India March 2014: Datsun Go and Hyundai Xcent land

Datsun Go

* See the Top 60 best-selling models and Top 14 brands by clicking on the title! *

New car sales in India are down 5% year-on-year in March to 232,423 registrations (ex-Commercial Vehicles), bringing the First Quarter total to 660,328 units, down 4% on 2013. We have been waiting for this moment for almost a year, since Carlos Ghosn unveiled the Datsun Go in Delhi in July 2013. The first model in the relaunched Datsun brand is finally here: the Go lands at #31 in India this month for its very first appearance in the world with 2,068 sales, keeping in mind these are retail sales to dealerships. We will have to wait a few months to gauge the success or lack thereof of this all-new brand. More than just a model launch, it’s an entire new philosophy at play for the Renault-Nissan Group, as I described in Strategy: Understanding the Indian car market.

Hyundai Xcent

Another very important model to launch this month in India is the Hyundai XCent, the sedan version of the extremely successful Hyundai Grand i10 – which just landed its 4th month above 10,000 monthly sales in March at 10,614. The Xcent appears at a more modest 33rd place with 1,716 sales for now. No doubt this ranking, as well as the Go’s, will improve drastically over the next couple of months and a Top 10 spot for both new entrants is definitely expected if we want to talk about successful launches here.

Mahindra Scorpio

In other news, the Maruti Alto delivers a 7th month in a row above 20,000 monthly units at 25,590, the Mahindra Bolero hits its 2nd best monthly volume at 11,294 units (best is 11,675 in March 2013) while the Honda City smashes its sales record at 9,518 units in 7th place. The Honda Amaze is back inside the Top 10 at #9, the Maruti Celerio pauses its progression at #12 (-4) with 6,060 sales and the Mahindra Scorpio breaks its monthly record at 5,605 sales (previous best: 5,230 in October 2013), durably reclaiming the SUV crown off the Renault Duster and Ford Ecosport which is no mean feat.

Previous post: India February 2014: Update with Commercial Vehicle sales

Previous Strategy Post: Understanding the Indian car market

Photo Reports:  Delhi March 2014: Maruti Wagon R everywhere /Agra March 2014: Maruti Alto 800 king

Previous month: India February 2014: Maruti Celerio up to 7th place

One year ago:  India March 2013: Maruti DZire breaks record, Honda Amaze lands

Full March 2014 Top 60 models and Top 14 brands Ranking Tables below.