Sales of compact sedans in India during the past month saw a dip of 9 percent as compared to sales in February 2018. Sales in this segment, which stood at 30,382 units in February 2018 went down to 27,480 units with most cars in this segment reporting negative sales.
Maruti DZire, after noting a dip in sales in December 2018 at 16,797 units bounced back in January 2019 to 19,073 units. However sales in February 2019 dipped again to 15,915 units, a 24 percent decline as compared to sales of 20,941 units sold in the same period of the previous year. These lower sales were also despite the fact that the automaker announced hefty discounts through the month of February with the DZire offered at a discount of Rs 58,000.
Honda Amaze sales surged 603 percent from 933 units sold in February 2018 to 6,562 units in the past month. These increased sales have been following a trend with a 181 percent increase in monthly sales in January 2019 which stood at 7,981 units as against 2,836 units sold in December 2018. The current Honda Amaze, unveiled at the 2018 Auto Expo boasts of several segment first features.
Hyundai Xcent noted a dip in sales by as much as 30 percent from 2,768 units sold in February 2018 to 1,924 units in the past month. The reason for these lower sales was that the company as a whole has noted a drop in sales by 3.1 percent in February 2019. The automaker reported cumulative sales down by 1.6 percent with at a total of 54,518 units sold as against 55,422 units sold in the same month last year.
Also posting negative sales was the Ford Aspire. Sales in February 2019 dipped 40 percent from 1,709 units sold in February 2018 to 1,027 units sold in the past month. The 2019 Aspire facelift is expected by the end of this year which could bring in better sales results. Volkswagen Amep sales dipped 43 percent in February 2019 at just 622 units as against sales of 1,100 units in the same period of the previous year. VW India is reportedly going to discontinue the Ameo by 2020 following poor sales.
Tata Tigor also noted poor sales in February 2019. Sales which stood at 2,846 units in February 2018 went down 56 percent to 1,259 units in the past month. These poor sales were despite the fact that the Tata Tigor, which is priced from Rs.5.42-7.51 lakhs, was offered at a discount in the past month across all of its 9 variants. Sales of the Mahindra Verito zoomed in February 2019. Sales of this compact sedan increased 101 percent from 85 units in February 2018 to 171 units in the past month.
