Honda City resale prices fall drastically

Honda have time and again refused to accept that diesel is the way out in the Indian markets.For a long while they have managed to get away even.But now when times are getting tough even a company like Honda cannot get away any more.

Yes sales of new cars has been down for a while now.But now it is hurting where it hurts the most.For long honda has been proud about the resale value of its cars and even used it as a sales strategy for new cars.But now things have all changed Honda city resale value has fallen by 25-30% and that too just from the date when fuel prices where increased.Honda was always going to be the most affected simply because it had only petrol cars in its portfolio.What is interesting is that according to the report[BS] Honda civic too has been badly hit with everybody in a hurry to sell but relatively fewer buyers for the car in the seconds market.

Is Honda the only company affected no,General motors have been way too slow in adopting diesel into its line-up when it comes to the more mass market cars[leaving aside the tavera].

The ford fiesta too is suffering with the bad resale value and fords problems seem to continue with resale value of their cars.

The huge discounts on the Toyota Corolla and the lack of demand has affected its prices too in the seconds market.The mitsubishi lancer cedia is another car which is not doing well in the seconds market.

For a while it was the golden run of C and D segment cars in India but that run has abruptly come to an end.

According to the report there is an oversupply of the Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Ford Fiesta, Mitsubishi Lancer, Toyota Corolla ,Honda CRV, Ford Endeavour and the Hyundai Tuscon in the seconds market.

So what are Indian buyers buying now.Well we too have taken to the smaller is better strategy and if at all a bigger car is purchased it is a diesel.Maruti and hyundai are the more popular choices in the seconds market with WagonR, Zen, Alto, M800, Swift, Omni and Hyundai's Santro and Getz being the most sort after.

[source:Business Standard]

Coming soon:Facelifted Ford Fiesta

Ford is all set to launch a more aggressive looking ford fiesta very soon[June 18th according to team-bhp].Most pictures out on the net are of the kitted sports variant and it would be interesting to see how the other variants look like without that body kit.

The earlier rather sedate looking car has now got an aggressive character to it[I personally prefer the new looks].Disappointingly however Ford Have not added the 1.6LTDCi diesel engine to its lineup whereas they have discontinued the 1.4L petrol[however with the latest initiative by the government to tax cars above 1500cc we shall mostly see ford going back to the 1.4L petrol engine again,probably delaying the launch even].

Thanks to the Maruit SX4,airbags and ABS are now becoming standard in this segment and now ford too has decided to give it as standard fitment in the top of the line variant.

The interiors have been tweaked around a bit and now you get wooden panels in the top of the line variant.

The new car is definitely a big improvement over the earlier generation and was desperately needed by Ford india to revive interest in the Fiesta brand but Ford should have thought about the 2009 Fiesta which it is about to sell in markets like China if it had any dreams about occupying the number one slot in the segment.

[image source:thecarsandmore.blogspot.com]

For more Visit:
Team-bhp

Ford unveil next generation Fiesta in China

The next generation Ford Fiesta is going to be based on the Verve concept sedan and Ford just unveiled the hatchback version of the Fiesta at Auto China[2008] in Beijing.


Ford have made it clear that though this platform was designed in Europe it would be sold globally.There will be a hatchback as well as a sedan based on the same platform.

Yes we can expect both in the Indian markets though expect the sedan to be here first.The sedan would be a notchback just like the skoda octavia.Both the hatch and the sedan should be available in all markets[includes india] between 2008-2010.In China,Ford plan to sell the new Fiesta by 2008 end.

Ford calls its kinetic design I say wow,I can just keep drooling.Ford too have taken the EPS plunge and the new generation Fiesta will have EPS.In terms of length the new sedan is the same size as the chevrolet aveo.

Inspiration for the interiors has come from none other than mobile phones for the cellphone generation.Of course when it does take production form I have a feeling that for markets like ours Ford may just cut down on the goodies.Oh damn how many times do I have to write that.

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Will it be called the fiesta in Our markets don't know.How the production version will work out[especially in the indian market],we will have to see but expect a lot of similarities with the mazda platforms which are already on the roads abroad[both hatch and sedan].

Checkout the pictures of the mazda 2 sedan[For more picture including interiors visit:Carscoop] :



[image source:carscoop]

The mazda 2 hatchback:


[image source:yahoo]

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PS:In case you are not satisfied and have slightly bigger wallet then you would be glad to know Ford plan to do the same with the Focus platform as well however I am not sure about the Indian launch and the time frame.

[source:jalponik]
[image source : addyourcar,jalponik,autoweek,carbuyersnotebook.com]

Update:
For spy pictures please visit:
autoblog

What does the future hold for the Ford Ikon.

Ford India have gone ahead and launched yet another limited edition,this time its the ikon again in the news.At a time when everybody is talking about increase in prices Ford has done the unthinkable and actually given us a cheaper offering.

But behind this generous decision was the fact that Ford's sales have fallen sharply in the passenger car segment and the ikon especially is facing the heat mainly because the car has been longer in the market now than the average age of its buyers.Ford have begun exporting the present fiesta to the south african markets[as the ikon].That means is the end of the road for the Ikon near.

It could well have been if ford's small car would have been here before 2010 but until then they have a huge gap to fill because of which they are forced to use the ikon. Ford have also not used their magical potion,the 1.4L TDCi engines.That could temporarily give the Ikon a new lease of life.The main problem ofcourse is it may cannibalise sales of its stable mates but unless there is a diesel variant I don't see the Ikon going on till 2010 even.

So Ford please go ahead and give the Ikon a younger heart so it gets back all its josh*.


Ps: The new limited edition offers AC,power steering and central locking and is priced at approx Rs. 4.49 lakhs ex-showroom.It has a 1.3L petrol engine.

*The Ikon is referred to as the josh machine in India.

[image source:about.com]

Shame on you Motorcycle manufacturers

If the latest mileage figures of cars are any indicator then Motorcycles are far worse than the gas guzzling suv's.The ford fiesta has just done Mumbai to Bangalore on a single tank of fuel which amounts to approx 33.44kmpl.The mahindra logan too has achieved a similar result.

God knows what will happen when smaller cars with less powerful[FE oriented engines] are introduced we will mostly see figures of close to 100kmpl.

Compare to the much lighter and way less powerful motorbikes what is the mileage they are giving.So time to throw away your motorcycles and head to the nearest car showroom.No not yet.Achieving such extraordinary figures is not possible for mere mortals like us.Take these figures with a pinch of salt.

Preferably don't buy these cars in 2008

If you have any plans to buy the Skoda fabia this year I suggest you wait for a year if resale value is important to you.VW [skoda's Parent company] say that they will lower costs of the Fabia by manufacturing the fabia at the chakan plan [while VW plan to delay their debut vehicle in India to 2010].Skoda have already done this with the Laura where later on they launched cheaper models which severely affected resale value of the cars which were already sold.I came across one such Laura owner who says he lost close to 6-7 Lakhs in resale value in just an 8 month old car.

However I must add that nothing wrong with Skoda cars,infact the Octavia[Laura as we know it here] has just been voted the best car in the UK for the second consecutive year.Octavia[Laura in India] drivers are the most satisfied lot in terms of reliability,build quality,running costs and ease of driving.Skoda beat rivals like Honda,Toyota,BMW,Mercedes for the second consecutive year.The Fabia too should be more or less on these lines and will definitely not disappoint you. If the car is going to be with you for a long time or you are not bothered about resale value please do go ahead with your purchase decision.

But the case with the cars I discuss next is a bit different.In these cars you will see a major revamp pretty soon.

1>.The first car in the list is the present Toyota corolla which is currently one generation behind its main rival the Honda civic.It is confirmed that you will get the next generation in India in 2008[maybe a diesel option as well].

2>.The next car in the list is the Honda city.You can see pretty much the push both the company as well as dealers are giving to increase sales since a major revamp of the Honda city is expected by the end of the year[2008].You will be left with a model which would be one generation behind in just a matter of few months.

Now I go back to the title I say preferably because you could also take advantage of this situation since all the above mentioned cars are great cars as well and dealers would be pushing for sales by adding incentives for you to buy these cars.But yes you must be ready to accept the fact that you will be driving an outdated model soon.

If you ask me what is the best alternative at this moment ,well I suggest the Hyundai Verna CRDi.It is a relatively safe bet and a good car with good mileage[FE.].In case of a petrol car I suggest the Maruti SX4.I don't expect any drastic change very soon to either of the two.The Toyota Corolla is not in the C segment and its alternative would be the Honda Civic which too should not see anything drastic soon.

Update 1:
In the don't buy list I am adding the Skoda octavia,for reasons please refer to this post,Next generation Skoda Octavia due in 2009 .Also the more modern VW jetta is expected soon.I would avoid the Laura too for the moment since a price correction could be possible but I am not 100% sure and hence am not placing it in the don't buy list.Alternatives I suggest the Optra Magnum.


Update 2:
NDTV confirms launch of the next generation honda city by the end of the year[2008].

Update 3:
The hyundai getz is a car in the don't buy list since the all new I20 is expected by the year end.Search the post for more details.Alternative ford fusion diesel.

Update 4:
With competition expected to catch up with Toyota in the form of the mahindra ingenio and the tata Xover expect something drastic from Toyota,from talks of launching a cheaper UV to even discontinuing the present innova doing the rounds I suggest you go slow and postpone your buy.No alternative buys suggested for the moment.

Update5:
Mahindra Renault Logan is a new addition to the list,a Facelifted model is expected soon.

Update6:
Maruti to replace the alto with the A-star.

The don't buy cars list for 2008:
1>.Honda City
2>.Toyota Corolla
3>.Hyundai Getz
4>.Skoda Octavia
5>.Skoda Fabia
6>.Toyota Innova
7>.Mahindra Renaul Logan
8>.Maruti Suzuki Alto


Also read:
Honda confirms all new Honda city launch by end of this year

Also read:
Team-bhpian Spots possible new Honda City.

Maruti the leader of the C segment in India

The Maruti juggernaut just rolls on.Do they know how to sell their cars.Maruti has emerged the new leader in the C segment thanks largely to the success of the SX4 which meant sales of the Honda city[the previous leader] has dropped.This shows that Maruti does have it to take on the bigger japanese rivals like Honda and its success is not limited only to hatchbacks.Maruti played the value for money tag very well with the SX4 and now with the swift sedan[dzire] have the capability to extend this lead further and retain the leader tag.

Ford has seen a real drastic fall in sales[26,485 units ,down from 34,681 units sold last year ] and expect some alterations to the existing Fiesta,perhaps even a diesel ikon[just a rumour].Tata Motors too has had a fall in sales [26,281 units (29,949 units last year)]which could be stopped with the introduction of the next generation Indigo.

What will be really interesting is when Maruti brings their Kizashi concept[expected by 2010] to take on the likes of the Honda civic and the Toyota corolla.

According to SIAM,Maruti is the new leader of the C segment in India,and heres the details:

Country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India, better known for its compact cars, has zipped past competition, including Honda and Hyundai, in the mid-sized sedan segment this fiscal on the back of its successful model SX4.MSI's sales in the period stood at 41,799 units as compared to 27,283 units in the same period last year.

The growth has enabled the company to speed past Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI), which was at the number one slot in April-February period of the previous fiscal. HSCI sells City, its popular model in the segment.In the ongoing fiscal, HSCI's cumulative sales stood at 34,029 units as against 35,300 units in the corresponding period last year.

Hyundai Motor India comes third in the segment with 29,146 units sold in the period as against 25,147 units a year ago.

So now do you get why all the fuss on saving the Planet.

Source:[The Hindu]

Ford brings back the Fusion Plus variant.

Ford India have once again brought in the Fusion plus model after it was discontinued earlier due to lack of interest.Now the Fabia has forced Ford to bring in the Fusion Plus again.

What the Fusion plus gets is Body coloured mirrors and the entire exterior in body colours which was oddly not available in the first place and that too after paying such a hefty premium.Height adjustable drivers seat ,alloy wheels,ABS and an MP3 player are the other extra features available on the fusion plus as against the base fusion.

All this comes at a premium of Rs.40,000 for both the diesel as well as petrol compared to the base variant.

While I am a strong advocate of safety and recommend ABS,I have doubts over how well the Fusion plus would do simply because of it stablemate the Fiesta.That said its nice Ford have atleast given an option.Its upto you and me to decide how much we value our lives.

[Image source:Carpages.co.uk]