Close on the heels of triumphant passage of compact cars, the sedans are likely to bloom. The major players like Toyota, Skoda, Nissan and Honda are recharging their strategies towards sedans. The small car projects seem to bring in returns after 2-3 years and hence the parallel platform of sedans from these car makers. Thus, the volume will increase and their presence will be focused on growth.
The A3 sector witnessed a growth of 11% in April-December 2009 after selling 190000 cars. Of course, there is still a variation in the demand between compact cars and sedans. The sedan market is widened by the premium car makers like Maruti (Swift Dzire)and Tata(Indigo CS) with their entry-level sedans at Rs3.75-4.91lakhs. further, the segment has other brands like Ikon, Fiesta from Ford, Aveo from Chevrolet, Linea from Fiat, SX4 from Maruti and Logan from Mahindra Renault. Tata enhanced its identity with Indigo Menza as a semi-luxury sedan.
A concept based compact sedan from Toyota is in the air which might replicate Swift Dzire around Rs4.90-5.5lakhs. in a span of one year, Honda is likely to launch a sedan at Rs5 lakhs, to gulf the gap between the small car and City sedan. The company official revealed that sedan will be one among the new ranges of compact cars sharing the even platform.
Similar atmosphere prevails in Nissan(mid-size sedan) and Skoda (lower than Octavia but higher than Fabia). Skoda is on the process of introducing a small car lesser than Fabia’s cost. Skoda has identified two prominent segments in India, B and C class, but the company likes to stipulate with small car. Its sedan will be under C-segment and new small car will be lower to Octavia.