Sedans are making strong comeback in India despite an SUV onslaught

Hatchbacks, Sedans and SUVs -- these were the three major car segments in India for a very long time. With the dawn of the new century, new generation segments like crossovers, compact SUV, crosshatch, coupe and others entered the industry and most of them tasted success. However, the advent of compact SUVs dented the sales of sedan considerably.

The new sales reports from carmakers in India indicate that the sedan models are now reclaiming the lost magic. Maruti Suzuki's Swift Dzire was one of the best selling cars in the country since its launch in 2008. The company gave a complete makeover to the model and launched it as Maruti Suzuki Dzire in May 2017. The sales of the compact sedan touched the skies soon after the launch.

Maruti Suzuki sold over 30,000 units of the Dzire in August and it went on to become the top-selling car of the month beating longtime leader, Maruti Suzuki Alto. Analysts think the Dzire will retain over 30,000 unit sales in September as well. Maruti Suzuki is yet to deliver almost 40,000 Dzire orders.

Another sedan that saw a jump in sales post the introduction of the new version is the Hyundai Verna. In less than 40 days of its launch, the new Verna already racked up more than 15,000 bookings. The previous version of Verna's average monthly sales was just around 1000 units.

Hyundai Verna's rivals, the Honda City and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz have strong average monthly sales of over 3500 units. Both the cars have steadily increased the sales over the last two years.

In the upper segment, Skoda Auto is already overbooked in India on the 1,000-1,200 units of the Octavia and Octavia RS allocated for 2017, reports ET Auto.

The numbers show that sedans, once seen as the ultimate status symbol, are back in the business. The sheen of sedan models was down in the past couple of years that witnessed an onslaught of SUVs in the market and partly due to product fatigue.

However, the story looks different this year. The mid-size sedan segment is expected to grow more than 16 percent, led by new-generation models and refreshes such as the Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Honda City, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and others.