Top Gainers and Losers; November Car Sales Analysis- CarDekho Exclusive

Unlike the expectations to do well in the festive season, the Indian car market couldn't impress with its overall performance in November 2012, it has been a mixed one on the whole. Out of all car makers, the top gainers were Maruti Suzuki India (+9.7%), Mahindra & Mahindra (+38%), Honda Cars India (+87%) and Renault India (+3697%) during November. But constantly rising interest rates and inflation didn't spare others and hurt them very badly, in fact the other two major contributors of the Indian passenger car market including Tata Motors and Hyundai India too saw a fall of 35% and 0.7% respectively. Other big players who saw a dip in sales were Toyota (-35%), Ford (-29%) and General Motors (-14%) despite of huge discounts and other lucrative schemes offered during the festive month.

Let's have a look at the top 10 selling cars of the month,

- The month of November has been an outstanding one for the largest car maker of India, MSI which has got 5 vehicles in the list of top-10 selling cars. And Maruti Ritz, which was out of the list last month, couldn't make a come back in November as well.

-Hyundai's smallest car, the Eon that made its entry in the list of top-10 last month, grabbed the no.7 position (last month it was on 8^th ) in November with a total 8449 sold units.

-Maruti Suzuki Swift and Dzire which were facing a tough time due to Manesar unrest, have shown the constant growth, and this month both have come stronger selling 17335 and 13502 units respectively.

-Tata Indica range has however manged to sustain in the list of top-10, but it has been constantly losing numbers. A total 6956 units were sold in November as compared to the last year's 10926 units in the same period, ie a dip of 36.3 per cent in growth.

-The all new Ertiga continued to do well this month as well, having sold a total 7337 units during November 2012, it is the top-selling MPV in India and comes at no.9 in the list of top 10 selling cars (overall) of November 2012.

Segment A-B

-Tata Nano has once again failed to bring more customers to it, and one big reason behind that is the launch of all new Alto 800 no matter it's not in direct competition with the Nano, but people don't think the same way. The Alto 800 alone is selling equal to many car maker's yearly sales figure. While in the November 2011, a total 6401 Nanos were sold, the number has come down to almost half this year during the similar period.

-The entry level or budget car segment is doing fantastic, however has shown a dip of around 4% in November 2012 as compared to the last year's sales numbers of the similar period.

-The entry level hatchback segment, which is amongst the top contributors of the Indian car market has got four cars (Alto, WagonR, i10, Eon) in the list of top 10.

Segment B+

- While the entry level hatchback segment has got maximum of the first time car buyers, the Segment B+ contains the people who already own cars, but looking for a compact hatchback for their city-driving purpose. Like the budget car segment, the segment B+ too has inspected a dip. As compared to the last year November's 63324 total sold units, the number came down to 56577, recording a fall of 10%.

Segment C- Entry Level Sedans

-TheeEntry level sedan segment too inspected a fall, however marginal, but one positive thing that we noticed about the segment is the good show put up by some new entrants including Nissan Sunny, Renault Scala, Skoda Rapid and new Mahindra Verito.

-Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire has once again topped the charts of the segment, recording a growth of around 30% over last year in the same month, a total 13502 units of the vehicle were sold in November 2012.

-Hyundai Verna Fluidic continues to do great for the company, it is the second best-selling entry level sedan with about 4026 sold units during November. However, the company must have expected better from the Verna, as in the similar period last year, 4331 units of the car were sold.

-November 2012 went good for Volkswgaen Vento, whose sales were constantly dipping from July this year. However, the Vento could not still match up with the figures of last year, during November 2012, a total 2023 units were sold as compared to the last year's 3055 units in the same period, which means a drop of around 1/3^rd.

Segment C-D

-As we mentioned above, the executive sedans are gradually losing customers, and people are either preferring utility vehicles or moving on to luxury sedans. In October as well, the segment saw a decline of 29%, the case is no different in November as well, only 2092 units were sold this month as compared to the last year's 2647 during the same period.

-Newly launched Hyundai Elantra Fluidic has once again topped the segment with a total 513 sold units in November 2012, the other premium sedan that did well in November was Toyota Corrola Altis.

-Chevrolet Cruze even being one of the best vehicles of its segment has been facing the heat from newly launched Elantra Fluidic. General Motors could manage to sell only 292 units of Cruze, however it's still amongst the top-three selling executive saloons.

Segment MPV

-The multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) segment now gets a new topper in the form of Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, which entered the market this year only and has been constantly beating Toyota Innova in sales numbers ever since its entry, except April and June 2012. However, there is no direct competition between the Ertiga and Innova, while Ertiga is the new family MPV, Innova still is the no.1 choice for the taxi purpose.

-The limited festive edition Aero as well could not do any good for the brand Innova, it just inspected a slight hike in the sales number. Toyota Innova now falls at no.3 position (Maruti Omni is at no. 2).

-Nissan India that launched the much awaited Evalia at the edge of festive season in October, could not bring any hike for the company in both October and November 2012. The company could not even manage to sell around 500 units in two months, which are considered to be the best months to sell cars in India.

Segment SUV

-One segment that outshined all other segments is the SUV. The segment on the whole recorded a growth of over 55% during November 2012, proving India's growing love towards Sports Utility Vehicles. And the credit behind such a phenomenon growth goes to the newly launched compact SUVs- Renault Duster and Mahindra Quanto along with the premium SUV Mahindra XUV 500.

-Mahindra Bolero hasn't just proven its dominance in the SUV segment once again, it is also the fifth top-selling product of the month. While in the last year November, a total 8004 Boleros were sold, the number reached to 10098 in the same period this year, recording a growth of around 26%.

-The newly launched Renault Duster is one of the latest favourites of India, the compact SUV continues to do wonders for the company, which was struggling for its survival until Duster's launch in the sub-continent. Renault India sold a total 5251 Dusters in November 2012, making it the second best-selling SUV in India.