CHENNAI: The car market may be stuck in first gear but the success of some of the new launches of 2013 is helping revive sentiment in the industry. After the success of the Honda Amaze, the just-launched Mercedes Benz A Class compact car has trotted in the highest booking levels in the brand's history in India.Others like General Motors India are now relying almost entirely on the numbers clocked by its recent launches Sail and Enjoy to keep the assembly line ticking. Industry experts say successful new launches that manage to hit the sweet spot can play a critical role in improving showroom footfalls and overall sentiment.
Said Janeshwar Sen, senior VP (marketing and sales), Honda Cars India, which launched the Amaze three months ago, "It always happens with a good product that hits the sweet spot in the market - it helps spark consumer interest and ignites the market. New models increase interest levels and resultant showroom footfalls and even if the potential customers don't buy the new model, they often end up buying something else."
The Amaze - which sold 2,000 units in March, 5,000 units in April and 6,000 in May - has been so successful that Honda is hurrying up the construction work of its new factory in Tapukara in Alwar, Rajasthan. The Amaze currently has a four-five month wait list and, unless the new factory brings in additional capacity, the company will be strapped for supplies.
Ditto for the newest launch in motown, the Mercedes Benz A-Class compact car. Ten days after the launch, the company now has 400-plus bookings, "a historic high for the brand in India", according to Eberhard Kern, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India. "We are in discussion with the headquarters in Germany for more allocation of this model and we are looking at double-digit growth, both in the second quarter of the calendar as well as for the entire year."
That's a big jump fro m the 5.3% growth that the company clocked in the January-March quarter with 2009 units, a lion's share of which came from the E-Class. With the new E-Class launch due on June 25 and the B-Class diesel in "two-three months", Mercedes is stepping on the gas this year. Understandable, given that its new launch luck isn't restricted to the A-Class alone. The GL Class launched three weeks ago has sold out its high-spec, all-import launch edition of 100 cars at Rs 77.5 lakh a piece, ex-Delhi. Local production of the model starts in August. As for the petrol B Class, it's selling 50-60 units a month - not bad at all for a model in its price category in this market.
Auto experts say a new model that proves popular can be good both for the company in particular and for the industry in general. "The auto finance circuit is not hopeful of a turnaround before the festival season," said a senior executive in a Mumbai-based auto finance major. "The only hope is that new launches like the Honda Amaze will capture the imagination of the consumers."
The truth of that forecast is best seen in the performance of the Chevrolet Sail and Enjoy, the two models that collectively sell more than the rest of GM India's stable. Launched in May, E njoy sold 2,177 units because "that's all we could deliver", said company spokesman P Balendran. Sail sold another 2,851 units and "we have some deliveries pending as well so demand for both models is good", he added. "Most of our numbers are coming from these two models."
The two models helped GMI tot up 40% growth in May at 8,500 units. "There is always interest and excitement over a new production model but the impact on the market may not be very significant," said Balendran. Added an analyst with a Mumbai-based broking firm, "At least it creates a buzz which isn't a bad bargain on a rainy day."
UPDATE 4-Dell to go private in landmark $24.4 billion deal - Reuters
0 comments:
Post a Comment