The Big Picture –
• Before beginning, sorry for bringing in the sales report pretty late this time. But it’s always better late than never, so let’s begin the number game.
• September and October are the months for which every manufacturer waits for with eyes wide open as it usually witnesses jump in demand.
• Almost every manufacturer has posted positive results when compared to sales figures of previous month and hence industry’s total sales figure has crossed 2 lakh units landmark after March.
• But when we turn the page to do the comparison of sales figures on Year on Year basis, the story turns it directions completely as only three manufacturers have managed to post considerable gain in sales figures. Rest of the manufacturers failed to keep up the pace.
• In anticipation of rise in demand due to upcoming festive season, almost every manufacturer has dispatched more number of vehicles in September.
• Maruti Suzuki secures the number one spot followed by Hyundai and Mahindra at number two and three.
• Finally Tata Motors managed to keep Toyota at number five and hence secured the fourth place by a small margin. Backed up by high demand for their Amazing products, Honda and Ford (Amaze and EcoSport respectively) are posting very good sales figures for the past few months, this could have been further bettered if both the manufacturers managed to overcome the capacity constraints.
• It is very surprising to see that both German sister concerns (Volkswagen and Skoda) suffered badly, as gain in sales number is witnessed neither in MoM comparison nor in YoY comparison.
• Car maker from Italy, Fiat, is getting into the role of a tortoise of Tortoise – Rabbit story as it is gaining momentum slowly over past few months. Let’s see how they manage in due course of time though.
Top 20 –
• First four podiums have been occupied by cars from Maruti Suzuki, as always. But the sales numbers of Alto 800 and Wagon R are considerably on higher side than their average sales number of past many months.
• Hyundai’s share, in terms of number of car models, in Top 20 table has increased to 5 thanks to Grand i10. The Grand i10 made its entry into the market in a Grand style as it overtook all of its siblings in terms of sales numbers.
• Two more cars which draw our attraction are Ford Figo and Toyota Etios, as they have made it to this table after a very long time. The increased dispatches indicate that those companies might be rolling out some really good offers to attract the buyers in this festive season.
• Rest, the table is quite neutral this time.
Company Wise Breakup –
• Preferred choice of many first time car buyers in India is Maruti Suzuki, thanks to its product lineup which is quite strong in the entry level segment.
• This fact is well understood by company too and hence more number of vehicles have been dispatched by company in anticipation of high demand in festive season.
• Alto 800, Wagon R and Swift twins recorded very strong rise in sales and they contribute around 80% of the total sales of the company.
• A third car based on Swift platform, Ertiga, is running out of breath and is losing demand over the past few months. Sales figure of Ertiga in September is lowest ever since launch.
• Hyundai Grand i10 is the showstopper for the company this month.
• The Grand i10 left behind not only all of its siblings but also well-established cars from other companies too, to emerge as the sixth bestselling car of the month.
• At the same time it appears that, company gave preference to Grand i10 over the old i10 and hence sales number of old i10 seem to have converted into that of Grand i10.
• Mahindra is depending highly on their old workhorses, which are Bolero and Scorpio, as it is visible from the fact that 70% of their total sales have come from these two models only.
• In spite of the festive season every other car in Mahindra’s portfolio has recorded just about average sales numbers which is quite surprising and a worrying fact for the company.
• For Tata Motors the things have changed over the past two months as sales numbers of the company have increased continuously over that period. Almost every car in the company’s portfolio showed rise in sales compared to last month, except Venture.
• Tata Motors has once again managed to put Toyota behind and has secured fourth place.
• Toyota’s sales figure table packs nothing surprising in it except one thing, which is sudden rise in sales figures of Etios sedan.
• Either the Xclusive edition has worked out for the company or company is planning to bring out some interesting offer for the upcoming festive season.
• Honda’s magic wand, the Amaze, takes priority spot in company’s production and hence the company has managed to deliver 6679 units of it which is commendable.
• Last month’s drop in sales of City proved to be a momentary thing as Honda sent out 2043 units of it. The Amaze managed to drive company forward solely this month too as Honda recorded good rise in sales number compared on MoM and YoY basis.
• The figures from Chevrolet’s table is giving a hint that the company has managed to get out of all the technical faults and has resumed the production of Sail twins and Tavera. But the Enjoy has suddenly seen a downturn in demand, quite surprising.
• This time Ford Figo has joined the party with its sibling EcoSport and has witnessed considerable rise in monthly sales figure. With this Ford has become the company which has managed to cross landmark figure of 10,000 units in a month.
• Except entry level sedan and hatchback from Volkswagen, other offerings are struggling really hard and their sales number has dropped below 50 units. Unlike other companies, Volkswagen has failed to record rise in sales compared on MoM basis and on YoY basis too.
• Except new Octavia there is nothing much to discuss about this German company. It looks like Skoda wants customers to pay full attention to Octavia only and hence only 2 units of Laura were dispatched last month.
• We were expecting that Nissan might have started the dispatches of Terrano by last week of September itself but they haven’t. Thus sales figures in Nissan’s table remains meek.
• Renault looks ready for festive season as they have dispatched more Dusters than the past few months. This might be a move to snatch customers from competition, as people do not want to wait in queue and want to drive out their cars off the shelf on the auspicious day during festival.
• Even after endorsements by Anil Kapoor, the demand of Pulse in not picking up and this time it even went below the demand of more expensive Scala.
• Sales figures of Hindustan Motors are as follows.
• Fiat has changed gear and is posting positive sales figures since past few months.
• Punto maintains its average sales mark while Linea, in Classic avatar, has seen increase in number of dispatches. These stop-gap measures will help company to keep buzz alive around the brand.
Category Wise Breakup –
Gainers vs Losers –
Podium Finishers –
Things to Look Out For –
– Can October take the sales graph of the industry to a new level as India celebrates festivals?
– How good the new entrants like Skoda Octavia, Nissan Terrano, Hyundai Grand i10 and updated Nissan Evalia perform?
– Can Sail twins and Tavera resume their duties well and clock sales numbers as good as they used to manage before technical problems?
– Negative sales figures of German duo Volkswagen and Skoda lasts for how long?
– Does the old Hyundai i10 have any chance of standing alongside the new Grand i10?
