Volkswagen Polo managed to post the least decline in sales for the month of May 2020
May’2020 was an unprecedented month for the Indian automotive industry. Overall sales figures were at an all-time low in recent years (second only to April’20). Sales across segments plummeted to almost 10% of their usual monthly numbers and the hatchback segment was no different. Here is an analysis of the Top 20 hatchbacks, as per May’20 sales figures.
Maruti Baleno registered total sales of 1,587 units in the month of May’20 and claimed the best selling hatchback status. If we were to compare its performance with May’19, the premium hatchback registered a massive 89.5% decline. The second car on the list was the Maruti Alto, which too registered a 90% sales decline (YOY) and clocked overall sales of 1,506 units in May’20.
The newcomer, Altroz from Tata managed sales of 1,379 units and stood at the 3rd spot in the sales tally. Launched only in Jan 2020, there were a lot of pending orders for Altroz, which helped the car register decent sales last month. Maruti could sell 1,999 units of the WagonR in May’20, massively popular in the ride hailing segment.
Top 20 Hatchback Sales May 2020
| No | Hatchback | May-20 | May-19 | Diff | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maruti Baleno | 1,587 | 15,176 | -13,589 | -89.54 |
| 2 | Maruti Alto | 1,506 | 16,394 | -14,888 | -90.81 |
| 3 | Tata Altroz | 1,379 | 0 | 1,379 | – |
| 4 | Maruti WagonR | 1,199 | 14,561 | -13,362 | -91.77 |
| 5 | VW Polo | 1,126 | 1,484 | -358 | -24.12 |
| 6 | Hyundai i20 | 878 | 8,958 | -8,080 | -90.20 |
| 7 | Tata Tiago | 857 | 3,535 | -2,678 | -75.76 |
| 8 | Hyundai Grand i10 | 718 | 8,102 | -7,384 | -91.14 |
| 9 | Renault Kwid | 684 | 5,152 | -4,468 | -86.72 |
| 10 | Maruti Swift | 597 | 17,039 | -16,442 | -96.50 |
| 11 | Toyota Glanza | 507 | 2,142 | -1,635 | -76.33 |
| 12 | Maruti S-Presso | 489 | 0 | 489 | – |
| 13 | Maruti Celerio | 468 | 5,277 | -4,809 | -91.13 |
| 14 | Maruti Ignis | 196 | 1,886 | -1,690 | -89.61 |
| 15 | Datsun Redi-GO | 164 | 896 | -732 | -81.70 |
| 16 | Hyundai Santro | 157 | 4,902 | -4,745 | -96.80 |
| 17 | Datsun Go | 78 | 244 | -166 | -68.03 |
| 18 | Ford Freestyle | 57 | 743 | -686 | -92.33 |
| 19 | Ford Figo | 17 | 610 | -593 | -97.21 |
| 20 | Honda Jazz | 0 | 676 | -676 | -100.00 |
| 21 | Nissan Micra | 0 | 95 | -95 | -100.00 |
| 22 | Tata Bolt | 0 | 21 | -21 | -100.00 |
| 23 | Toyota Liva | 0 | 696 | -696 | -100.00 |
| – | Total | 12,664 | 1,08,589 | -95,925 | -88.34 |
The surprising name on the list is of the VW Polo. While there is no denial that Polo is one of the best products in its class, sales have always been slow for the German hatchback. The Polo clocked overall sales of 1,126 units in the month of May’20, registering a decline of 24%, relatively the best in the hatchback segment. Polo sales were higher than the likes of Maruti Swift, Hyundai i20; for the first time since launch.
Interestingly, only 5 hatchbacks could clock sales of more than 1K units. In pre-corona times, there were more than 5 cars every month which were clocking over 10K monthly sales. The sixth spot on the list was occupied by Hyundai i20 with total sales of 878 units. Launch of the 2020 i20 is expected to happen sometime later this year which should certainly boost numbers for the South Korean hot hatch. 7th car on the list was the Tiago with sales of 857 units while the Hyundai Grand i10 claimed the 8th spot with sales of 718 units.
The car with the highest degrowth (year on year) was the Maruti Swift. It saw its sales decline by more than 96% compared to last year. In May’19, Maruti had sold 17,039 units of the Swift however in May’20, it could only sell 597 units. Talking about overall hatchback segment, sales went down by 88.3% on an year-on-year basis. Maruti which dominates the hatchback segment performed poorly and most of its models registered sales decline of >90%.
Sales of Datsun Go (78), Ford Freestyle (57) and Ford Figo (17) were in 2 digits while sales of models like Honda Jazz, Nissan Micro, Tata Bold and Toyota Liva stood at 0 units. Sales of Honda Jazz should pick up from June but sales of Liva/Bolt/Micra will not as their respective companies have stopped selling these products.
With easing up of lockdown and the need of social distancing, affordable car segment could pick up faster, thanks to the external environmental conditions.