Top 5 cars that did not fare well in 2015
Modified On Dec 29, 2015 07:13 PM By CarDekho
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.jpg "Tata Bolt")
A lot has changed this year! There were quite a few hits and misses in the automotive segment. The car buying trends have also relatively altered this year. Adding to it, the compact sedan segment, which was hard on its heels from past couple of years, saw a decline in sales even for the new launches. Though at the same time, the popular premium hatchback segment has risen to a new high! And all the while, the ever growing craze for the compact crossovers/SUVs continued. The Indian consumers have become more intelligent and now it’s next to impossible to dupe them. There were some car models that didn't fare well this year. Let us see the top 5 failures of 2015.
Tata Bolt, Zest’s twin hatch never really took off, despite the fact that it is a decent performer in the market. Maybe the fact that Zest looks like a fairly different product in Tata’s portfolio while Bolt is somewhat identical to the previous Indicas. Despite the fact that the hatch is loaded up to the brim and shares almost everything with the compact sedan, still the company is having a hard time retailing it! Rumour has it, the automaker is also planning to launch a sportier version of Bolt which debuted at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show. We’ll have to wait and see if this can spruce up its sales or not!
Despite being a good product, Renault Lodgy’s sales are dwindling month by month. The MPV features one of the most powerful engines in its class, mated to a 6-speed manual transmission. The vehicle is very spacious and comes loaded with goodies like daytime running lights and Renault’s touchscreen MediaNAV infotainment system with satellite navigation. Amongst others, the prime reason for its poor sales could be the old platform, carried forward from the European version. In spite of its fairly decent mechanicals and the utilitarian interiors, it was the bland look which in turn nudged the buyers away from the Lodgy.
Verna was once the leader of the mid-size sedan segment, courtesy to its endless feature list and Hyundai’s fluidic design language. However, ever since the launch of 4th gen Honda City and that too with a diesel engine, sales of the Verna never really picked up. The Korean automaker introduced the facelift of the sedan earlier this year, but that also didn’t prove helpful. To many, the previous Verna looked better than the facelifted Verna 4S, besides that the company did not updated its feature list to things like touchscreen navigation, which has started to become a norm in almost every segment.
Datsun GO Plus was launched in the wake of the failed crash test of the GO hatchback and the criticism it received over the poor body structure. Sharing the same mechanics, GO Plus was the country’s first micro MPV. The company is also offering optional airbags in both GO and GO Plus, but still it is not performing up to the mark. Though the rear seats are strictly for kids but you can fold them to increase the boot space which is provided to you at a price of A-segment hatches! This said the automaker is prepped-up to launch a crossover version of the GO - GO Cross, which is faintly based on the GO Plus. All we can do now is to wait and see how it fairs in the market.
Everybody had high hopes from the S-Cross, a vehicle which debuted Maruti’s premium range of dealerships and was also the first product from the automaker’s portfolio to get standard front airbags and ABS. However, Hyundai Creta literally thrashed fortunes of this crossover. The S-Cross alone is not responsible for it, the product is decently loaded with features and comes with extremely powerful 1.6-liter diesel engine from Fiat. It was the pricing that played spoil-sport. The 1.6-liter versions have a hefty difference in prices over the 1.3-liter ones; furthermore, being the only diesel automatic in the segment at the time of launch, also helped Creta attain these heights. Though the company retails 2-3K units of the crossover monthly but guess this surely wasn't what the automaker had in mind. It is reported that in order to keep pace with the market or say clear the stock, they are giving massive discounts on the 1.6-liter DDiS320 versions!
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