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The mid-size sedan (like Maruti Ciaz, Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Volkswagen Virtus and Skoda Slavia) segment in the overall passenger vehicle (PV) sales have started improving over the last few months due to semiconductor availability.
According to industry veterans, the sedan sales have increased to around 11 per cent till now (January to August) this year, from 9.5 per cent last year. At its peak in 2016-17, the mid size sedan segment contributed 23 per cent to overall PV sales, which is now ruled by the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment, contributing around 41 per cent to total PV sales.
New launches
However, the improvement seems to be more because of the new entrants in the market like the Volkswagen Virtus and Skoda Slavia, apart from the new variant launches like the Honda City electric-hybrid (e:HEV) and Hyundai’s spirited new Verna.
Honda Cars India sold 3,488 units of the City in August compared to 3,284 units of the car in August last year. Similarly, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India said it has delivered to over 5,000 units of the Virtus across India since its launch in June. Skoda Auto India has also sold more than 15,000 units of the Slavia since its launch in March.
“There seems to be a slight improvement overall and I think that’s largely because of the better availability of semiconductor rather than the change in the consumer preferences. In August, the SUV segment continues to be strong at around 43 per cent and on cumulative basis it is 41 per cent for this year, which is 2.4 per cent above last year’s numbers,” Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), told BusinessLine.
Consistent numbers
MSIL sold 10,979 units of the Ciaz between January and August this year, which is more than three per cent year-on-year (YoY) as compared with 10,599 units in January-August last year. However, on a monthly basis, MSIL sold 1,516 units of Ciaz as compared with 2,146 units in the corresponding period last year.
“Ciaz numbers that you see is all a function of production that we are able to manage rather than the actual improvement in demand pattern,” Srivatsa added.
Tarun Garg, Director (Sales, Marketing and Service), Hyundai Motor India said that since the launch of the new Verna, the company is consistently doing well numbers.
“This year, we have done around 11,842 till now (January-August) and we have a wait list of two-three months. We are not able to manufacture that much numbers because of the semi-conductor situation. We are quite confident that the segment is doing well. Verna continues to do well,” he said.
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