Does Sales Figures of a Car Matter in Your Buying Decision?

[Tornado]

With your permission i add one more word to the moral of the story.

Moral of the Story : When you are ready to sink in a reasonably large chunk (at least for most of us!) of your/Father's hard earned money into an asset, its the best to allow all inputs to reach you.
Consider it objectively and logically and then, discard it by all means if you feel so!

I agree with you but partially.
If parents are old , they are in need of comfort but never tell it to us because they are more intrested in fulfillment of our wishes.
And we can easily understand it .And we can sacrifice few thousands on resale value if we can purchase a more comfortable car(might not be top seller) for their comfort without their knowledge. It is just a matter of cancellation of couple of hill station visits during whole ownership so as to counter balence the resale value.
So both purposes are served parental comfort and saving of hard earned money.

 

[deville_56]

One of the reasons for this rocking sales in prejudised mind. Many belive nothing other than Maruti cars and Honda bikes are any good. One of my friend wanted Punto but his dad want only Swift and that too ZDi, they wainted almost 1.5 years for that. It was supposed to be dlivered on January 20, again delayed. He finally bought a second hand Swift for the price of new and now his booking is available for sale. I vouch it is no good in quality comparing many other cars in similar range, plus equipment level also fall short for the money paid. Still it put the sales chart on fire.

Another NRI friend of mine badly want a Jazz, he will tranfer fund and asked his dad to buy one, but his dad said either Swift or Liva, or no car. What a world.

 

[dharmesh]

One of the reasons for this rocking sales in prejudised mind. Many belive nothing other than Maruti cars and Honda bikes are any good. One of my friend wanted Punto but his dad want only Swift and that too ZDi, they wainted almost 1.5 years for that. It was supposed to be dlivered on January 20, again delayed. He finally bought a second hand Swift for the price of new and now his booking is available for sale. I vouch it is no good in quality comparing many other cars in similar range, plus equipment level also fall short for the money paid. Still it put the sales chart on fire.

Another NRI friend of mine badly want a Jazz, he will tranfer fund and asked his dad to buy one, but his dad said either Swift or Liva, or no car. What a world.

This just makes me . When I was buying car, I booked Swift ZDi, To this my dad asked me why not FIAT. . Just because he has travelled a lot in old Padmini and don't much about Auto world. But I was surprised by his suggestion.

 

[Gurrala74]

Hmm,

I jealous on you guys, my Dad never suggest me anything, he will say" A car, ok anything with 4 wheels is OK"

 

[Mr.Boss]

For me "NO"

Reason 1:
I always wanted to be unique on road. So normally I avoid cars like Fiesta, Innova, Swift, etc

Reason 2:
Cars like Ritz reflect a less sales volume only because of looks, but I love the shape of Ritz.

Reason 3:
Brands like Fiat, Nissan are mostly avoided due to A.S.S constraints, but many of their products are built to last without giving much issues.

 

[chayan]

This just makes me . When I was buying car, I booked Swift ZDi, To this my dad asked me why not FIAT. . Just because he has travelled a lot in old Padmini and don't much about Auto world. But I was surprised by his suggestion.

I think it has something to do with nostalgia as these cars (Ambys, Padminis' in the 80s) were not epitome of quality or reliability.
The first car I remember at home is the Fiat 1100. It was bought in the 60s and was sold in 1986. It served us well but I remember it as always having some issue or the other. My father used to spend hours under the bonnet and come back saying -- now its 'tip top' but then something else would go wrong after a few months.
It was replaced at home in 86 by the recently launched Maruti Van and compared to the Fiat, it was a spaceship. Frugal, modern and offered something we did not have before - reliability.
However when I went searching for the new hatch recently, my father did not suggest Maruti.. no he suggested the Punto, and how its increased GC is a boon in a country like India. I could term it as nostalgia but then it might just be the badge.

 

[Sam Dinkar]

Off-topic:
@dharmesh,chayan: Hug your respective dads from my side! Punto rocks!

 

[Vishwas]

I think it has something to do with nostalgia as these cars (Ambys, Padminis' in the 80s) were not epitome of quality or reliability.

However when I went searching for the new hatch recently, my father did not suggest Maruti.. no he suggested the Punto, and how its increased GC is a boon in a country like India. I could term it as nostalgia but then it might just be the badge.

Off-topic:
@dharmesh,chayan: Hug your respective dads from my side! Punto rocks!

That's the beauty of owning a fiat, Kudos to you guys, nevertheless to mention if you take the sales figures of TAI alone, Punto is the chart buster!

 

[mastersquall]

I won't say much but I don't care about how much car is selling or doing top chart
I love buying car which heart love . I don't follow like sheep I take advice see if it touch my heart and not painful to my parents

 

[docmit]

@FBW

If you look at it in India it is a well know truth that it is not the sales figures but "kitna deti hai" to the much extent in case of these non-enthusiast buyer.

If that is the case then nano would have been the best seller it was expected to be, considering the 25 kmpl FE. But the image of the car does matter a lot

 

[Tornado]

That's the beauty of owning a fiat, Kudos to you guys, nevertheless to mention if you take the sales figures of TAI alone, Punto is the chart buster!

This means reserch matters more than the sales figures on TAI AFA hatch is concerned, isn't it?

 

[dharmesh]

Off-topic:
@dharmesh,chayan: Hug your respective dads from my side! Punto rocks!

Done sir.

That's the beauty of owning a fiat, Kudos to you guys, nevertheless to mention if you take the sales figures of TAI alone, Punto is the chart buster!

Yes. One more Punto thread is about to start. My friend, colleague also TAIan now, might start his thread.

This means reserch matters more than the sales figures on TAI AFA hatch is concerned, isn't it?

Ofcourse, thats what TAI is for.


One of the best comment I got was one month back, when me and my mom went to some relatives house and I was standing outside near a bakery and mom went to their house. I was looking to my punto all around. There was a person sitting near bakery. His age would be 80+. He looked at me and smiled while I was looking at my car from all around and I smiled back to him. He asked me it is FIAT car right? My happiness had no bar. Because most of people I met always said, this car looks like Indica, I20, POLO, etc. I replied yes. To this he replied. FIAT cars really good, very strong. Now a days car stand no chance against FIAT and I was jumping like a small kid who spots a candy for himself in his dad's hand.

 

[saby]

Cars of Trusted Companies
MS -> Zen Estilo, A-Star, SX4, GV
GM -> All, except Beat and Cruze
Toyota -> Corolla, Liva
Tata -> Aria
Ford -> All except Figo.
Honda -> All except City and Brio.
Hyundai/Mahindra-> Didn't find any, suitable for the list.
These are the cars of the most trusted companies in India which don't at all sell like their siblings in the showroom.
What I've seen in the marked, Resale value of the mentioned cars is less, and why would be that? Because Everyone buys a Swift or an i20 instead of Punto or even a Figo.
A middle class Indian, investing his hard earned 5L bucks will most probably wonder about the resale value, reliability and "that it has to be better than the others if it sells much more".
We all, on the automobile forums for sure know how and on which bases to evaluate a car, But most of the today's normal Mid aged buyers will notice the short listed cars around them, and If they see 1000 Swifts and a Punto, you know what he'll buy. 1000 Vernas vs few sx4s, for sure verna.

Coming out of aam aadmi's perspective, We can easily find why the above mentioned cars don't sell.
1- Old models (like corolla, fiesta classic.)
2- Unfuturistic design/Boring looks (A star, Estilo)
3- BRAND NAME (Fiat/Nissan) Need to say more?
4- Better options at the same price. ( Estilo->Wagon-R)
So, less selling cars aren't meant to belong to Brands in any way, instead you'll find cars with very few sales in Every Brand, of course Having Less resale value and might be Costly spare parts.

About me, If I had 7L with me now, I would have gone with a Punto/Linea for sure!
Hey, there are buyers for these awesome cars too, and are mainly who just listen to their hearts.
~No offence, most of you'll have diff. opinions. :)

 

[Tornado]

@saby , resale value factor can be easily compensated by discount schemes available on low sellers on the first day of ownership rather than waiting for it till last day of ownership.And for punto and linea one needs to to additional and individual reserch on ASS in his city.

 

[Sam Dinkar]

@saby , resale value factor can be easily compensated by discount schemes available on low sellers on the first day of ownership rather than waiting for it till last day of ownership.And for punto and linea one needs to to additional and individual reserch on ASS in his city.

Agreed to an extent but one must also keep this in mind that a slow selling model depreciates much faster than a hot selling model and this faster rate of depreciation may not be offset by the initial discount. For ex, its easy to see a properly maintained 5 year old Swift VDI that has done, say 80000 kms, go at anything between Rs 3.75 - 4.5 lakhs (REALLY - just check out the classifieds!!). 5 years back, a Swift VDi was priced at approx Rs. 5.4 lakhs on road. If it sells for, say Rs. 4 lakhs, that's a depreciation of only 28% over a 5 year period. Now consider the fact that Fiat is offering Rs 53000 off on the Punto 90hp today which brings its on-road price to approx Rs. 7.5 lakhs. But the moment you drive it out of the showroom, you will loose 30% of this price straightaway in depreciation owing to the (it pains me to type the next word:( ) stigma associated with this brand. One can only imagine how much will a used 90hp cost after 5 years, even though I must admit that a Punto will hold on better after after 5 years than a Swift, considering that it (Punto) is usually bought by people who are enthusiasts ( jayadev, Sooz_Punto, dharmesh, raj.....) and who therefore treat it well.

One might say that the Swift is an exception but still, its a given that a fast selling car will depreciate at a slower rate than a failed (enthusiast's? ;)) model.

Sad, but true.