup of MSIL sales.

[amtak]

Originally Posted by dot

Interesting to see that three relatively recent launches in three bordering segments are ruling the sales sans Maruti numbers

1. Figo
2. Vento
3. Cruze

Probably shows that better products can move the incumbent.

Figo is ruling the roost in terms of sales for over a year as compared to its American cousins (Beat/Aveo UVA) and many other cars in that category.