The BEST- and WORST-selling sedans in the past 3 months

Among sedans between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 10 lakh

After compact SUVs, the segment that has been seeing a lot of action is the sedan segment, with demand for a couple of entry level sedans such as the Maruti Dzire and Honda Amaze continuing in full swing. The festive season has been particularly kind to the Maruti Dzire and Honda Amaze, with both reporting a substantial jump in sales during the month.

But what about those who haven’t really seen much sales? We take a look at those poor cars as well, and each one actually has some distinct strong points. Here’s our look at the best- and worst-selling sedans between Rs. 5 lakh and Rs. 10 lakh.

Best-selling sedans in India

The best-selling sedans in India have a huge discrepancy among them. The leader sells more than double that of its closest competitor. The second best is also nearly double that of the third, after which the gap gets narrower in terms of sales.

Maruti Dzire

90-day sales: 47,642

There are no points for guessing the best-selling sedan in India – the Maruti Dzire. It may not be a proper sedan, with a pretty compact boot snapped on to the Swift hatchback, but the thing is it is the most popular and continues to sell in numbers that are just behind the Maruti Swift itself, making it India’s third bestselling car overall. In the past three months the Dzire has managed to clock 47,642 units in sales, with October alone accounting for 17,211 cars. The easy access to service, Maruti brand and network, as well as peppy and frugal petrol and diesel engines work in the Dzire’s favour.

 

Honda Amaze

90-day sales: 22,485

The Honda Amaze has almost changed Honda’s fortunes in India, becoming an overnight success and seeing huge waiting periods for this amazingly spacious compact sedan. Honda is struggling with production constraints to keep pace with the demand for the Honda Amaze, which has the benefits of value-for-money pricing, good use of space and one of the most powerful, yet most fuel-efficient diesel engines in its segment. The diesel, in fact, is what has really worked in its favour. The Honda Amaze sold 22,485 cars in the past three months.

 

Hyundai Verna

90-day sales: 12,590

The Hyundai Verna has been among the most consistent performers, with sales staying steady each month, almost continuously since its launch except for a couple of bad months. The car is the best-selling car among mid-size sedans in India (Rs. 7 lakh to Rs. 11 lakh price segment). It is available in 10 variants with two petrol and two diesel engine options, as well as automatic transmission on petrol and diesel. And in typical Hyundai style, the car is loaded with features. The festive season has seen an increase of only about 400 cars in the Verna’s sales. In the past three months the Verna sold 12,590 cars.

 

Tata Indigo & Manza

90-day sales: 8,676

Tata only gives out numbers for the regular Indigo and the Tata Manza together, as they are a single brand. So it’s hard to tell if it was the Indigo CS that has been making up the numbers for Tata or the Manza. However, going by the number of cars on the road, it’s quite possible that the smaller Indigo is the one chalking up the volumes, although the Manza too has been selling in decent numbers. The cars are available with both petrol and diesel engines. In the past three months, Tata has managed to sell 8,676 of these sedans.

 

Toyota Etios

90-day sales: 8,665

Rounding up the top five is the Toyota Etios. This plain and practical car has the largest boot among all sedans, storing a mammoth 595 litres of luggage. So if space is high on your priority list, this is a car to pick up – and it’s also quite popular with the commercial segment for this reason and the fact that the Toyota brand has managed to establish a sense of confidence with buyers. The Etios comes in both petrol and diesel, with the diesel being quite fuel efficient, but the cars are pretty basic when it comes to convenience features. October was a good month with an uptick of nearly 700 cars compared September. In the past three months, Toyota sold 8,665 Etios sedans.

Also see: CarToq video reviews

Worst-selling sedans

Granted the automobile industry is going through a slowdown and general buyer sentiment is gloomy. And there are some cars that have not really clicked with buyers for a variety of reasons, although they all have some strong points to speak of. Here’s a look at the worst-selling sedans in India in the past three months.

Ford Fiesta

90-day sales: 583

The Ford Fiesta is a car that completely missed the party since the time it was launched. Even though Ford has corrected prices and the new Fiesta is pretty good value for money, especially for those looking at an automatic sedan, it isn’t churning out the numbers. However, October seems to have been a particularly good month for Ford with 410 cars being sold compared to 154 the previous month and a paltry 19 in August. Its three-month sales therefore stand at 583 cars.

 

Maruti SX4

90-day sales: 984

The Maruti SX4 has fallen from grace and out of favour having been overtaken by newer, swankier cars. The SX4 is quite capable and can take a beating, but somehow the design doesn’t appeal to buyers anymore. Despite the addition of a diesel SX4 two years ago, interest in the car is waning, with Maruti likely to replace the SX4 with the YL1 soon. In the past three months the SX4 has managed to sell only 984 cars – much lower than what it used to sell in a single month earlier.

 

Fiat Linea

90-day sales: 1019

Ok, to Fiat’s credit this is actually really good performance by the Fiat Linea as sales are on an uptick over the past few months showing renewed confidence in the brand. The Fiat Linea is also soon to be replaced by a newer facelifted model, and Fiat has also introduced a stripped-down variant in September in the form of the Linea Classic. The car looks good, is loaded with features, and the T-Jet variant is a favourite with enthusiasts. Fiat sold 1,019 Lineas in the past three months, clocking 448 cars in October, its best performance since March 2012.

 

Renault Scala

90-day sales: 1,155

Renault is having a tough time pushing its other cars out of the showroom, as all the limelight is being hogged by the Renault Duster. The Renault Scala, which is a more expensive badge-engineered Nissan Sunny, isn’t finding too many takers either. It is a spacious car, looks quite nice, has a frugal diesel engine, but somehow doesn’t cut it on the value-for-money front. In the past three months, Renault has managed to sell only 1,155 Scalas.

 

Mahindra Verito

90-day sales: 1,283

Mahindra probably shot itself in the foot when it launched the Mahindra Verito Vibe, because sales of the regular Verito suddenly plummeted. Not to say the Vibe is doing particularly well, but it has managed to eat into a major chunk of Verito buyers, so much so, the numbers of the Vibe and Verito together add up to what the Verito alone used to manage in a month. As far as a spacious, value-for-money car goes, the Mahindra Verito is incredible value for money, but its dated looks seem to keep buyers away. In 90 days, Mahindra managed to sell only 1,283 Veritos – a figure it used to manage in a month earlier.

Also read: The best- and worst-selling hatchbacks in the past 3 months