Top five Car launches of last six months

Phew!!! Sixth month of the year 2014 is about to complete. Yup that's how time flies. Its just like yesterday we were partying for the new year and bang, monsoon season has arrived. As the month of June is about to end, we at CarDekho gaze over the impact of major car launches in past six months. We all know that the Indian auto sector is struggling from last couple of years- slow market growth, increasing crude oil prices, depreciating value of Indian currency in international forex market and lack of government initiatives are some of the major factors. With the excise duty cut and series of new car launches, manufacturers tried hard to turn the fortune wheel. While some managed to bag encouraging results, others continued to struggle. The year started with the launch of performance and premium cars such as Audi RS7 followed by the introduction of Mercedes-Benz's flagship model, the S-Class.

The first half of 2014 also witnessed the most important event of Indian auto-industry- The 2014 Delhi Auto Expo. The auto expo observed many important unveiling's right from Tata Motor's Zest and Bolt to Nissan Sunny along with the launch of affordable Maruti Suzuki Celerio and a Rs 2.63 Crore Range Rover LWB Autobiography Black Edition.

To simplify, we have created a list of important cars launched in the first half of 2014 and their impact on Indian auto-sector.

Honda City:

Honda launched its C segment saloon City in the second week of the new year. The car was unveiled in the November last year and right from day one, it became the talk of the town. Honda launched City with a competitive price range of Rs 7.42 lakh to Rs 11.10 lakh. Within a day of its launch, City bagged booking of 9000 units which further increased to 23,000 in first two months. In the first five months of its launch, Honda retailed more than 38,000 units with an average of 7,633 units a month. Within a couple of months of launch, City grabbed the number one position in the C Segment dethroning the Hyundai Verna Fluidic. Riding high on chariot of success, Honda City still has a waiting period of one to two months.

Maruti Suzuki Celerio :

Launched on February 6th, 2014 (Second media day of Delhi Auto Expo), Celerio under the brand name of Maruti Suzuki conquered the heart and soul of masses. With booking started prior to its launch, the hatch witnessed a record 14,000 bookings in first two weeks which further increased to 32,000 . With Celerio getting tremendous response, the automaker gained a market share of 44.6 per cent, way ahead to its nearest rival Hyundai at 17.8 per cent. Interestingly, the AMT variant accounted for 51 per cent of total bookings; this has been for the first time that any auto variant of car is more in demand than the manual one. However, it lead to increase in its waiting period, as the company imports its AMT gearbox from an Italian company Magneti Marelli.

Hyundai Xcent :

Hyundai, India's largest passenger car exporter and number two in terms of market capitalization has launched its first compact sedan Xcent with a price range of Rs 4.66 – 7.19 lakhs (Ex-showroom Delhi). The compact sedan is rooted against the likes of Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Honda Amaze, Mahindra Verito to name a few. Based on the Grand i10 hatch, Xcent too comes equipped with segment first rear A/C vents. Xcent along with Grand i10 wrote the success story for the Korean manufacturer. The sales of Xcent rose to a level with advance booking of 11,000 units and over 100,000 enquiries at company's various dealerships. For the month of April and May, the automaker sold more than 6,663 and 7792 units respectively.

Datsun Go :

Pitched to the first time buyers, Datsun, the low cost brand of Nissan failed to mark a dent in the Indian auto-sector. With the sales not more than 6,800 units for the first three months, the Go hatch lacks a certain brand assurance. Datsun Go though sold under the roof of Nissan dealership is still quite a new name for prospective buyers. With the hatchback segment ruled by the likes of Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, it's still a long way for Datsun to be able to make its mark in the small car segment.

Toyota Etios Cross and Toyota Corolla Altis :

It will be early to say how the recently launched Etios Cross and Corolla Altis have fared will affect the Indian auto-market. The manufacturer launched both of its vehicle with-in a gap of fortnight. Launched first, Etios Cross comes with a price tag of Rs 5.76 lakhs while the 11th generation Toyota Corolla Altis made its way to Indian shores with a price tag of Rs. 11,99,000 for the base petrol and Rs 13,07,324 for the entry-level diesel (Ex-showroom New Delhi).

Ford Fiesta

Lastly, Ford following the foot steps of other manufacturer has introduced its 2014 Fiesta at a base price of Rs 7.69 lakh (Ex-showroom, New Delhi). The Blue Oval company offers Fiesta with only a diesel motor having three variants - Ambiente, Trend and Titanium. The existing 1.5 liter TDCi turbo diesel engine is on duty under the hood and delivers amazing fuel efficiency of 25.01kmpl.

Apart from the aforementioned launches, the Indian auto-industry also witnessed the launch of Fiat Linea, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG and GL63 AMG. With the excise duty extended to 31st December 2014, the good events are yet to unfold.