| Message: | NIRBHAY KUMAR
TNN[ MONDAY, JULY 09, 2007 03:36:55 AM]
NEW DELHI: Honda City has reclaimed the leadership position in the mid-size car segment by overtaking Suzuki SX4 in June. The SX4 had made an impressive debut in May climbing to the number one position in the first month of launch, but this turned out to be a temporary surge.
Making a comeback, the Honda City sold 2,656 units in June as against 1,975 units of SX4. In May the SX4 had outnumbered City sales by about 162 units. During that month, the SX4 sales stood at 3,000 units as against Honda City’s sales of 2,838 units.
“It's very early to judge which car would continue to have leadership position. Generally it takes three to four months for getting sales stabilised. In the first month SX4 did well mainly because of novelty factor. Whatever be the sales tally of the two cars, Honda City is a much stronger brand than the SX4,” said Pradeep Saxena, senior vice president, TNS Automotive India, an automotive research firm
Maruti attributes lower SX4 sales in June to a planned maintenance shutdown. “Our plant had shut down for eight days for maintenance in June leading to supply constraints. We have at least one month waiting period for the SX4. We rolled out 2,000 units of the SX4 in June and have sold all,” said an MUL spokesperson.
Incidentally, Honda cites a similar reason for less sales in May. "For maintenance, our plant was shut for five days in May leading to lower production and hence lower dispatch to the dealers," said Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) senior sales general manager Jnaneswar Sen.
|
|
