Maruti does not have a glorious record for selling premium mid-sized sedans in the Indian market. Their much-hyped Baleno and SX4 performed adequately at best while the Kizashi and Vitara were duds. However, the situation could finally be looking up for the Indian auto-maker as their latest offering – the Ciaz – has just outsold their biggest rival in the class – the 2014 Honda City.
The Ciaz managed to outsell the City is its very first month, and Maruti has shipped 6,345 units of the Ciaz as opposed to 5,120 units of the Honda City. However, this is the result of the initial wave of customers, lined up to grab a new product in this saturated market segment. Whether Maruti manages to retain this demand in the future is the primary question here.
The 2014 Honda City is known for being reliable, user-friendly and practical. The Ciaz, on the other hand, is fun to drive. We have no info on the drive test review of the vehicle and are hence in the dark about its performance.
The 2014 Honda City has been a market leader for a while now, outselling all competitors by a fair margin. Honda has been selling close to 7,000 units of the City, on an average, since January this year, recording peak sales of 9,518 units in March, 2014. Honda India has been recording manufacturing constraints for the past few months, which has resulted in a slight decline in the overall sales volume.
Honda India had to stop manufacturing the City in August this year, owing to huge demands for the Mobilio, which rivals the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga in its range. The demand for the City is suffering at the moment as the Mobilio has taken precedence. This has resulted in the decreasing production of the family sedan, and the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz is utilizing this situation to the maximum.
Maruti, on the other hand, currently has 17,000 bookings for the Ciaz and are finding it difficult to stay tuned with the supply chain. However, considering that this is the first month for the Ciaz and the production deficit of the 2015 Honda City, this is not the ideal time to look for the winner.
The Maruti Ciaz, however, has shaken the established players such as the Hyundai Verna and Toyota Corolla and rival automakers have been forced to take notice of the new kid on the block. Honda India has revealed that production will commence from their Tapukara plant this November. Experts believe that production of the 2014 Honda City will resume soon, and this should be Maruti’s reason for worry.
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