Mumbai: Four of the top 10 car models sold in India in the last fiscal year were models introduced by Maruti Suzuki India Ltd , the nation’s largest car maker.
It was also the 10th consecutive year that models from Suzuki Motor Corp.’s local unit were in the top five list, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) for the 11 months ended 28 February.
Over the past decade, cars that have got knocked off the top 10 list were models that were either phased out (such as the Maruti 800, the Zen and Hyundai’s Santro) or those that fell out of favour with buyers (Tata Motors Ltd’s Indica, Indigo and Indigo Marina models).
There are few new entries to the list with most new entrants being variants or upgraded models, even as the number of new cars in India’s passenger vehicle market jumped to 210 at the end of March from 80 in 2005-06, according to IHS, a market researcher.
The top 10 models for the eleven months ended 28 February include Maruti Alto, Swift Dzire, Swift, Wagon R, Hyundai i10 Grand, Mahindra Bolero, Hyundai i20, Eon, Maruti Omni and Honda City. In 2005-06, the top 10 brands by sales were Maruti Alto, Tata Indica, Hyundai Santro, Maruti 800 and Wagon R. Siam has not released data for the full year ended 31 March.
The consistent performance by some companies, said experts, is because they offer a proposition which is compelling enough for buyers.
“For any model to be successful, it’s important that it either appeals to the functional needs or an emotional one. The ones which do not meet either of the two, do not have the right to exist,” said Avik Chatopadhyay, an independent brand and strategy consultant. Car buyers in India, added Chatopadhyay, are no longer upgrading purely on conventional body types and price points. Only those manufacturers that have introduced a new body style or opened up a new price point, have managed to break into the top 10.
“Reach, cost of ownership and perception of resale are some of the important criteria for a car buyer,” said Kumar Kandaswami, senior director and country leader for manufacturing at consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in India.
Clearly, the top two car firms have not lost sight of these aspects.
While Maruti added 309 dealers to its sales network and 39 to its service network taking up the total tally to 1,619 and 3,086, respectively at the end of fiscal 2014-15, Hyundai added 60 sales and 110 service outlets, enhancing the total sales and service network to 885 and 1,110 (as on 4 April), respectively, according to the latest data shared by these companies.
Timely interventions in the product life cycle by means of refreshes, minor model changes and complete model changes have also ensured that some of the models that would have otherwise gone off the list stayed the course, said Puneet Gupta, an analyst at a consulting firm, citing instances of the Alto, Swift, i10 and i20 models.
Honda City re-entered the top 10 list after a gap of eight years after the introduction of the new generation City in January 2014.
