The demand for small cars would never cease since the automobile sector has been pricing them cleverly overall. However the trend seems to have shifted to the hatchback’s booted variants. An emerging trend has been noted that more and more people who have booked hatchbacks are now canceling those bookings and going for the base version of the sedans. Well the efforts from the salesperson cannot be ignored in this context as well. Sedans carry a higher level of incentives for the salesperson and hence they always prefer to go for it. Major players like Maruti, Tata Motors and Hyundai have noted this sales trend.
The cost difference between the top end model hatchback and base variant of the sedan is mostly Rs 70,000 or at the most Rs 1 lakhs. This roughly translates to about Rs 1,200 – 1,700 for the EMIs and that too for a 5 year loan on a sedan, something which most of the buyers can adjust to. Buying a sedan means higher prestige value and hence most buyers get readily converted for the same. Maruti dealers are vocal with their opinion that most Swift buyers end up buying the base version or the Lxi variant of the Swift Dzire. Around 10 percent of Tata Motors’ sales of the Indigo sedan are converted from customers opting for the Indica Vista. To make a sale, most of the sales people thrown in additional dealer goodies. Hyundai dealers convert most of the Hyundai i20 or Hyundai i10 orders to Hyundai Verna or Hyundai Accent sales.
