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Ford Fiesta Feb sales zip past Ikon's

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S Kalyana Ramanathan New Delhi
Last Updated : Feb 06 2013 | 6:31 AM IST
2,281 Fiestas sold in Feb when compared with 2,090 units of Accent and 2,077 units of City.
 
The Ford Fiesta, which hit the market in December 2005, has emerged the largest selling mid-size sedan in February this year.
 
The Honda City, which had been leading this segment since November 2004, was placed third in February, behind the Hyundai Accent. The Fiesta sold 2,281 units in February, compared with the Accent's 2,090 and the Honda City's 2,077.
 
The Tata Indigo, the entry-level sedan and the largest in the category in the country, sold the most at 3,653 units. But experts question the Fiesta's potential to sustain leadership in the mid-size segment in the coming months. Anang Dev Jena, head of Motoresearch, Synovate, said, "The success of the Fiesta can be due to the initial customer interest."
 
On the other hand, people buy the City for the "Honda badge" and this can help the model regain and retain its market leadership in the coming months."
 
Honda Siel's marketing chief Rajive Saharia said, barring October and November last year, when Honda was upgrading its production facilities, the Honda City has remained the undisputed market leader since November 2004. He said the Honda City would rebound to the leadership position this month, reporting an all-time high sales.
 
Ford, no doubt, will be putting all its might behind the Fiesta, which has also become its "bread-and-butter" model, accounting for over 75 per cent of its current monthly sales, displacing the Ikon.
 
Since its launch, the Ford Fiesta has clocked sales in excess of 10,000 units (to date) and is expected to report sales of 4,000 units in March this year.
 
The Honda Siel sold 4,107 units, around 250 units more than the Fiesta in January 2006. But in February, the position reversed, with the Honda City selling 2,077 units or around 200 units less than the Fiesta.
 
"In the first two months of this calendar year, our market share in this segment was around 23 per cent. Our strategy to position the Ikon Flair as the entry level model and offer the Fiesta as the next in line, has clearly paid off," said V Sivaramakrishnan, vice-president, marketing and sales, Ford India.
 
Prior to the Fiesta launch in December last year, Ford India had completed a product overhaul, by phasing out the 1.8-litre diesel version of the Ikon and positioning the 1.3 litre Ford Flair as the entry-level offering priced at around Rs 4.6 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).
 
The 1.6-litre version of the Ikon will continue to be sold in India, to be produced on booking orders by dealers. "The current monthly sales of 1,000 units of the Ikon is predominantly the Flair," said Sivaramakrishnan.
 
The four variants of the Ford Fiesta including a 1.4-litre diesel version are priced between Rs 5.69 lakh and Rs 7.21 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi. The three variants of the Honda City, including the high-end VTEC, are priced between Rs 6.69 lakh and Rs 7.89 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi.

 

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First Published: Mar 20 2006 | 12:00 AM IST

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