Honda’s sedan City managed to retain its position in the top 10 selling passenger vehicles (PVs) in 2015-16, despite the increasing number of compact car models.

The mid-size sedan slipped a notch down to 10th position, from ninth a year-ago. Its volumes, though, increased marginally to 77,548 units (77,384 units in 2014-15), according to details provided by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

The Indian market is dominated by compact models that account for a major portion of cars sold and Honda City is the only sedan to find a place in the Top 10 table.

Ciaz challenge Honda City has been the segment leader and its current market share stands at about 43 per cent.

However, its leadership position is being challenged by Maruti’s mid-size sedan Ciaz. Ciaz’s sales grew 64 per cent to 54,233 units in FY16, aided by renewed marketing campaigns. The sales gap between the two has fallen to 23,315 units from 44,233 units a year ago. In February, Ciaz sold 5,162 units, which was higher than City’s sales of 4,880 units.

The mid-size sedan market has declined with sales of 181,168 units in 2015-16, down from 186,584 units in the previous year.

SUV competition Industry analysts point out that the mid-size sedan segment has been facing heat from compact SUVs, which are expected to exert pressure on the former’s growth potential in the medium term.

However, three brands – Maruti Ciaz, Honda City and Skoda Rapid – managed to buck the trend with growth in sales during FY16, while others reported decline in sales.

Honda City carries a strong brand image, but it had among the highest number of recalls in the recent past.

In the top 10 PV sales table for FY-16, Maruti had six brands – Alto (1st), Dzire (2nd), Swift (3rd), Wagon R (4th), Celerio (7th) and Omni (9th) position. Other models include Hyundai Elite i20 (5th) and Grand i10 (6th) and Mahindra Bolero (9th).

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