[souravc]

Its funny to see the defensive reaction of a few Honda owners/lovers. One seems to be missing the point that for all the loyalty no one even gets a mud flap free so lets be cut throat consumers where we get the biggest bang for our buck ! We should be happy about more choice at every price point rather than get dogged about "my car is the best car" .
Even if you ignore the bashing , the numbers tell their own story - and there is no supply side constraint for the City , one can get an ANHC ( colour/ model of one's own liking) within a couple of weeks .
Numbers tell their own stories !

[CoolFire]

I dont think all the Honda bashing here is because we hate them altogether. We love them, love their cars, but just want them to be a little more competitive

Waiting for a new Honda with more realistic pricing vs. features. All car lovers would simply love that. Maybe diesels too

[amtak]

I am happy to see Tata numbers. Especially. Although in small numbers presently, if advertised correctly, the venture can be a big thing from Tata. 250 numbers a month are not that great.

[volkman10]

Another dismal month from Fiat.

Fiat India has registered a sales decline by 11.49% that stood at 1865 units of sales in the month of March 2011 compared to 2107 units same month last year.

Cheers!

[amtak]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Another dismal month from Fiat.

Fiat India has registered a sales decline by 11.49% that stood at 1865 units of sales in the month of March 2011 compared to 2107 units same month last year.

Cheers!

It is about time they get a small car within 4 lakhs.

[shortbread]

I think Honda is doing quite well locally considering the beating they are taking in rest of the markets especially Europe.

This was a brand associated with VFM cars that had an engineering and performance advantage over its rivals. Also not to forget the fact that no one did better 4cyl petrol engines than them. This gave the big 'H' an envious reputation in the market. The line up had the likes of Accord & Civic Type R, Prelude, Integra, CRX, NSX and the S2000. To top all this a successful F1 programme.

The Honda today is a shade of its former self. Not a single exciting car in their line up (pls dont call that neon dildo crz a performance car, its not). They are to discontinue the Civic Type R as well. Oh and the debacle at F1 and the indipendent team to win the championship with a Merc engine.

The company has done very little to demand any respect among enthusiasts who used to swear by them. They now just make hum dum cars but need to charge a premium based on historical achievements. One struggles to understand whay any of their cars are better than similar ones coming out of Korea.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Finally the Vento gets its due acknowledgment in the buyers mind at least. Glad to see it outnumber the City. With the overall callback that Honda faced, VW sure did capitalise on that and how!

Laura not selling the way it should, does speak something about the buyers mindset. Here's a car with a brilliant engine, but somehow, the sales figures just dont cut it for the makers. Time to rethink strategies? Me thinks it sure is.

[sachinayak]

Originally Posted by GTO

Gypsy : 606

WOW. Guess this "outstanding" performance go lost amidst all that Honda/City bashing. Way to go Gypsy !!!!

[anjal]

Originally Posted by amtak

It is about time they get a small car within 4 lakhs.

No introduction of new model can help FIAT India.

The only way things will change is if they get a new management in place, that can think for itself and primarily, is interested in selling cars.

I'm a T-Jet+ owner of 2 weeks and after having experienced it, I will not exchange it for any other car within the 15 lakh category (maybe even 20-lakh, rejecting Superb due to Skoda's reputation).
BUT, after the sales and after-sales experiences I have had, the hope/wish/prayer that does not leave your mind is, "This car should run without issues and should not become a 11-lakh mistake".

Somehow, all my experiences with my FIAT dealer, just don't inspire enough confidence in them, sometimes very good, sometimes hopeless.
I believe many have moved away from FIAT India purely because of this feeling/experience (not just minor inconsistencies with products).

The interiors issue has blown out of proportion. They are not as bad as has been made out to be, and more so in comparison to competing models.
They look really bad when compared to the styling and engineering of the models themselves! Such good styling, design and engineering deserves better interiors.

The primary reasons they will not be able to sell more cars even in the (hopefully near) future are:
1. Lack of management in India.
They have been failing for enough years in India to have realised this by now.

2. Confused product strategy.
Both "current" launches are competing in the wrong segment trying to cater to the supposedly "cheap" Indian mentality and too many, unnecessary, useless and consequently overpriced variants.

3. Indiscipline in both product assembly and dealer attitude which leads to inconsistent experiences.

Marketing is not the problem.

Alas, things will not change and such excellent products will go down the drain.

[himanshu_2580]

Mahindra Bolero countinues to do well!!!!

New MUV's being worked upon could bring that number down a bit...

[rudder]

The City numbers are certainly not surprising. I think most of us saw this coming especially after watching Vento’s superb number is the past couple of months. The launch of SX4 diesel has further aggravated matters for Honda. With the all new Fiesta and Verna in the channel, Honda has to get its act together sooner rather than later.

Once you are in the market, you have to have the adaptability to change according to the conditions. The current market trend is certainly favoring diesel engines. Honda just has to develop diesel engines for its cars.

I read somewhere that Honda has started work on a 1.6 and 1.8 diesel engine for Civic and CRV. Hopefully, they’ll work on a similar (smaller perhaps 1.5) mill for the City.

[vignesh_ny]

Originally Posted by xingamazon

My two cents:

2. With the Figo doing well, one thing is clear. Ford has made sure a great platform is set up for the launch of its global model a la Fiesta. Imagine if Fiesta had got launched before Figo, people would have clamed down a great product.
Now Ford seems to be a household name with the launch of Figo. All they got to do is price it right. As the product is already established to be great. Once price is set right all other things will fall in place.

My view is Ford has gone from being a Big car manufacturer to adding a small car to the portfolio with a reasonably established service network ( though not as wide as a maruti or hyundai) and a premium badge. This is one of its Critical Success Factors. Add to it the price and the value for money tag which are the others. I dont think a fiesta launch before figo launch would've changed the game much!

[akj53]

Originally Posted by Aussie

Ok a few records have been broken this month:

- 38,065 units is the best ever month for the Maruti Alto, beating its previous record established last January (33,118) by nearly 5,000 units!

- 8,926 units is the best ever month for the Ford Figo, beating the previous record of 8,616 set last January.

- Best ever month for the VW Vento at 3,973

- Best ever month for the VW Polo at 3,881

- Best ever month (but still early days) for the Toyota Etios at 3,257

- Best ever month for the Nissan Micra at 2,060

Lastly, 10,278 sales is the best month for the Maruti Dzire in over a year.

Business buyers wanting to avail the year-end depreciation and manufacturers pushing the stock to dealers to increase their own yearly sales also appear to have contributed to abnormally high sales in March. so April sales are bound to be substantially lower than March sales.

Alto's consistent high sales proves that so far it has achieved what Nano sat out to do I.e., become the common man's car.

No tears should be shed on Honda's decline as they had it coming for many years. Their policy of "charging maximum while giving least" and their arrogance has ensured their downfall.

[avishar]

Audi India march sales:

Up more than 3 times at 681 units against 220 units last year

Mercedes India march sales:

Up 89% at 833 units against 440 units last year.

[sindabad.sailor]

Wagon R making impressive numbers. Estilo also going steady in numbers. SX4 also impressive. Needless to mention ALTO. All in all, Maruti has still big breed of loyal customers.

I am happy to see Sumo doing good numbers. Grande sure has enough potentials. Seemingly TATA is taking criticism on its products and A$$ seriously. The captain's seat version was good to TD. Plonk ABS and it can sure yield good numbers for TATA. Also there was some finance offer on. It too must have helped.

With this high number of cars hitting the street and road infrastructure not moving anywhere, driving hasn't remained fun anymore in tier3 / 4 cities.

Anyways, good going Indian Automotive scene.

Rgds all.