Wednesday, March 06, 2013
By Carkhabri Team
Ford India car sales drop by 44.12 percent, could Ecosport prove to be a trump card
There is almost bloodshed in the Indian car industry with every other car maker printing its sales chart in dark red ink. Maruti did it, Hyundai just missed the red color but Tata and Ford India had to bear the brunt. These two car makers posted 32.70 and 44.12 percent dip in sales. Notably, Tata is already in a bad situation and its passenger car sales stood at meager 10613 units. Meanwhile despite of new Ford Figo launch, the American car maker could not have more than 4490 units compared to 8035 units in the same month last year. This is really a grim situation and the scenario will hopefully no change in the near future as well because there is the petrol price hike already in place.
However, there is a ray of hope. It is the upcoming Ford EcoSport launch that is going to happen anytime from now. May be next week. This SUV though will have to bear a price rise before it is launched following the budget proposal of hike in excise duty on SUVs more than 4 meter in length. Following this there will be Ecosport price hike to the tune of upto Rs 60,000. Thus the SUV will be overpriced right from the start. Also, the time is not fair for the launch as there will be negative sentiment in the market following first the budget proposals and secondly due to the fuel price hike.
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But it is still believed that it is the Ecosport that can bring the change even in such as worse situation. Though the February sales figures are not at all inspiring, the months to come could be brighter as the company has report a rise in exports to the tune of over 16 percent in the last month. But is India then only becoming a production hub with car makers launching their cars and there are no takers? Or the government wants it to be a market where there are cars and there are no takers as the inflation is high, the car prices are hefty, interest rates are high and fuel prices have reached pinnacle.
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