Indian car sales for December 2015: Winners and Losers

December has thrown up some rather interesting numbers. The wholesales for the year end are actually higher compared to half of 2015 and also over 10 per cent more than December 2014. There is plenty to talk about and some more to ponder over, so here is our list of the top three winners and losers for the previous month.  

Winners:

Renault has made it to the top of the list this time around. The Kwid success story continues with the entry-level hatchback dislodging the Eon as the second most sold car in the A-Segment behind the Alto. Also, the popularity of the car seems to have rubbed off on the Duster. There is a substantial increase in the Duster sales last month, pushing the French carmaker’s numbers to a record high. 

It may not be a very large jump, but the Toyota Etios for the first time in almost two years has crossed 3,000 units mark in a month. The timing couldn’t have been better. Most of the sedans haven’t done too well and that means the Etios was the fourth highest selling sedan, behind the Dzire, City and Xcent.

The Baleno sales have crossed the 10,000 mark. The wholesale of the premium hatchback crossed that of the Hyundai Elite i20 last month, despite being offered through limited number of Nexa dealerships. Both the hatchbacks have done very well and the only car in the segment that has lost out is the Honda Jazz. 

Losers:

First and foremost, the new regulation in Delhi that restricts sale of the diesel cars with engines over 2000cc. Now we fully support the drive to reduce pollution in the capital city, but a sudden change in policy without prior intimation isn’t the right way of going about things. The change affects models like the Mahindra XUV500, Scorpio, Tata Safari, Toyota Innova, Fortuner and the entire range of Mercedes-Benz diesel cars.

The Ford EcoSport numbers were down to 1,500 last month. Now this probably is partially due to the Chennai rains that affected everything from stockyards to OEM suppliers, but the fact is that the sales of the compact SUV were down by close to 50 per cent at the end of the year, despite the launch of the updated version in October.

The Ciaz sales had dipped once before this year, but that was when the company had stopped production for the launch of the SHVS hybrid version. This time, however, there is no explanation and close to 50 per cent dip in sales at 2,841 units is certainly a lot.