Honda had launched the new gen 2020 City last month in India
July’20 sales details have been revealed by all OEMs. While overall car sales compared to July’19 have just shrunk by 1%, the executive sedan segment has seen a degrowth by 14%. It is to be noted that July’20 sales figures are the best since the start of the pandemic. Despite that, sales have slowed down in the executive sedan segment, clearly showing changing consumer choices.
Top 3 sedans
If we were to look at brand-wise performance, Honda City claimed the title of the segment’s best seller. Honda managed to ship 1,975 units of the City in July’20 whereas it had sold 1,921 units of the sedan in the same month last year.
City registered a YoY growth of 3% in July’20 but if we were to comment, this performance is sub-par, considering that Honda has just launched the 5th generation Honda City. Usually, with a launch of a new generation product, sales sky rocket, at least for the initial 2-3 months, before stabilizing to a more sustainable number. It remains to be seen how City will perform in the future.
The second car on the list was the Hyundai Verna which tailed City’s sales closely. It recorded sales of 1,906 units in the month of July’20 whereas it had sold 1,890 units in July’19. YoY, the sedan registered sales growth of 1%.
The third car on the list was the Maruti Ciaz. Maruti could ship 1,303 units of the Ciaz last month, compared to 2,397 units in July last year. It registered a massive decline of 46%, relatively the steepest in the segment.
Other sedans
Skoda’s Rapid posted healthy sales of 738 units in July’20, while registering a 4% YoY growth. It came on the 4th spot in the monthly sales leaderboard. The 5th car on the list was the Toyota Yaris, which posted the best YoY growth of 322%. The higher growth percentage can be attributed to its extremely poor base in July last year. Last month, Toyota sold 215 units of the Yaris to its dealer partners while it had sold just 51 units in the same month last year.
The VW Vento registered sales decline of 44% and clocked total sales of 210 units. Last year in July’19, VW had shipped 374 units of the Vento. Nissan’s Sunny and Fiat’s Linea, both have been discontinued from the Indian market and hence registered 0 sales. Fiat has infact shut all operations (except Jeep India) and Nissan has now trimmed its portfolio extensively.
| No | Sedan | Jul-20 | Jul-19 | Diff | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Honda City | 1,975 | 1,921 | 54 | 2.81 |
| 2 | Hyundai Verna | 1,906 | 1,890 | 16 | 0.85 |
| 3 | Maruti Ciaz | 1,303 | 2,397 | -1,094 | -45.64 |
| 4 | Skoda Rapid | 738 | 707 | 31 | 4.38 |
| 5 | Toyota Yaris | 215 | 51 | 164 | 321.57 |
| 6 | VW Vento | 210 | 374 | -164 | -43.85 |
| 7 | Nissan Sunny | 0 | 74 | -74 | -100.00 |
| 8 | Fiat Linea | 0 | 2 | -2 | -100.00 |
| – | Total | 6,347 | 7,416 | -1,069 | -14.41 |
