Indian Car Sales Figures - December 2013

December 2013 Sales Figures - Pan India

Indian Car Sales Figures - November 2013

November 2013 Sales Figures - Pan India

Highlights –

November was nothing but ‘From Diwali to Diwala’ situation for all Automobile OEMs. While the first week of the month saw tremendous traction in terms of retails, the month has particularly been disappointing in terms of offtake. Majority of the customers have surely postponed their purchase decision expecting hefty discounts at year-end. December will be the most crucial month of the year for the Auto Industry – it is gonna decide the longevity of the slowdown in Auto sales and will clearly signal recovery/degrowth.

·       *Country’s biggest automaker – Maruti Suzuki witnessed 5.9% degrowth YOY in domestic offtake and has particularly lost in Wagon R, Ertiga & Swift sales. The Wagon-R could not ‘sting’ competition with its offering Stingray. However, Alto emerged strong in the month and was able to touch 23k mark.

·         There has been a tremendous spurt in the marketing budgets of Maruti – it clearly signifies that the industry is in turbulent times when the Market Leader has to shell out hefty bucks for promotions. Never in my life have I seen Maruti advertising so much!

·      * The Korean major cannot celebrate its ‘grand’ success due to the cannibalization woes. While the OEM has been commendable to sync its production levels of i10 grand to match the demand – the steep decline in i10 & i20 sales has been unwelcoming. Verna too is slowly saturating – need to uplift the brand.  Surprisingly Santa Fe registers its best offtake post July’12!

·        * Ford continues its dream run – but the focus on the Indian market requirement has been disappointing. It is a shame that a customer has to wait upto 1 year for a car even as worth as Ecosport. Ford needs to realize that form is temporary in today’s volatile market and should avail as many cars in market as possible to gain market share. Figo & Fiesta continue their sorry performance in Nov’13.

·         *Honda’s performance makes us forget the market scenario and forces to think on how a right product at the right price and at the right time can be instrumental for the company’s success. ‘Amaze’ing, isn’t it J

·     *GM announces the re-incarnation of Tavera with a bang – the figures easily shoots to ~1.3k figures. However, its MPV sibling Enjoy faces the heat and drops to below 1.5k units.

 ·         The Indian brands – M&M and Tata face the fiercest brunt. New products from their stable seems to be the only respite for these brands.

A look at the top 20 cars of the month –

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Home Decor websites are on a spiral and lest any site up there focuses on REAL art. Anshul & Manpreet - 2 Management Grads saw the opportunity and voila - they team together to form an online marketplace like none other; which would not only promote the work of budding artists but would also have an ensemble of all artworks which you could think about beautifying your abode! The product portfolio includes Paintings, Posters, Clocks, Vases, Collectibles, Candle Stands, Lamps and also has Corporate Gifting options.

You might well ask on how Artfeurig is different then any other Home Decor site? You won't need to get the product physically to experience it - the Virtual Tryout would make your decision making a whole lot simpler. Consider, you like the particular Painting at the site -

The next step would be to blend it with a variety of options of Frames & Room Views - the one which matches of your own and here is how it looks with mine -

The portal was launched pre-Diwali and has already attracted buyers from all parts of the country. Many of its customers are happy to have purchased from the portal and are naming themselves as Art Feurig's! 

The niche online portal has all the right ingredients to make it big in the Home Decor segment and we wish it to reach as many homes it can :)

You can explore the site at - http://artfeurig.com/

Indian Car Sales Figures - October 2013

Happy Diwali to all the readers! May the festival of lights fill your home with Happiness, Joy, Prosperity & Never Ending Success!

October 2013 Sales Figures - Pan India

Highlights –

·         No festive cheer for the Automotive industry! Durga Puja, Dusshera & even Diwali couldn't lighten up the situation. The monstrous marketing spends, incessant TV campaigns and on-ground activation blitzkrieg weren't able to pull customers into the showrooms. It seems that the normal consumer is busy worrying about the rise in inflation, 'sky-rocketing onion prices', fuel price irrationality and increasing interest rates. As a matter of fact, even on Dhanteras which is said to be the most auspicious day for buying gold saw 50% less than expected gold sale. However, on the other side Apple saw remarkable response and never-ending queue for its newly launched iPhone 5C & 5S. Now, that's irony! The industry is now expected to grow only post 2014 general elections - that's a long way to go!!! Till then the industry will have to fight for the sale of every unit.  

·        October as a month was flat - though many OEMs saw sequential growth, YOY growth was majorly on a negative side. Maruti nearly touched the 1 Lakh mark (96062 domestic nos), Hyundai crossed the 36k mark after 18 months (the last time it had achieved the feat was Mar 2012!), M&M jump past the 20k offtake after 4 longg months and even Toyota had its best offtake in 6 months. Nissan with the help of Terrano crossed the 4k mark as well. 

·        November is expected to be bleak as consumers would wait for the Discounts-driven December. No immediate launches seen by the industry - all OEMs are gearing up for the upcoming Auto Expo in Feb 2014. Some of the biggest launches of the next 2 years would be showcased in the Expo.  

·        The best performers of October were no surprise - Amaze, Grand i10 & Ecosport. For the first time Honda had a product which would single-handedly touch 10k mark. The entry level sedan space has surprised us all with the sheer volumes it is able to generate - even with Amaze clocking 9564 nos, Maruti had its Dzire 'fulfilled' with 17211 offtake! Kudos to Honda for assessing the segment well and launch a breakthrough product. Also appreciate the OEM for ramping up the production accordingly and catering to the requirement. Grand i10 jumps to no.5 spot just within 3 months of it launch! Hyundai has surely made its entry a "GRRRAAAAND" one. Surprisingly its direct competition Swift still clocked 19047 units (the highest in past 7 months!) - that's the beauty of Indian auto industry. Ecosport is easily clocking over 5k figure offtake - whereas it can easily target 10k. Ford's focus on exports has made the brand less available in the Indian market - in my opinion it's a wrong move. Novelty seems to be the trend of the industry currently - don't forget XUV was offered on a lottery a year back and now the plight is otherwise.   

·         Maruti Suzuki reports the comeback of the LUV Ertiga - with over 7k units it marks is comeback in the MUV space. However, it seems to be a compensation of September's performance where it had a feeble offtake of 2657 nos. The petrol v/s diesel distribution of MS brands is as mentioned -

·         Its Grand Masti time for Hyundai! - but the brand seems more to cannibalize the in-house i10 rather than the competition. There is nothing exemplary in October by Hyundai's other offerings. The trend to notice in Diesel vs Petrol distribution - Grand i10 Petrol sells more than its diesel sibling!

·         Toyota proves its dominance in the MUV segment yet again. The workhorse Innova emerges loyal to its Japanese parent and the facelift has surely up the demand. Fortuner plays its part well and successfully garners ~1600 volumes. Etios & Liva performances seem the only bothering.

·         M&M saw a tremendous growth in Scorpio & Bolero - thanks for the good response in the stronghold North Indian market. Bolero regains its 10k run and Scorpio its 5k run. Even the Cheetah-inspired SUV performs well. However, the other brands in the kitty has given a tough time for the Indian UV major.

A look at the top 20 cars of the month -

Indian Car Sales Figures - September 2013

September 2013 Sales Figures - Pan India

Highlights –

·         September had Lord Ganesha's blessing bestowing on the Indian Auto Industry (quite literally!). While it sparked signs of improvement, a lot is left to be desired for completely boosting the market sentiment. The offtake figures for September also signify the dealers readiness for the big festive month (Durga Puja / Dusshera / Navratri). The 'Shrraadh' period would also end in beginning of October and sales can fly off. October 2013 is surely gonna be a crucial month for the industry to sustain and grow over September. Maa Durga's kindness grace is required as well in Oct :)

source: moneylife.in

·         The biggest gainers in September were - Honda & Ford again . Kudos to these OEMs for taking the suggestion passed in Aug seriously -"sustainability can only be seen if they can have "MULTIPLE" hero products in the portfolio". Honda & Ford grew not only by Ecosport & Amaze volumes, but had other models contribute significantly as well (say Figo crossed 3.5k figure after 5 months, Fiesta classic crossed 700 nos after 6 months, City crossed 2k figure after 5 months!). 

·         Maruti Suzuki reported 51.5 percent growth in overall sales at 76,018 units as against 50,129 units in the same month last year. The ugly duckling gets revamped in August - i.e. the blue-eyed boy Wagon R has a makeover variant Stingray to support the brand. In overall Wagon

·         Its Grand Masti time for Hyundai! - the brand jumped to Numero 6 best selling car just within a month of its launch. Hyundai has done a wonderful job in able to assess the demand and manufacture over 8k Grand i10's withing a month! The brand also raked in more than 10k bookings in just 20 days! The craze of new cars is just not slowing down. An interesting statistics on how new launches were able to garner unbelievable fanfare and over the top demand -

source : HT

·         The i10 numbers were the biggest cause of concern for the Korean major. i10 figures fell ~50% in Sep v/s Aug 2013. As expected cannibalization did happen, though i20 was shielded from it. Verna's crossing 4k mark added to the brands consistent performance. 

·         Fortuner has been a brand that I've admired a lot since long - amazing to see how a over Rs. 25 Lakh brand can be so consistent in any market condition. I won't be surprised if it overtakes Liva nos someday (which costs 1/5th of a Fortuner!). Understanding India and its customers takes complexity to the next level :) Etios crosses the magical 3k figure after a longggg time. Innova is again successful in setting the benchmark high (its no easy to offtake 4650 Innova's when Ertiga could fare only 2657 nos!).

·         The rough ride eases for the Indian Auto majors - M&M and Tata in Sep when compared to Aug. Both the OEMs could post m-o-m growth but the y-o-y growth was still a disappointment (M&M degrew by over 20% and Tata by 41%). However, Bolero & Scorpio saves the day again for the no.1 UV manufacturer. Scorpio teaches a lesson or a two to the new entrant Duster - the 10 year old cult brand(Scorpio) easily outperforms the lone Renault performer.

·         Duster jumps to over 3.5k mark in Sep! - Kindly note that the Terrano shipments have still not started. Would be interesting to watch Duster's performance post Terrano's availability in the market. Fluence/Pulse/Scala does not give much to talk about. 

·         Honda continues to AMAZE us all. It has just expanded the compact sedan market - not to forget Dzire still continues its dominance in top 5 selling cars. And Amaze easily peeps into the 7th spot. 

 

In these tough times, a good month is what the industry requires - While most parts of the country would celebrate Dussehra Festival this October, lets hope the Industry STARTS delivering numbers and gives the boost for the coming festive season. 

A look at the top 20 cars of the month -

Indian Export Market - Automobiles

Indian Automobile Export Market - A look at the biggest Automobile Exporters in India

PREFACE: The ranking has been done based on the basis of percentage contribution of Export to the overall volumes. The background for considering the % contribution and not directly export volumes is to measure the OEM's dependency on Exports and hence the focus of these OEMs on the same. Surprisingly, a lot of OEM's have garnered higher volumes in Exports compared to Domestic Sales and the intention of making India as a Manufacturing & Export Hub is quiet evident from that. Also the OEMs having higher Export focus are based at locations near to ports giving it the required accessibility. The Domestic Sales / Export volume is from April to July 2013 (Quarter 1 of FY14).   

India has gained importance by global automakers not only as a growing market, but also a strategic location to export its products. "Made in India" vehicles have found global acceptance because of its value engineering, localization and its central location. Carlos Ghosn was once found commenting on the issue - "If we get a product right in India then the product is ready to be accepted elsewhere.. in growing markets". The cost of making a car in India is 15-20% lower than any developed / even developing markets. India made products are also rebadged for various international markets. Now, strong export lineup is also considered as an advantage to offset the depreciating rupee!  

Passenger Cars –

·         Nissan emerges as the OEM with the highest dependency on Export. No wonder the OEM is undeterred with its poor performance in the Indian market, as it has been able to successfully expand its Export portfolio - kindly note that Micra is made ONLY in India for global markets. Also Sunny contributes significantly to the OEM. In the coming times, Datsun brand would also be based in India and would be exported to various countries - Do remember that Datsun's world premiere was done in India and for a reason!   

Source: ET

·         Hyundai has always set benchmarks in Exports - It is the country's largest car exporter and in 2010 touched the milestone of exporting over 10 Lakh cars! No wonder, "Made in India" Hyundai cars is being exported to over 120 countries! Also over 50% of its production is being exported.

Source: Business Line

·         Ford also has recently re-aligned its strategy to accelerate the export volumes to adapt to the changing Indian market conditions and strong global demand for compact cars and SUVs. With addition of Ecosport in its portfolio, not only making it a success in India - but also exporting the model to various other developing countries is also its part of the strategy. Ford is also looking at integrating India with its global manufacturing network as part of its "One Ford" strategy. 

·         VW India has been exporting cars since Pune last year as fully built units to markets such as South Africa, Srilanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia and LHD version of the Vento to West Asia.

·         Who can forget Toyota's big plans to the Indian made Etios / Liva for the global markets. The OEM currently exports to Indonesia & South Africa. The India-made Etios though didn't perform as it was expected in India - but is the 4th best selling car in South Africa!

·         Renault India exports the Duster to RHD markets - UK and Ireland. 

·         Maruti - is aiming to overtake Hyundai in exports. By 2020, Maruti is planning to invest Rs. 18,000 crore in new factories to support its expansion and export strategy. 

Despite current market challenges and macroeconomic factors, Export is the strategy being used by various OEMs to shield itself from the economic slowdown. 

A look at the India made products which are the best-sellers in international markets -

Source: HT

A glance at the Export volumes in Commercial Vehicles, Two & Three Wheelers –

*Force Motors volumes have been considered separately as its domestic numbers are nil.

Indian Car Sales Figures - August 2013

August 2013 Sales Figures - Pan India

Highlights –

·         August 2013 - The industry continues its weak run and in all means have turned ANEMIC. The market response has been poor to all the efforts that the OEMs had to offer. Even with the DREAM discounts on the platter, customers remain to postpone their purchase decision. The situation worsens with the banks increasing the interest rates (say ICICI, HDFC) and the biggest nationalized bank SBI considers that any person with an net income worth Rs. 6 Lakh p.a is NOT worthy to buy a car! The new clause is a sham and have just added to the woes of the market. The industry is seeking stimulus from the government which itself is in a jeopardy :) The only breather can be the upcoming festive season - believe me, if the industry does not recover in the festive period, we may see the biggest downfall in the history of Indian automobiles. 

·         The biggest gainers were - Honda, Ford, Maruti & Hyundai - Anything in common among these OEMs??? Say "NEW PRODUCTS!". With Amaze, Ecosport, Stingray & Grand i10; the future is in the hands of the newly launched models. However, sustainability can only be seen if they can have "MULTIPLE" hero products in the portfolio. Do not be surprised if Renault sees de-growth in the coming months due to the decline in sales of Duster - the over dependency on a single model will cost it dear. Similarly we see Honda's & Ford's focus currently on Amaze & Ecosport ONLY. Honda City & Ford Figo have witnessed its worst sales, the story is similar to other models of the brands as well. LEARN from Renault's mistake - strategize and give equal importance to other cars in the kitty! 

·         Maruti Suzuki reported 51.5 percent growth in overall sales at 76,018 units as against 50,129 units in the same month last year. The ugly duckling gets revamped in August - i.e. the blue-eyed boy Wagon R has a makeover variant Stingray to support the brand. In overall Wagon R does a respectable number of 12748 units. Swift bounces back to >14k numbers and also exceeds Dzire numbers by a whisker. Estilo, A-star and SX4 continue their under-performance. Appreciate Maruti Suzuki's decision to stop production of Estilo - even the iconic Zen title couldn't save it. A-star & SX4 are all set to be revamped - hope to see their production ready facelifts in the coming Auto Expo. Alto had a pendulum swing throughout the year and has been extremely difficult to comment on its performance - August emerges slow for the brand. The LUV is finding difficult to retain its love among the buyers - Ertiga struggles at ~ 4.5 k figure and does less than an Innova as well! 

·         Its Grand Masti time for Hyundai! - the strategy to challenge Maruti seems to be put in place with the upcoming GRAND i10. The neatly designed hatchback is intelligently placed between i10 & i20 and the diesel variant availability makes it all more lucrative. The launch price of Rs. 4.29 Lakhs have made the competition all more wary. The biggest challenge is to avoid cannibalizing its own brands - don't you think i10 buyers would move towards Grand i10 diesel and i20 buyers would find i20 costly? All depends on Hyundai's efforts on avoiding loss of focus on the sister brands.

·         Toyota is leaving no stone unturned in order to revive Etios Twins - the recent facelift and aggressive marketing campaigns blended with humongous discounts is the resultant of the same. The Japanese major very well recognized that it cannot survive only on the laurels of Innova and needs a good product portfolio to sustain. But with all the efforts Toyota is struggling to maintain the figures of over 2.5k for both the brands. Innova again comes to the rescue and scores over 5k for the first time in past 5 months! Fortuner wonders on what slowdown is and maintains its steady performance of over 1300 units.

·         The rough ride worsens for the Indian Auto majors - M&M and Tata. Passenger car sales for Tata Motors have almost halved from 22.311 units in August 2012 to 11,564 units last month. For Mahindra, sales declined 27.5 percent to 15,281 units in August 2013. Both the OEMs are strong players in upcountry market and their downfall clearly depicts the negative sentiments in the Rural part of the country too! Just imagine, a brand such as Bolero which was refusing to step down the 9.5k mark three months back is struggling to touch 7k in the current scenario. However Bolero, Scorpio & XUV shows resilience in terms of letting go and holds the hope of the automaker to jump back in the race. 

Source: Business Line

·         Duster scores below 3k figure for the first time in past 14 months! - Is it the Terrano effect? Or else the brand is simply losing its sheen - do you think its much pricier than the uber sexy Ecosport? Sustaining the volumes of Duster would be the key to survival for Renault - it is gone all vocal in terms of aggressive TV campaigns, discounts and even buzz marketing (remember Gang of Dusters?). Even John Abraham has been roped in for promotions. Renault - it is high time to start delivering through other brands as well!

·         Honda continues its dream run - the icing of the cake would be additional production capacity and bringing diesel offering on all of its other carlines. Though Amaze was able to maintain the >6k mark in August, Brio & City stood lacking in their numbers. Honda still has the challenge to remain aggressive for all its brands and give equal attention. 

·          GM has seen it all in past 6 months - the automakers plan to go gaga with all its new launches took hit initially with the Tavera fiasco and then later with the production halt of the Sail twins. While the US major was reeling to fire all its cylinders (quite literally) - the veteran Beat and the newbie Enjoy supported the OEM - both the brands combined contributed 76% of overall sales. With the start of sales of the Sail Twins - expect the additional numbers in September. 

In these tough times, a good month is what the industry requires - While most parts of the country would celebrate Ganesha Festival this September, lets hope the Industry STARTS delivering numbers and gives the boost for the coming festive season. 

A look at the top 20 cars of the month -