Hyundai Elite i20 overtakes Maruti Suzuki Baleno's sales figures in second consecutive month

Maruti Suzuki's premium hatchback Baleno, which was launched Oct.26 last year, had a promising start overtaking its prime rival Hyundai Elite i20's sales in December 2015 within three months of launch. However, the Baleno lagged behind the Elite i20 when the sales result of January 2016 came out. In February too Elite i20 kept its lead over Baleno for the second month in a row.

The details by ET Auto on top 10 passenger cars sold in February 2016 saw Hyundai Elite i20 remaining at the fifth spot with 8,419 units sale. The Baleno found 6,888 takers in February reaching the eighth spot in the list. In January 2016, Hyundai sold 8,250 units of the Elite i20 hatchback, while Maruti Suzuki managed to sell only 7,698 units of the Baleno. It is noteworthy that the Hyundai Elite i20 registered positive growth compared to last month, while Baleno sales have dropped compared to January 2016.

The only disappointing factor for Elite i20 is that it registered a growth that is 18 percent lower when compared to the 10,264 units sold in February 2015. The other rival of both Baleno and Elite i20, the Honda Jazz found 3,365 takers in Feb 2016.

Hyundai India recently updated the Elite i20 model with projector headlamps with cornering lights and LED daytime running lights. This also seems to have increased the sales. On the other hand, despite having good domestic bookings, Maruti Suzuki started the export of Baleno to Japan and European countries. Whether the export will delay delivery of car in domestic market or not is something only time will tell.