[GTO]

Stats received thus far; others will be added as they come in:

BMW

3 series : 305
5 series : 380
7 series : 60
Gran Turismo : 11
X1 : 213
X5 : 30
X6 : 17
Z4 : 10

Chevrolet

Optra : 270
Cruze : 834
Aveo : 198
UVA : 161
Tavera : 1395
Spark : 3289
Beat : 2998
Captiva : 220

Fiat

Palio : 5
Punto : 1101
Linea : 759

Ford

Fiesta : 1228
Figo : 8926
Endeavour : 331

HM-Mitsubishi

Lancer & Cedia : 74
Pajero : 128
Outlander : 77
Montero : 14
EVO X : 1
Ambassador : 768

Honda

City : 2773
Civic : 379
Accord : 216
Jazz : 152
Crv : 56

Hyundai

Santro : 8,026
i10 : 14,215
i20 : 7,655
Accent : 1,293
Verna : 489
Sonata : 23
Santa Fe : 121

Mahindra

Logan : 1017
Xylo : 2646
Scorpio : 4144
Bolero : 8237
ST + Marshal + Maxx : 1275

Maruti

800 : 2915
Omni : 7808
Alto : 38065
Estilo : 4403
WagonR : 14885
Dzire : 10278
SX4 : 3632
Eeco : 6608
Swift : 12114
A Star : 2934
Ritz : 6059
Kizashi : 103
Gypsy : 606
Vitara : 14

Nissan

Micra : 2060
X-Trail : 29
Teana : 11
370Z : 1

Porsche

911 : 3
Boxster S : 2
Panamera : 1
Cayenne : 9

Skoda

Laura : 591
Fabia : 1753
Superb : 390
Yeti : 275

Tata

Nano : 8707
Indica : 6937
Indigo : 7197
Sumo : 2526
Safari : 1966
Aria : 98
Venture : 247

Toyota

Innova : 4418
Altis : 953
Fortuner : 980
Etios : 3257
Camry : 59
Prado : 43
LC200 : 8
Prius : 8

Volkswagen

Jetta : 205
New Beetle : 21
Polo : 3,881
Vento : 3,973
Phaeton : 15

Volvo

S60 : 12
S80 : 5
XC60 : 37
XC90 : 7

[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. The SX4 also - thanks to its diesel - now overtakes the Honda City.

- Aria tanks. Not surprising, considering Tata's over-confident pricing strategy. Dealer complaints about unsold Arias in their inventory have already started doing the rounds. It's ironical really; Tata have traditionally had the right price, but an inconsistent product. The Aria is probably the first Tata to be A+ out of the box, but priced so poorly. Mahindra must be watching the Aria's performance closely (as part of their W201 strategy).

- Nice to see the Nano's upward climb. The cute li'l car deserves success, bad press be damned. Sumo / Grande sell close to the Xylo! And the Safari's 2K units aren't bad either.

- The overpriced Kizashi is meeting the fate it deserves; barely a 100 units moved in only its 3rd month! Maruti should really concentrate on the volume segment, that's what it does & understands best. For instance, the stonking performance of the Alto. This car alone outsells the entire portfolio of India's no. 2 car manufacturer. Other stars from the Maruti garage are the WagonR, Swift and Dzire.

- Fortuner? Status quo. A 20 lakh rupee game changer? You bet. The Etios also steadily climbs up the charts, limited only by production capacity. Believe me, the Etios has given the C segment sedan buyer just what he wants (except for a diesel, which should be coming soon).

- The i10, i20 and Santro continue a highly respectable performance. The i10 in particular fights it out successfully, despite not having a diesel engine.

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

- Not much happening for Honda otherwise. Jazz sells less than the Accord & Civic! Brio is make-it-or-break-it for Honda India.

- A rare comeback from a flop vehicle : Mahindra indeed does it better when alone. They have managed to make the Logan a consistent 1,000 / month seller.

- Between the UVs, it's the Innova neck to neck with the Scorpio! The Innova - as the most all-rounded UV - continues its hold over the premium UV segment. But the Scorpio is close. Irony is that, the Xylo was supposed to be an Innova-fighter. The UV-Emperor Bolero seems untouchable, rural India fascination et al.

- The Polo also records a reasonable month for a premium hatch, with a score of 3,881. Out dragged by sister Vento though.

- 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.

- The impure Cayenne outsells all of Porsche's pure sports cars. Now, who was arguing about Porsche making SUVs again? . Indians deeply value practicality, even when spending a crore.

- The Laura is simply not selling as much as it should, what with a diesel, petrol and AT box. The Superb, on the other hand, continues its dominance of the 20 lakh segment. Will the newly launched Passat pose a tough fight? Skoda managed to resurrect the Fabia's position in the market. Another comeback from a flop car (used to do barely 500 units a month before the facelift).

- The Cruze is indeed the best selling C+ segment diesel sedan. The Altis is the best seller by over a 100 units, but it also has a petrol variant.

- Figo has one of its best months ever, with nearly 9,000 units shipped from the factory! This is 3 - 4 months of Ford's pre-Figo sales.

- Nice to see the Spark and Beat having settled at about the 3,000 mark each. GM's diesel Beat will easily double the sales.

- Why is GM even bothering with duds like the Aveo & UVA? Instead, they ought to focus completely on their contemporary products. These two are an unnecessary distraction.

[2500cc]

Do i see Endeavor sales increased ? I think TATAs have to re-think about a strategy to push up Aria's sales.

[akhilesh]

1. Honda City is finally de throned and for good. Well done VW!
2. Tata Indica sold less than Indigo Manza, much like Polo and Vento
3. Figo reversing fortunes of Ford in India is an understatement.
4. Surprised by the number of Fabia's sold. Does A$$ really matter?
5. Alarm bells must be ringing at Honda. The Accord sales will go down further after ultra aggressive Passat pricing by VW
6. Respect: TOYOTA
7. Baffled by Scorpio and i20 numbers. The i2o apart from stying and interior quality hasn't got a lot going for it.

[ajay_satpute]

Finally!!!! Vento got what it deserved in all senses.

Vento had to dethrone ANHC, for multiple reasons. Honda India will/should learn a lot from this.

Good to see good numbers for Polo too. Overall, VW is enjoying its success. They deserved it totally.

A 152 Jazz? Thats too poor. Alarming I would say. Reduce the price of petrol Jazz by 1 L and introduce Diesel Jazz at the same price and then its a game for Honda. Otherwise, pack up for Jazz.

Excellent numbers from Tata except the Aria. Aria's low volumes were always around the corner. Sudden break of a image is mostly never successful.

People in India shower a lot of love over the Hyundai brand. i10, i20 and even the age old Santro make a huge statement.

Good numbers for the Etios. The numbers would have been double, if the production was better. 10 months wait is killing.

[bluevolt]

Three major factors are the causes for Honda city to be dethroned as segment leader. The first factor is itself the VW vento (Diesel - No.1 choice for 8-10 lac rupees), second factor includes the recent recall of ANHC by Honda which in fact, has damaged sales of its other models also and third reason is higher petrol prices across the country and lack of diesel option.

Other reasons are the higher price along with interiors not liked by many.

But I still hope Honda will be back with a bang.

[vinaydas]

Arrogance or Ignorance on Behalf of Honda regarding bringing in diesels.
Commendable Job by VW Vento on overthrowing the City.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by GTO

- 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.

Shouldn't we wait for the New Fiesta to be launched before we can say that. I guess the new Fiesta will take the fight to the Ventos and the Etios's making things more worse for Honda city unless the city has an ace up the sleeve. Recall or no recall the Honda fanboys will be there forever.

Good to know that Figo has been the breadwinner for Ford. When are the ambitious plans of Ford to unveil 8 new models be realized or will they squeezing the life out of Figo to unveil some.

[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!

[vnabhi]

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!! .

.

If I remember right, the Fiesta sold more than the NHC in March, 2007, which was when I'd bought my Fiesta. I remember the Fiesta sold more than 5000 units that month.

Coming to the present, congrats to VW for this achievement.

[e46]

hi Rush.
Thanks for the compilation. As always good work mate. Please throw in the figures for Maruti too, when you get tour hands on it.

Abhishek

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Shouldn't we wait for the New Fiesta to be launched before we can say that. I guess the new Fiesta will take the fight to the Ventos and the Etios's making things more worse for Honda city unless the city has an ace up the sleeve. Recall or no recall the Honda fanboys will be there forever.

In fact we have new Hyundai Verna at the verge of launching, so that along with fiesta diesel will take the fight with vento diesel and will surely bring its sales number down as Hyundai and Ford’s after sales service network is stronger than VW.

[loyalcasanova]

Whew ! This is some sensational news, Honda inspite of offering discounts worth 30K on the insurance cant still stop the buyers from moving to Vento.
I remember Honda used to do around 5K units per month till sometime back.This will be an eyeopener for Honda to start giving more value for the money that they have been charging.


On the other hand, its remarkable that a newly launched car with long delivery issues and thin dealership network is able to upstage the leader. Full marks to VW for having read the Indian Mindset correctly and having introduced the best value for money car in its segment.


It seems that we will finally have a buyers market instead of a sellers market for these sedans.

[//M]

Good numbers by Vento, Nano and Etios and the Figo sales are way impressive. IMO the Figo is the perfect hatch for Indian conditions given its combination of space, price, diesel engine, ride and handling, fuel economy. Good dominance by the i10 too. Waiting for the sales figures from the Maruti-Suzuki stable.

[theragingbull]

Terrible month for Honda but an incredible one for VW and Ford. Both have had record sales. With the Polo and Vento selling almost 4000 units each, these cars will surely become segment leaders soon. And with the new Passat just launched with a host of new features and an inviting price tag, I'm sure Skoda need to start worrying with the Superb.