The entire auto industry continued to be in the throes of declining sales in August 2019. This was the 10th straight month in a row that this industry has suffered lower sales and even the festive season shows no signs of bringing in any relief or revival.
More expensive hatchback segment, which includes the likes of Maruti Suzuki Baleno, Hyundai i20, Toyota Glanza, VW Polo, Ford Freestyle and Honda Jazz suffered a 31 percent decline in sales. Total sales in August 2019 stood at 23,238 units down from 33,651 units sold in August 2018.
Maruti Suzuki Baleno sold via the company’s Nexa outlets saw sales dip 38 percent to 11,067 units in the past month. This was against 17,713 units sold in the same month of the previous year. The company has recently announced that Maruti Suzuki Ignis, Swift, Dzire, Baleno along with the soon to be launched S-Presso could get CNG variants which will be a relatively cleaner fuel to fill in the gap with Maruti’s exit from small diesel engines.
Hyundai i20 sales also dipped 38 percent in the past month to 7,071 units as compared to 11,475 units sold in August 2018. Hyundai has also confirmed the new 3rd gen i20 which will launch sometime next year. It will be offered with dual clutch transmission as against the current generation model which gets regular AT.
At No. 3 on the list of best selling premium hatchbacks was the Toyota Glanza, the rebadged version of the Maruti Suzuki Baleno of which 2,322 units were sold in the past month. Toyota Glanza has now become the 3rd best selling car in the segment.
Sales of Volkswagen Polo fell to 1,573 units in August 2019, down 17 percent as compared to sales of 1,899 units in August 2018. Earlier this month, the facelifted VW Polo was launched with prices that now starts at Rs 5.82 lakhs and go all the way up to Rs 9.88 lakhs. It gets revised features but continues to be powered by the same petrol and diesel engine lineup.
Ford Freestyle noted a significant dip in sales to the tune of 75 percent in August 2019. Sales which had stood at 2,564 units in August 2018 dipped to 647 units in the past month. These lower sales were despite cash discount, exchange bonus and finance benefits offered on the Freestyle.
Honda Jazz sales also dipped 50 percent to 558 units in the past month as against sales of 1,119 units sold in August 2018. The Honda Jazz has been on sale in the country spread over two generation models while this is the third generation model that is on sale since 2015, posting month after month of decline. Honda has confirmed that it will be debuting the all new Jazz at the Tokyo Motor Show scheduled for the end of October 2019 which could help in terms of increased sales when launched in the country.
