[vharihar]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

9. Impressive show by Alturas, when the market expected it to be sales dud - selling almost two-third of Endeavor at that price bracket is really good. Compare this with the CR-V, which has already lingering around the 100 units mark.

You have to hand it to Mahindras. They definitely know a thing or two or more far better than Tata!

Bolero is a huge hot seller in rural and semi-rural markets. And even in urban markets for crew pickup, etc. In comparison, the Sumo is getting extinct day by day.

Ditto with Scorpio vs Safari Storme. Indeed, the stance and pick up of Safari is so poor and unsporting in comparison to Scorpio. In my umpteen years of driving, I've never ever seen a Safari aggressively accelerate like how a Scorpio does. And the stance of the Safari, esp when fully loaded, is inclined towards the back, which is very unsporting to look at (as in, its backside is loaded).

Ditto with the Tata Xenon. Hardly any seen, and looks tired in its stance and acceleration as seen on roads.

Alturas came yesterday, and has been holding its ground as a hot seller. Ditto with Marazzo.

Its sad to see Tatas not able to sell big numbers of premium vehicles launched by them.

Wonder why? Has the brand taken such a beating?

[lazy]

Originally Posted by vharihar

In my umpteen years of driving, I've never ever seen a Safari aggressively accelerate like how a Scorpio does.

Maybe it's got something to do with the typical Safari buyers driving style rather than the vehicle itself since I can vouch for the fact that the V400 can accelerate real quick.
Have hardly seen a roughly/rashly driven Safari, and have rarely seen a sedately driven Scorpio.

Originally Posted by vharihar

And the stance of the Safari, esp when fully loaded, is inclined towards the back, which is very unsporting to look at (as in, its backside is loaded).

Agree with your view here, even I have seen the same with the older Dicors. Not at all with the Stromes.

cheers
lazy

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by KARAN.CARGURU

This should certainly qualify as case study, that you cannot sell the same car(same engine and platform) with 4 different names (Duster, terrano, Captur and kicks).

Certainly not the issue. Take the heartect platform for example. Five of these cars share the 1.2 K series, while the other five share the 1.3 multijet.

1. WagonR
2. Ignis
3. Swift
4. DZire
5. Baleno
6. Ertiga
7. Ciaz

Problem is that the products should be relevant to the market as well. I see very little reason why a customer should choose Kicks against Creta, and even lesser reasons when the former product is from brand Nissan.

[niteshbids]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Its sad to see Tatas not able to sell big numbers of premium vehicles launched by them.

Wonder why? Has the brand taken such a beating?

An average premium customer looks for a premium purchase experience. in the past 15 days, I have been to 2 different Tata showrooms for checking out the Tiago (which I'm considering as a replacement for my 9 year old Spark). Both the showrooms felt like they belonged in the century gone past. Wall paint in bad shape, half the lights not working, A/c like "Birbal ki Khichdi" and to top it all, poorly maintained TD cars. The Tiago I drove today at Ananya motors had never had their interiors cleaned. They didn't have a single leaflet/catalogue for the customer and the salesman couldn't provide details about feature differences between variants!


Even the Harrier displayed in the showroom at Guinea Motors had a big dent in the rear and they didn't have the keys in the showroom to open the locked doors of the car!


While enthusiasts like us are better informed about the Cars that draw us to the showrooms in the first place and can ignore a thing or two about the "purchase experience" but a regular average-joe customer's decision might be more liable to be swayed by such experiences.



A bad first impression goes a long way in turning away prospective customers. And the fact that both the dealerships in my city Patna had similar conditions with bleak depressing showrooms, ignorant salespersons and ill-maintained cars does shake my confidence in the brand in general and the after-sales service of the dealers in particular.

[shashankjain16]

Duster numbers give an interesting insight I think. An age-old (only facelifted) model can sell almost 900 units even after 7 years of launch. I know this is not a large number, but still, with the slew of SUVs and CSUVs in the market, people are choosing this car. Is this because of a definite fan-base Duster has or it points out a certain gap in the market that no other vehicle can fulfil?

If there is a similar product launched which gives ride quality, toughness and capability that duster offers, but with modern features - can it be a significant seller in the current market? If yes, why nobody is milking this opportunity?

[mroutlander]

Ahh! Here is my favorite thread. Somehow I correlate it to the race to stand 2nd through 5th in class (when the topper is miles ahead and untouchable )


1. Ford - Despite being relegated to the fourth position in the C-SUV space, Ecosport did good to cross 4k units in the presence of an aggressively ascending Nexon and an impressive XUV300. Freestyle is consistent at sub-2k levels but it deserves more love. Figo facelift yet to work?

2. FCA - The less said, the better. Wonder what lies after BSVI.

3. Datsun - RediGo is like the only kid bringing in the daily bread. They ought to do some more.

4. Honda - Trailblazing start by Civic even if the figure includes TD vehicles/demo cars. Amaze has already established itself as the MVP of the stable by now. City seems to be in a fierce fight with Ciaz/Verna every single month.

5. M&M - Bolero numbers just keep exceeding expectations. Good for them, that the XUV300 has found a good number of takers despite the relatively higher price tag (but then, it is a great machine). Is Marrazzo slowly settling in the 2.5k - 3k range owing to Ertiga's performance or is this just a temporary aberration? XUV500 sits lower than Harrier this month - sign of times to come (until the next version maybe)?

6. MSIL - The only thing you could probably talk about them is how dominant were they in the month gone by. Wonder if Suzuki sells (or even dream of selling) these many cars anywhere in the world?

7. TML - Harrier's figures are on the rise and its future looks promising too. Is it on its way to find the level of acceptance that Tata were expecting? SP2i and Hector would be major challenges ahead. Nexon outdoes itself, again, riding on the back of that 5-star safety badge (or is it a result of being relatively VFM?). Tiago goes down a little - probably due to the impending facelift, people holding on for Altroz and a superlative show by the new Wagon-R (OT: have seen just a single Wagon R v2 till date; where are they selling it?). Tigor is surely under-delivering.

8. Toyota - Best show by Innova - its Bread-and-Butter Car - in the last 6 months. Fortuner leads its segment again and apparently, shall continue to do so in the foreseeable future.

[vigneshkumar31]

Looking at the D2 premium suv space:
Honda CR-V :103
Double that to get the kodiaq : 252
Double that to get the Endeavour: 572
Interestingly rebadged rexton holds respectable third position at 321!
Add all of them together and still 700 short of the mighty Fortuner: 1976!

SUV's come.SUVs go. There's only one Shogun

[GTO]

Further to what Vignesh posted, another talking point is definitely the emergence of the premium 30 - 40 lakh SUV segment. It's a category that didn't even exist till 5 - 6 years back. Now, almost ALL SUVs (save for the Tiguan) are selling well. Be it the Fortuner, Endeavour, Kodiaq (despite being overpriced by 5 lakhs) & the Alturas (despite being a Mahindra).

People are clearly buying these SUVs over entry-level luxury cars from Germany and luxury sedans from everyone else (Camry, Superb, Passat). Also shows the SUV fascination in our country (over sedans), and how it's a no-brainer choice for those who've sold their Civics, Lauras etc. I know many Octavia / Jetta owners who've bought the Endeavour / Fortuner.

Good for manufacturers because the profit margins on these beasts are FAT!

Originally Posted by narayans80

Wasn't Maruti mentioning they were going to cut down production by a considerable % ? Sales charts hardly show any ripple, or would it show on April charts?

Yeah, I think we'll see it in April. March sales are higher than normal due to it being the end of the financial year & lots of companies / businessmen buying new cars for depreciation benefits.

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

Ertiga is selling in such large numbers !! I thought the MPV segment was stable for past 4-5 years and Ertiga was hovering around 4-5K. Unable to figure out where these numbers are coming from. who is taking the beating ?

The bigger new Ertiga might have just expanded the market. It'll also take sales away from C2-segment sedans.

Originally Posted by niteshbids

An average premium customer looks for a premium purchase experience. in the past 15 days, I have been to 2 different Tata showrooms for checking out the Tiago (which I'm considering as a replacement for my 9 year old Spark). Both the showrooms felt like they belonged in the century gone past. Wall paint in bad shape, half the lights not working, A/c like "Birbal ki Khichdi" and to top it all, poorly maintained TD cars.

Till 3 - 4 years back, Tata simply didn't have the sales. It couldn't go to its dealerships & demand upgrades. Now, things are changing with their new launches. Tata knows this and has already begun the long, arduous process of improving its dealerships' ambience, look & feel.

[benbsb29]

8 out of 10 in the Top 10 are Marutis! I guess that in itself speaks volumes about their dominance in the Indian market. The only other manufacturer who ruined Maruti's total annihilation of the sales charts was Hyundai, which deservedly gives them secnd place in the overall sales rankings.

As a former Scorpio owner, it's interesting to see the vehicle continue to sell 5k units last month, much more than the Marazzo, which is a newer vehicle with a whole lot of improvements.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by mroutlander

....Freestyle is consistent at sub-2k levels but it deserves more love. Figo facelift yet to work?

Ford's product planning disaster will ensure Figo facelift never works.

At ~40-50k cheaper than Freestyle T+, Figo makes no sense if form factor (pseudo-SUV vs. regular hatchback) isn't a deal-breaker for a potential customer. Kit-wise, Figo got a butter knife in a gun-fight with its own sibling.

The one variant that could've seen decent urban sales, 1.5 petrol AT due to unique power-train in the segment, Ford aren't keen on supplying at all.

[rovingeye]

Its funny how the manufacturers are crying about falling volumes across the auto industry (cars + bikes) and talking about slowdown etc. And what do they attribute it to? Lack of job growth, job cuts in telecom and IT industries etc etc.

Not one OEM has come forward and said, the auto industry has become so greedy that for no rhyme or reason, they have been jacking up prices of their products and perhaps, finally the buyer is starting to question - is it worth it?

With inflation firmly under control, all this talk about input costs rising is just that - empty talk.

Today's news about auto industry slowdown.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

Ertiga is selling in such large numbers !! I thought the MPV segment was stable for past 4-5 years and Ertiga was hovering around 4-5K. Looks like the new model is working well for Maruti(or rather balancing the Ciaz/S-Cross sales).

New Ertiga corrected one of the long pending gripes (the proper folding 3rd row). One of my colleagues is a prospective Ertiga buyer and was waiting for this+1.5D.

The 5+2 seaters have its own fanbase. Depending on individual preferences and the financial risk appetite, the choice would be between Ertiga, TUV 300 Plus, Marazzo, XUV/Hexa and Innova Crysta

[Max63]

Again ISUZU is missing from March Sales figure. I think is ISUZU is selling more than any other manufacturer like Skoda or Fiat or Mitsubishi. Please include it for everyone's knowledge. Last month I raised it and this time also I am raising the same thing.

Chhers

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Max63

Please include it for everyone's knowledge.

We will share whatever numbers we get . But Isuzu doesn't share its model-specific numbers (presumably because they are too low).

[Ravi Parwan]

Originally Posted by vharihar

You have to hand it to Mahindras. They definitely know a thing or two or more far better than Tata!...
... Indeed, the stance and pick up of Safari is so poor and unsporting in comparison to Scorpio. In my umpteen years of driving, I've never ever seen a Safari aggressively accelerate like how a Scorpio does. And the stance of the Safari, esp when fully loaded, is inclined towards the back, which is very unsporting to look at (as in, its backside is loaded).
Ditto with the Tata Xenon. Hardly any seen, and looks tired in its stance and acceleration as seen on roads.

I would agree with the stance thing on the safari, it does look rear heavy. But the Xenon has a much better stance.
On the acceleration front, I believe it is a perception thing. Although the safari has a more powerful engine, its weight and heft make it feel less powerful and more ponderous (my perception only). The scorpio seems more eager to accelerate. Also it is a matter of the mileage. Scorpio driven hard does not impact the mileage as much as a Safari.
On the Nexon, the acceleration of the diesel is quite good. even the turbo petrol has a good pickup. but you do have to concede to the smaller engines in Nexon and the turbo lag in the initial takeoff. I believe the FE plays a part here as well. Nexon takes a major hit on FE when driven hard.

Originally Posted by vharihar

Its sad to see Tatas not able to sell big numbers of premium vehicles launched by them. Wonder why? Has the brand taken such a beating?

This is all down to the negative brand image accumulated over the years. Despite Tata cars being leagues ahead in quality and fitment, the tag associated is still unreliable. I am guessing it will take some more years for Tata to break that image and move ahead. At least, they are doing everything right with the build quality and VFM seen in all their recent launches.

Originally Posted by lazy

Maybe it's got something to do with the typical Safari buyers driving style rather than the vehicle itself since I can vouch for the fact that the V400 can accelerate real quick.
Have hardly seen a roughly/rashly driven Safari, and have rarely seen a sedately driven Scorpio.
Agree with your view here, even I have seen the same with the older Dicors. Not at all with the Stromes.
cheers
lazy

Agree with Lazy, could be simply the difference between the buyer/ driver mentality more than the vehicle. Safari drivers are less prone to jackrabbit style driving than Scorpio (I feel that is the USP for the scorpio). Having driven both the cars (sparingly - but I drive with a heavy foot), You can almost feel the fuel being burnt in the Safari when the car is pushed hard. The guilt is slightly less in the scorpio...

Originally Posted by benbsb29

...
As a former Scorpio owner, it's interesting to see the vehicle continue to sell 5k units last month, much more than the Marazzo, which is a newer vehicle with a whole lot of improvements.

Again I feel an unfair comparison. Scorpio is fun to drive, while marazzo is a people mover. I was amazed by the composure of the marazzo when being driven sedately. Again it is a feel thing. Your smile grows broader when you push the scorpio hard, (bouncy suspension, top heavy feeling and all), but in marazzo you feel out of depth. It just feels wrong to push it hard, IMHO.