C-segment sedan space is primarily contested by 3 models – Ciaz, City & Verna. While City is the longest selling nameplate in the list; Ciaz & Verna have been giving stiff competition to the legend. In Mar’19; Ciaz sold 3,672 units and emerged as the segment’s bestseller. The segment had always been a tough nut to crack and even the likes of Toyota have miserably failed in their attempt.
The segment has been slowly shrinking and not a single model in the entire list posted a positive YoY growth in Mar’19!
Though Ciaz topped the charts; it degrew a hefty -15% in Mar’19 v/s Mar’18. The C-segment offering from Nexa has offlate facing pressure to maintain volumes; but the inconsistency in the segment is making things difficult.
City still continues to be the darling of the segment and registered a sale of 3,432 units. However; the slowdown in the segment pushed City to post degrowth of -27% YoY.
The numbers clearly project why the new OEM entrants are shying away to launch models in this segment. It is now a risky affair to invest any amount of time/money to bring models here.