Cars that did well in August despite the gloom

Car sales in India saw a drop of 19% in the month of August. Several car manufacturers saw their car sales slump and the growth rate too seemed feeble last month. However there were some cars that managed to wither the downward trend with much poise.

Here we take a look at the cars that took the top three spots in terms of sales and did better than they had in the previous month (July) in terms of sales numbers.

We’re not including newly launched cars as it would be unfair to compare them with the others. Since they have evidently enjoyed benefits of the excitement around their launch and their sales haven’t stabilized yet.

Popular cars that faired the best in August

The Ford Figo, Maruti Suzuki Ritz and Tata Nano took the top three spots. The Ford Figo saw its sales go up by 1,598 units, which brought its sales in august to 6,295 units. This was the second highest sales number for the Figo after March when it had sold 7,073 units.

The Maruti Suzuki Ritz saw a sales hike of 1,168 units bringing its sales in August to 4,427 units. The Tata Nano sold 1,022 units more in August than it had in July (5,485 units).

Cars that picked steam

The Chevrolet Tavera, Honda City and Honda Brio too did reasonably well by selling 2,215 units, 2,536 units and 2,335 units respectively. These three vehicles saw a hike in sales of   600 units, 693 units and 620 units respectively. For the Tavera this has been the highest sales number over the past ten months.

How the segment leaders performed

The Maruti Suzuki Alto which we are quite used to seeing top the small car sales chart month after month had sold 17,422 units in July. Sadly its sales went down to 10,488 units in August. Surprisingly its own sibling the WagonR which had sold 9,582 units in July jumped up to 10,078 units in August (A minor jump of 496 units).

The Maruti Suzuki Swift has been the undisputed champion in its segment for the most part of its life. In the month of August however, due to the strike at Maruti’s plant along with other issues the Swift managed to sell only 804 units in August! That is a massive drop of 10,617 units, when compared to its sales in July. The Hyundai i20 managed to hold its ground by selling 7,712 units which is much the same as its sale of 7,775 in July. This also indicates that the i20 failed to rope in prospective Swift buyers despite of the production constraints Maruti went through.

Among sedans the Maruti Suzuki Dzire saw a drop in sales much like the Swift hatchback, due to the same production constraints. The Dzire sold 3,085 units in August which is a drop of 8,328 units compared to its sales in July. Tata too saw poor sales with a combined drop of 3,187 units in August for their Indigo and Manza sedans. The Mahindra Verito seems to have benefitted from both its facelift and the Dzire’s loss as it sold 841 units more than it did in July (1,261 units).

In the SUV/MPV segment the Tata Safari saw sales go up by 302 units in August. On the other hand the Mahindra Bolero, Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and the Toyota Innova al saw a minor downward slope in August. They sold 8,717, 6,643 and 6,439 units respectively. That is drop of 595 units for the Bolero, 448 units for the Ertiga and 239 units for the Innova.