Maruti Suzuki India has claimed top position for its premium sedan Ciaz for the year ended March, indicating that it beat long-time incumbent Honda City and new challenger Hyundai Verna.
India’s largest carmaker claimed a market share of 30% for Ciaz in the “premium sedan” segment.
The premium sedan segment excludes the likes of Honda Amaze and Maruti Suzuki Dzire, both of which sell far higher numbers than Ciaz, Honda City and Verna.
Maruti Suzuki said it sold 46,000 units of Ciaz for the full year, which comes to an average of 3,833 units per month.
Going by monthly trends, it is likely that Honda City and Hyundai Verna too had similar sales during FY19.
The number Is not a big surprise, given than Ciaz had beaten Honda City and Verna for the calendar year 2018 (January to December).
During calendar year 2018, Ciaz had sold 50,759 units, compared with 42,605 for Verna and 42,045 for Honda City.
HANGING ON
Ciaz’s position at the top of the charts comes despite slowing sales since it was introduced. The model had seen sales in the range of 5,000-6,000 units per month in the initial period.
However, a slowing economy and the launch of Dzire 2018 and Honda Amaze in the affordable sedan segment have both hit sales of premium sedans.
Dzire and Amaze start at around Rs 5.5 lakhs, or about Rs 2.5 lakhs less than City, Verna and Ciaz on average.
Maruti Suzuki recently refreshed the Ciaz with new 1.5-litre engines. It also offers a Smart Hybrid and diesel versions with 6-speed manual transmission.
Ciaz has sold 2.56 lakh units since it was launched in 2014.
The car is slightly cheaper than the City and Verna, and customers are able to go for the high-end version of Ciaz for the same price as a starting, or a mid-range variant of its competitors.
Not surprisingly, the top end variant of Ciaz contributes 48% to its total sales, according to the car maker. 31% of Ciaz customers prefer blue, the automaker said.