WILD VOYAGE - XUV500 New TV Ad

This ad was truly 'full of stories'! M&M has put forward some real creative, path-breaking ads in recent times. 'Live Young, Live Free' (LYLF) has created a revelation among youth and has become a viral hit the moment it was ed online. It has become nothing less than an Anthem for the Indian automaker.

The message in all the recent ads has strong communique about offroading, distant travelling, fun, frolic and most importantly the target group - 'Youth'. Be it Quanto, LYLF or the new XUV ad - weekend drive, re-union at an exotic locale, quick African safari among a bunch of friends - the message has been neatly put to attract the target segment and differentiate itself.



The ad is about 3 young buddies who decide to go on a Wild African Voyage! The setting is clearly of a memorable journey, which is quite relatable to the current generation. The background song aptly creates the mood and indulge its audience into the ad. XUV 500 has been beautifully shot - both on road and offroad! Features like AWD, GPS navigation and ABS has been placed intelligently.

The surprise is the ending! The twist element just takes the ad to another level.

M&M - Don't be surprised to get many Silver XUV bookings post the release of the ad. And hats off to the creative team for getting the communique back to its roots. We just can't describe how disgusted and off-track the earlier ad was!

We also wonder how a MH 14 vehicle found its way in Africa :) May your life be full of stories!

Indian Car Sales Figures - January 2013

January 2013 Sales Figures - Pan India

HIGHLIGHTS:

·         1. Perfect way to start the year! The dealers open heartedly billed vehicles from the OEMs and are fairly stocked up. The marginal increase in prices did not affect the new car buyers and the sentiment also rose after the announcement in decrease in car loan rates from major financers. January 2013 did not see any major launches though, but the industry has mega launches in pipeline in coming months (say Chevy Sail Sedan, Ford Ecosport, Mahindra E2O, Mahindra compact Verito, New Honda CR-V, Chevy Enjoy, Honda Amaze, Skoda Octavia, and more)

·         2. With 44.75% market share in the Indian Automobile Industry, Maruti proves time and again that no matter which OEM steps in the Indian soil – Maruti Suzuki would lead from the top. The efforts by the auto maker to magnanimously increase the production of its in-demand Swift and Dzire is paying out well. The strategy to update its models which were losing sheen over time – Alto 800 to Wagon-R has also reaped excellent benefits. Both Alto 800 with 28685 units achieved its highest offtake figures in FY 2013! The case was similar with the new Wagon-R achieving its second highest offtake numbers for the financial year.

·         3. SX4 touched the 4-figure mark after 9 longggg months. The increase in numbers is unexpected as an updated version is on the cards. Ritz fails to lure customers even after offering minor facelift and AT variant. Is the Swift availability luring away the Ritz customers? MS also seems to have completely liquidated its Kizashi stocks, as the offtake is nil in Jan. Ertiga fairly contributes with a ~6k mark.

·         4. ‘New Thinking, New Possibilities’ – the tagline was suitably brought to life by the Korean Auto major. Who has expected that the hatchback car maker would successfully raise new benchmarks in luxury sedan market. Verna & Elantra consistently emerge to be its segment leaders. With the billing of 5066 units and 488 units, Verna & Elantra have surely garnered new possibilities for the OEM.

·         5. i20 figures again overtake i10 volumes. It happens only in India! The market simply defies the price-volume phenomena. If you offer VALUE with your brand; achieving numbers won’t be difficult. Hyundai products are an perfect examples for the statement. (i20 volumes > i10 volumes > Eon volumes). And the catch is all the 3 products are performing well in their segments!

·         6. “Live Young, Live Free” – the mantra comes at a very apt time! Both the ad and the cars by the OEM is a craze among the youth. Scorpio has resurged to 4.4k levels and has in a way proved that nothing else will do! The OEM also seems to stabilize the XUV 500 volumes to ~4k mark. However, the point to be appreciated is the Xylo platform volumes – 2100 numbers of Xylo + 2954 numbers of Quanto = 5054 units. It is a perfect example for ‘Alternative Thinking’!

·         7. As mentioned earlier, ‘VALUE’ not ‘PRICE’ is the key to success in Indian Auto market – Bolero numbers is the testimony to it. The brand unmistakably makes it again within the top 5 charts and also exceeds the 10k mark.

·         8. I believe Tata Motors is not able to withstand the absence of the legendary Mr. Ratan Tata. Dec’12 & Jan’13 have proven to be the worst performing months for the passenger car maker. With a YoY degrowth of 56%, the auto maker is stranded in serious trouble at the moment. Its flagship models – Indica & Indigo series have flat growth and the Nano fails to impress. The Safari Storme is the only silver lining with the brand touching the 2k mark after a very very very long time.

·         9. Toyota & Renault remain the car makers who survive from their wonder products – Innova & Fortuner for Toyota, Duster for Renault. Can we imagine the fate of these OEMs without these so called ‘wonder products’ ?

·         10. Innova religiously performs and touches the 6k mark consistently for the second time. Even Fortuner achieves its all-time highest offtake of 1505 units!

·         11. Duster phenomena seems to have slowed down. With ~900 unit fall from Dec’12 figures, the volumes raises questions on the consistency of the brand.

·         12. With several feature update and aggressive campaign, Polo resurges to 4.5k mark. The sales numbers of the brand are equally delightful as its new ads. The case is similar for its sibling Vento.

·         13. Sunny is the only saving grace for its parent Nissan. With 2456 units the brand surely shows its sunny side.

   14. ‘The comeback kid’ – I’ll save it for the launch of Amaze. Honda surely seems to gained well and the sentiments are high for the automaker. City & Brio garner 2898 & 2336 units respectively. Just imagine the availability of a diesel option on these cars! The Japanese car maker is also set to launch its new CR-V this Feb. Good Luck Honda!

List of Top 20 Brands of the month -