It’s not only the best that had made to our desk; instead, we even looked out for the worst selling cars of 2014. Before concluding anything right now, it better to scroll down the list and see the list directly itself.
1.Nissan Teana – 15 units
The lack of petrol engines and a very pricey attitude made it to sell the least number of cars throughout the year. Even it is been removed from the company’s official website which means the brand is discontinued in India. After all importing as a CBU (completely built units) hadn’t served well to a number of carmakers in the long run due to the swanky rate of duties imposed.
2.Toyota Landcruiser – 40 units
Toyota Landcruiser too faces the similar condition of turning huge price tags with the excessive duties as being imported on CBUs. After all, for that price tag, there are lots of options available in India where the glitzy automakers like Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Volvo had enough to attract the buyers in terms of niche SUVs.
3.Toyota Prado – 51 units
Prado received a facelift in the last days of 2013, which almost can be said as 2014, but still it didn’t helped it either to cruise further in the market scenario. Likely to its sibling, it didn’t manage to become an exception from the clutches of typical Indian buying perception.
4.Chevrolet Captiva – 63 units
Chevrolet Captiva is altogether the same old story that this bowtie logoed carmaker had continued even after giving it the much needed facelift during 2013. Yet, no better results emerged, but still the automaker feels the SUV holds that loophole of the lineup very well. In fact it’s just the market which isn’t working in the favour of this entire segment.
5.Hyundai Sonata – 97 units
For the past many years, seems the full-size sedans from the maker other than Germans had seen a dip, due to the reason buyers can go for those upmarket options, or can even see to the SUV in the category. For the same reason Honda too discontinued the Accord, but still Hyundai had kept selling its ‘Sonata’ only with the ‘petrol’ engine.
6.Skoda Yeti – 123 units
The launch of Skoda Yeti facelift had wished the industry the new compact SUV/crossover is still not in the competitive league of the segment. In fact, the officials too confirmed it of staying for the niche and not to be sold in whopping numbers like others. There seemed, the Czech based carmaker had achieved its goal as rolling out only 123 examples of it in 2014.
7.Renault Koleos – 148 units
Renault Koleos is just another name in the SUV category of India which is striving hard to sell a number of it. The most anticipated facelift received in 2014 sunken the hope once again. Well, it is a matter of the market buying scenario compelling the automakers to post such numbers out of the slot.
8.Ford Endeavour – 222 units
Despite failed to lure numbers this year, Ford Endevaour’s ‘facelift’ have worked for it, with almost 222 units sold, the max against the rest in this list of the particular segment. However, must admit, Ford Endeavour is a best choice amongst Indians after the Toyota Fortuner. A new one in the pipeline may churn fortunes for its maker when rolled out.
9.Renault Fluence – 306 units
The earlier face of Fluence blunted the edge of this sedan to sell well even with the facelift of 2014. The previous model was a mix match of some designers, which we guess would have been better by the French only. Right now, the most exciting car of Renault repertoire in the segment, Fluence, needed to work a bit harder to get the things straight in its line with regards to the marketing and some of its cabin glitches.
10.Nissan Evalia – 484 units
Nissan itself is in the dilemma of what is not selling Evalia despite giving it a facelift even at the earliest after its launch in India. But the reason couldn’t be figured out. And that’s the reason, why after being a product for the masses it falls on this list with number lesser than 500 units. There seemed the fleet owners too are disappointed serving it to their clienteles. Hence, India isn’t as same as China where legroom will work. Here, the audience do look for an impressing driveability, after all the buyers here are young and prefer driving themselves, unlike to those getting driven at rear seats for the most.
Overview
The year 2014 had remained a year for the categories under Rs 14 lakh category. There aren’t many of them making a good sale above the said price band. Nowadays, high maintenance cost don’t go well with buyers of Mercedes, Audi or BMW, then how it could settle down here with the not-so premium buys. Looking down to all of them, the major reason of failure was the running and maintenance cost (except Evalia) after the over pricing strategy.
Six out of ten are the SUVs. And the only mass segment player here is Nissan Evalia.
Renault, Nissan, Toyota, all Japanese carmakers and had couple of examples each in the list.
Renault: Fluence and Koleos; Nissan: Teana and Evalia; Toyota – Prado and Landcruiser.
Important Note
As everything has its own pros and cons, the benefit with the worst selling cars is they give you exclusivity over the others. And everyone in locality recollects the owners seeing that rare species. So, let anyone speak whatever they want about the car, you enjoy a standing out status from the whole crowd of own a one from the above list!
