Re: October 2012 : Indian Car Sales Figures Excellent, crisp and detailed report. And bang on 01st November itself!
I can't commend you guys enough for collecting up all the information, tallying them up together, making the graphs and tables, and posting them all on the first day of the month itself! Very, very efficient.
What a rabbit Renault has pulled out of it's hat with the Duster! For the second month running, it's held onto it's position firmly in the Top 20, and raking up numbers far more than it's more fancy counterparts. The Duster has become an example of how a superbly-priced product which ticks most boxes can become an immediate best-seller. Out of Renault's total monthly tally of 6790 units, the Duster alone has racked up 5406, which is almost 80% of all Renault India sales for the month! Really, really impressive.
Now Renault India needs to do something about it's sister concern as well. Nissan's sales have been steadily on the decline since the past 3-4 months with the Micra falling down really badly and the Sunny, their best product by far, just about managing to pull out 1000-odd units. Not good numbers for Nissan India's aspirations. But their A.S.S. and feedback over issues with both cars has been atrocious in recent times, and maybe that is taking a toll on the sales. That, and their thin A.S.S. network, which seriously needs an expansion to take the Micra/Sunny to the masses, where the money and the volume numbers lie.
Only 37 units of the Linea?! This despite the Fiat Caffes and the huge discounts and promise of better A.S.S. by Fiat India? Alarming, and really dangerous for the Italian company. And if you have only 2 offerings in the country and one of them is bringing you such poor sales (the other one, Punto, is not a huge volume seller either), then sustenance is out of the question, and survival comes into the limelight. Like HM-Mitsubishi, Fiat India needs to do something drastic to bring some improvement to those numbers. With the number of players increasing and companies getting more aggressive by the day in their marketing, Fiat needs some face-saving marketing badly, and quick. Otherwise they will have to pack their bags.
The Xylo's sales are going down as well. Quanto effect? A compact city UV with an excellent price will sell, 3-cylinder engine notwithstanding. People see utility and VFM first before specifications (the reason why the Duster is such a roaring success), and that shows in the Quanto's numbers. Debuting at ~1800 units and rising quickly to ~2500, it's destined to go up in the coming months. In fact, all Mahindra SUVs are doing well. Xylo needs a bit more exposure or a facelift (to distinguish it a bit from the Quanto) to get back into the reckoning.
Rapid has come down to ~1100 for the month! Skoda should sit up and take notice. Something is seriously wrong here if such a wonderfully engineered car is not bringing in the numbers and has been on the decline in recent times. It's not like the Vento has made a comeback and is eating into the Rapid's sales, on the contrary the bigger sister is just about holding it's own with less than 2000 numbers in the past 4 months. People are moving on to better products with killer pricing (Duster, Quanto) and Skoda needs to rethink it's strategies with the Rapid. Yeti at merely 6 units should be ringing some huge alarm bells as well. Lots of stuff to ponder over the drawing board for the marketing strategy guys at Skoda India.
A comparatively better month for Honda India. The Brio and the City have picked up in sales (no doubt due to the tremendous buzz on the Brio AT and the City CNG, and all the talks on the Honda diesels), but the Jazz continues it's woeful numbers and has fallen further. A shame really, because it is THE best petrol hatch available in India right now, IMO. And this is the Jazz's second innings, so it's a definite that come next year and the Brio sedan, Honda India will be pulling the plug on the Jazz if the numbers don't improve. Between the Brio sedan and the Fit MPV, there will be no scope (nor space) for the Jazz in Honda India's future plans. Remember they said that they want to take Honda "mainstream" in India? The Jazz won't be fitting into those plans, I am afraid. The City will continue to do well till the diesels arrive, simply because it is Honda's bestseller in India, plus it's got a superb sequential CNG option now as well, which makes it a great VFM proposition. And the Brio should continue it's decent numbers till the diesels arrive. All in all, the future looks promising for Honda India.
Thanks for all the details. Rating thread a superbly deserved 5-stars, which is usual for this thread. Add 1 more star from my side for posting it on the first day of the month, if you can.
Last edited by RavenAvi : 1st November 2012 at 22:46.
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