Market Report Sample.



The important comparison is YOY (Year on year) as March is generally a month of high sales (depreciation benefits).

Overall Market:

- Passenger car sales up 4.2% (year-on-year) from 98,752 to 102,899 cars, mainly due to higher compacts & premiums. Great way to start the fresh financial year, though not everyone is optimistic of the economy recovering just yet.

- Utility vehicles nearly the same @ 22,300 UVs. Seems like Xylo is a success and is perhaps the only UV that is posting positive growth (not considering niche or small segments). Could be that commercial buyers have tightened their purses more than individual buyers?

- Diesel cars now account for 31% market share (source : BusinessWorld) helped, no doubt, by India’s national engine (the Fiat 1.3 multijet ?)

Hatchbacks:

- Maruti’s erstwhile champion – the 800 – is now down to its lowest ever monthly sales report of 2,345 (down 47% YOY and 3.5% MOM). Pull the plug, MUL, or reposition (read = cheaper) to take on the Nano?

- The competent Alto continues its domination while all A2 segment Marutis (Alto, WagonR, Zen, Swift, A Star) total up for 46,810 cars sold in April! That’s nearly 60% of the 3 – 5 lakh hatchback segment.

- News has been filtering in that the Zen Estilo sales are sliding. I don’t see the point in making this car which is nothing more than a WagonR clone under the skin. Behead the Estilo and move on! Too bad about what happened to the “Zen” badge though. Everything that the original zen created, was washed out by the weird Estilo.

- The i10 has driven Hyundai’s cause to growth, this car combined with the Santro sold 20,140 units – a 7.3% YOY growth.

- While the Indicas (old + new) have grown 16.2% YOY, their monthly fall is in line with the worst. A whopping 37%. Clearly, the Vista is not doing for Tata what it should have done (bad positioning, too similar to the old Indica). This explains Tata’s recent move of introducing a cut-price Indica Quadrajet. The Indica at one time enjoyed its supremacy as the only diesel hatch, that has changed with the Swift, Palio and soon-to-be-launched Ritz.