May 2011: Car Sales in India

[dr_nishu 198]

Sales figures for May-2011 are out for Indian cars 

Chevrolet

Spark : 3017

Beat : 2136

Aveo UVA : 134

Aveo : 196

Optra : 240

Cruze : 659

Tavera : 1767

Captiva : 143

Ford

Figo : 5,608

Fiesta : 1,266

Endeavour : 172

HM-Mitsubishi

Pajero : 146

Outlander : 49

Cedia : 24

Montero : 1

EVO X : 1

Ambassador : 400 (Approx)

Honda

City : 1828

Civic : 190

Accord : 115

Jazz : 170

CRV : 31

Hyundai

Santro : 6675

i10 : 11538

i20 : 7370

Accent : 1047

Verna : 4357

Sonata : 14

Santa Fe : 122

Mahindra

Verito : 1291

Xylo : 2454

Scorpio : 3957

Bolero : 8190

ST + Marshal + Maxx : 800

Nissan

Micra : 1566

X-Trail : 22

Teana : 0

370Z : 0

Skoda

Laura : 646

Fabia : 1556

Superb : 385

Yeti : 174

Tata

Nano : 6515

Indica : 5497

Indigo : 4268

Sumo : 1418

Safari : 1225

Aria : 37

Venture : 441

Toyota

Innova : 2961

Corolla : 419

Fortuner : 672

Etios : 3412

Camry : 4

Prado : 1

LC200 : 1

VW

Jetta : 101

Passat : 184

Beetle : 3

Polo : 3,486

Vento : 2,403

Phaeton : 8

dr_nishu2011-06-01 15:10:48

[ashikawa 2]

Honda seems going southward. Verna figures are so positive. As far as Polo and vento are concerned, i feel they are clearing backlog one by one.Figo,beat,spark stablised with a decent figure but selling less compare to previous months. Personally i feel sad for Honda. Its a good car . They should do something very fast.ashikawa2011-06-01 15:22:47

[vignesh 0]

i guess....its official now!!! the cruze is certainly the segment leader!!:Dguess why the honda sales are going down??and indeed ashikawa the sales of the new verna look very promising!@dr any idea on the sales of the premium cars like mercs and beemers??

[nfs123 0]

But Cruze sales dropped almost by 30%.

Honda sales drop  is due to Japan issue.

Verna is true winner of May 

[raj_srini 0]

@drnishu - do we have any published stats on the number of manza's sold in May?

[Crazy Doc 0]

Petrol prices are making a big hit on all petrol cars including the i10,sales are dropping steadily 

Crazy Doc2011-06-01 16:27:57

[itssanguine 0]

Figures of Fiat & Maruti Suzuki:

Fiat

Linea : 845

Punto : 1298

Palio : 5

Maruti Suzuki:

M800 : 2262

Omni : 9333

Alto : 25393

Estilo : 2372

WagonR : 12736

Dzire : 10812

SX4 : 2702

Eeco : 6212

Swift : 12742

A-Star : 1734

Ritz : 6071

Kizashi : 50

Gypsy : 1099

G Vitara : 1

Observations:

Interesting to note the steady figures of Fiat Linea & Punto. Despite numerous launches, they are constantly clocking 2000+ marks. This by no means a great figure. But it shows that Fiat has developed a small fan base for its cars. Punto & Linea customers are those who chose heart over head. That's why new launch or rising price have not make any serious dent in their sale figures.

Another steady performer is Micra- building a good repo in urbane areas mainly.

Beat sale is declining slowly. Diesel launch should lift it up- otherwise petrol Beat may stabilize around 2K mark.

Figo figures are good if we take take overall market into consideration. Rising petrol price should help diesel Figo to clock good numbers- may be at the cost of its gas guzzling sibling.

Honda with its present set up (barring City) does not have much to write home about. But, Brio may turn the table. After normalization of production, City may again touch 3k mark soon. For Civic, new version is required- present version is overpriced. So is the rest of the stable : Accord, CRV and Jazz.

Verna has a spectacular debut but let us wait for 2-3 months to let its figuers to stabilize. With so many variants around, it should easily surpass Vento.

[dr_nishu 198]

By now i wasn't favouring Honda due to their marketing stratergies in India but after the recent jawdrop in their sales my heart said my mind to say something about them as;

IMO, These small-ish sales figures are just like an insult to the Honda's talent & capabilities.

Not the customers alone are diverted by diesel options in their rivals, instead its their Overpricing issue which is really galloping their existence here.

Their cars are priced at the level(or even more) of corresponding Diesel variants of its rivals & this is really unacceptable for today, especially after the deregulation of petrol prices.

Any Price point of mid-way between the corresponding Petrol & Diesel variants of its rivals will make the Honda cars even more desirable than ever before.

C'mon Honda come with some newer Enviornment & Pocket friendly technology than to search for the 'Magic lamp' of sales in the Diesel powerplant.

[TSiVipul 0]

Honda

City : 1828

Civic : 190

Accord : 115

Jazz : 170

CRV : 31

I am just !!!!!!!!!!!!! on reading the above figures.

Honda cars are simply brilliant,and City not selling in good numbers is really a shocking fact.There are some signs of Verna going to become the new segment leader,even now I am in favour of the City because I drive myself and if not then also the rear seat of the City is more comfy then any other car in the segment.

High-tech tractors(Diesels) are hitting the market hard and petrols harder.

@Itssanguine:

The Fiat cars are having a steady number because their fan following is the one who love to drive,in other words"They buy the car by heart" as you have mentioned.But the way the Fiats drive I think they really deserve double the numbers they are selling right now.I love the T-jet and drive it whenever I get a chance to do

,it has brilliant handling,brilliant body control,brilliant suspension,looks a gem..I don't know why it isn't the market leader although it deserves to be.

Are there any news about Fiat launching Punto T-Jet?

[itssanguine 0]

@TSiVipul:

You are very right to point out that Fiat Punto & Linea deserves to sell more. But some initial goof up in marketing and quality control has created a susceptible image in the minds of 'Aam Janta'. Only the enthusiast can overcome this issue.

Also Fiat petrol engines are not very efficient and astronomical rise in petrol price has not make it easier. As per reports, Fiat has no plans to introduce new engines but face-lift of Punto is on card.

Punto with T-Jet would have been the ultimate hot hatch in India!

[asethi919 0]

Wasnt there a part supply issue with Honda after the Earthquake. Maybe that hampered the sales figures. I say this because there was a story a week or two ago about how the part supply has resumed the normal speed.

[BonFre 0]

Seems Honda has got into a situation similar to Nokia. The Cell-phone major also resisted newer technologies w.r.t Touch screen interfaces, stuck to a non-developing platform like Symbian. Honda on the other hand failed to see the importance of Diesels. Sometimes success can blind one from the reality!

[itssanguine 0]

@Bornfree: Your signature is apt for reflecting Honda's present situation.

[rahul1810 0]

Honda had said last month that supplies will normalise mid July, so nothing can be said till then. However even after that I dont expect sales to be more than 2500-3000 per month. News is trickling in about a mid life facelift with some feature additions in Thailand. Hopefully that will trickle down here.

However seeing the nos., I think City is still leading the petrol sedan segment, though huge question is whether the volume is worth leading.

[itssanguine 0]

Honda is handicapped by the lack of diesel engine. No second opinion about it. However, its petrol cars are also no longer the default choice for petrolheads: reason being price & lack of feature.

Honda should try some cost cutting method in its operation to keep the cost in check. They should treat Toyota as bench mark. Civic should be priced at par with Corolla, Brio with Liva & CR-V with Fortuner.

At present, all the non-performing Honda cars are overpriced w.r.t. competition. itssanguine2011-06-02 11:49:04

[MITHRANDIR 0]

overpriced by atleast a lakh for the city, i think, if not more for other models

[sarabjeet 3]

Apart from diesel and being over priced. Honda City doesn't give a solid built feel say a Verna or Vento gives. Another area where City could improve is the Dash. Its plastic quality and feel isn't upto the mark. 

[asethi919 0]

I attribute some of the loss in sale to the loss of consumer interest due to this design already being 3 years old now. The mid life face lift should put some life back into the car and the sale numbers.

[TSiVipul 0]

@Friends:

After the quake,Honda is still on a healing track as mentioned by Rahul1810,so why to conclude the game before the arrival of the real player?

I agree with Sarabjeet,City may still feel a bit low on solid feel but still tell me how many of us keep one of our hands on the dashboard and other on the steering wheel while driving?Why to ignore that gem under the hood and those comfy and perfectly built seats for what we call plastic quality?

Verna or Vento may feel good,but still will you pick them up in front of City if you are in an enthusiastic mood?

And yes,even better than the City in all aspects is the Fiat Linea T-jet.Can anyone justify why it isn't selling?

I am sure Honda is going to do something for this downfall,and if not then as mentioned by Itssanquine about Bornfree's signature"Honda's experience is going to teach it a harder lesson"(Actually Bornfree's signature made me impress my GF(I have memorized it and use it wherever necessary)....)TSiVipul2011-06-03 10:03:45

[ashikawa 2]

Really i too fell so sad about Honda sales figure.

Off topic: My family owned a Honda motorcycle 1986 model, which has original Honda imported engine having Only Honda embossed on it. Unlike after 1987 bikes which has a Hero Honda embossed on engine and made in india. That bike costed my family around 16k. We used it for 14 years and then sold it for 14.5k. The bike was once repainted and completely overhauled including engine at home by my brother and uncle. That's the level of reliablity a company can assure. I could have bought a Honda if they priced Jazz well.