Mumbai, Nov 23: Sales of cars in the mid-size segment have crashed inOctober and the only two models that have crossed the 1,000 mark are theMaruti Esteem and Hindustan Motors' Ambassador. While this is a normalphenomenon especially after the peak levels of September, experts say thatthe onset of the millennium could also prompt potential customers to deferbuying till next year.The Cielo and Honda City have been the worst hit with sales falling bynearly 55 per cent compared to September. The City had reported sales of1,000 cars in September but this crashed to 452 in October. As for theCielo, the figure crashed to 168 from 365 cars.
The Mitsubishi Lancer and Fiat Siena have also had a rough ride with theformer reporting sales of 501 cars in October (down by 50 per cent fromSeptember's total of 1001 cars). Sales of the Siena were down 48 per cent to426 cars from 826 in the previous month.
Though the Esteem also reported a decline to the extent of 26 per cent, itwas relatively well placed at 1,125 cars from September's level of 1,521.The Ford Escort and Opel Astra sold 348 cars between them compared to acombined 529 in September.
Experts say that the Esteem is still head and shoulders over the othermodels for sheer advantages of utility and economy. Not only is the carreasonably priced at around Rs 6 lakh but it also has a tremendousafter-sales service network. Spares are equally affordable compared to theother models and this explains why the Esteem will occupy the top slot inthe years to come.
It still remains to be seen how competition in the form of the HyundaiAccent and Ford Ikon will alter the balance in the mid-size segment. Bothcars are affordably priced in the Rs 5-5.5 lakh range and are classy models.They will have a diesel option to offer (the Accent will soon be fitted withthe Peugeot TUD5 engine) and this could well tilt the scales in theirfavour.
Overall sales in the mid-size segment totalled 4,340 cars in October, down38 per cent from September's figure of 6,934 units. This was not so bad inthe small car category and the Daewoo Matiz actually reported higher salesof 3,259 vehicles up from 2,800 in September. Sales of the Maruti 800 weredown to 15,581 cars from 18,458, a fall of 15.6 per cent while those of theHyundai Santro fell 14 per cent to 6,207 from 7,214 cars.
The Uno reported sales of 1,525 cars in October, higher than the figure of1,508 in September while 4,744 Tata Indicas were sold in this period asagainst 5,044 in the previous month. Sales of the Maruti Zen fell by 14.7per cent to 6,382 cars from 7,479 units.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.