Witnessing a steady drop in takers for its entry-level cars and hatchbacks, Maruti Suzuki has also seen demand continue to gradually wither away for its compact sedan, the Ciaz. In November, the Maruti Ciaz recorded its lowest monthly sales so far this year, with just 278 units being dispatched to Maruti Suzuki dealerships. This is an over 82 per cent drop compared to Ciaz sales for the same month last year (1,554 units sold), and beats even the previous lowest monthly sales figure of 300 units, recorded in March this year.
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Age may finally be catching up with the Ciaz, which was originally launched in October 2014, and continued to rack up four-digit monthly sales even up until last year. However, India’s largest carmaker is of the opinion that demand for sedans overall is drying up, which reflects in the Ciaz’s poor showing in November.
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The Ciaz was originally launched in October 2014.
“The mid-sedan segment has drastically gone down. At the beginning of the year, the Ciaz’s segment share was around 3 per cent in Q1, dropping to about 2.5 per cent in Q2 but now it's below 2 per cent. So we do see there has been a real decline in the overall industry itself”, Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India, told carandbike during a media interaction.
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While Srivastava confirmed the Ciaz remains in production for now, it’s unclear what the future holds for the nearly decade-old sedan. At present, the Ciaz is one of just two sedans in Maruti’s portfolio, with the other being the more popular Dzire, which is also sold to fleet buyers as the ‘Tour S’. Thanks to the Dzire, Maruti claims it held over 50 per cent share in India’s sedan market in November.
“We have been, in the last 4-5 months, around the 46-47 per cent mark [in market share terms], but crossed the 50 per cent mark in November. We held 53 per cent market share for sedans, largely down to the entry sedan, which grew 7.2 per cent last month thanks to improved production of the Dzire and Tour S models”, Srivastava explained.
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Maruti says it held over 50 per cent of India's sedan market in November thanks to the Dzire's strong showing.
The Ciaz has only received a single facelift throughout its lifespan, and while it was initially available with petrol and diesel engines, today, it is a petrol-only model, like other Maruti Suzuki offerings. Lack of powertrain choices isn’t an issue for other cars in the segment, such as the Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Volkswagen Virtus and Skoda Slavia, all of which have at least two engine options to choose from.
Maruti currently retails the Ciaz – which is priced from Rs 9.30 lakh to 12.29 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) – from its Nexa chain of dealerships. The Ciaz is also exported to some Middle East markets, where it is sold as the Toyota Belta.
