January has been a good month after the tumultuous end to 2016. The sales figures of most manufacturers are back on track and the growth story of the Indian car market has been revived. The targets have been realigned and many cars are toeing the growth path. Most of the car shave lunged ahead in terms of sales but there are a couple of them who couldn’t garner enough steam. Read more to find out.
Winners
Generally, when the facelift of a car is due, the sales numbers taper off as buyers would rather wait for the new one or opt for another. The Grand i10 facelift was launched yesterday but it still managed to sell 13,010 units in January, almost 2,500 units more than it did last month. With the fresh looks and added equipment, the Swift will certainly be wary of the Hyundai.
For Maruti, the Celerio has been considered as a dud. It did not manage to excite the market much but if you see the numbers, the monthly sales of the Celerio exceed quite a few car makers in the market. This month, the Celerio sales shot over 10,000 units, 52 per cent more than its sales last month to register its best performance in the last six months.
3. Honda Jazz
Honda sales have been dwindling gradually over time with the competition coming up with products of similar quality but with much better pricing. The new Honda Jazz sales have sprung back to over 3,000 units a month, a jump of almost 100 per cent. Even the sales of the Brio and the City are seemingly looking at an upward trend with the new City update due later this month.
Losers
1. Renault Kwid
This little number from Renault had taken the Indian car market by surprise even managing to eat into the Alto and almost annihilating the Hyundai Eon. The super compact SUV-ish hatchback sales have dropped by over 20 per cent over the last month in spite of the overall sales going up in this segment.
Well, Toyota’s cash cow, the Innova, has dropped its sales chart numbers. After the seeming revival after demonetisation in December, the sales are down by over 20 per cent in January. As a matter of co-incidence, the sales numbers of the Tata Hexa in the first month almost match the drop in Innova numbers. Is it a story in the making?
3. Honda Accord
The Honda Accord hasn’t been able to sell any car for the second month in a row. The accord comes with a state-of-the-art hybrid technology but being imported as a completely built unit, is priced much higher than the competition which has the Toyota Camry Hybrid (Rs 10 lakh cheaper) and the Skoda Superb L&K diesel (Rs 8 lakh cheaper).
