S. Muralidhar

FOR THE automobile industry, 2005 will not go down as a memorable year in terms of sales. Of course, that does not mean that there was very little action in the industry during the year.

Compared to the aggressive growth rates witnessed in 2004 (over 2003), the volume expansion in 2005 was much lower in almost every segment of the auto industry. In the passenger cars segment, growth fell to a mere 6.9 per cent in 2005 compared to the 24.7 per cent logged the previous year.

The story was not much different for the utility vehicles segment, an emerging category, relatively speaking, where domestic sales volume growth dipped to 8.9 per cent compared to the previous year's 25.4 per cent. Even the usually high volume (and comparatively high growth during the past few years) motorcycles segment was not spared in 2005.

While motorcycles sales growth fell to 17.2 per cent from the previous year's 19.4 per cent, scooter and scooterette sales skidded into negative at (-) 4.1 per cent for 2005 compared to 11.6 per cent growth in the previous year.

But the sobering numbers apart, 2005 will be remembered more for some of the new launches. New products that set segment benchmarks made 2005 one of the more exciting years for both customers and the industry alike.

In 2005, the most significant launch by far was the Suzuki Swift. The car's unconventional looks and its good fit and finish quality, managed to change Maruti Udyog imageovernight, from being a manufacturer of fuel-efficient and reliable, but relatively uninspiring, passenger cars to a maker exciting cars.

The stodgy, old world, PSU-style image of Maruti was shed, and customers (both existing and potential) now willingly attribute a more modern image to it. The Swift quickly became a popular option in the premium small-car segment due largely to its quirkily attractive design and being an excellent value-for-money proposition.

Maruti and Suzuki are said to be working on sedan and sports utility models based on the Swift's platform. We loved the Swift for its design and drivability and can't wait to get our hands on the proposed new models.

Another car that was launched in 2005 and which we predicted would set a new segment benchmark was the Toyota Innova. The Innova, which was developed by Toyota as part of its IMV project, specifically for emerging automotive markets in the Asian region such as India, is easily the best built family van and was clearly our choice in the multi-utility vehicles segment.

The Innova's refined petrol and diesel engines, its amazing interiors package, offering the build and feel of a luxury sedan and its sedan-style handling characteristics, combined with Toyota's legendary reliability promise, makes it a great value in the segment despite its relatively higher ex-showroom price tag. No wonder the Innova has sold more than 32,000 units since its launch.

In the premium sedan segment, the most important launch of 2005 was the Ford Fiesta. The Fiesta is the most relevant, India-specific car that Ford has brought in after it made its foray into the country with the Ikon. The Fiesta, like the Innova, has been packaged with features and its competitive pricing makes it an attractive value for money proposition for the average sedan segment buyer.

The Fiesta is priced lower than the segment leader Honda City. But with the latter getting a facelift and a mild repositioning in terms of features, the new Ford car will have to more than match the new City ZX's established reliability, low operating cost and better fuel-efficiency image to beat it.

The Fiesta's best option is not its petrol version. The refined Duratorq TDCi diesel engine is the one to beat and will inevitably be the one that will sell the most. The car's booking numbers, now expected to be over 4,200 units, also reflect the overwhelming (over 60 per cent) preference for the diesel option.

Hyundai Motor India, the country's second largest passenger car manufacturer launched two new models during 2005. The Tucson, a compact sports utility vehicle came first and was pitted against the Honda CR-V and the Nissan XTRAIL. The other more important and more awaited launch was the new Sonata Embera.

The new Sonata is distinctly more simple, yet attractive looking, compared to its more stylish, but strongly Asian looking predecessor.

The new Sonata's European looks, and precise and well-finished, but unexciting, interiors caught our attention. We liked the car despite its resemblance to a couple of other super luxury sedans.

It is priced attractively, too, compared to competing cars in its size class such as the Honda Accord and the Toyota Camry. But as the car's sales numbers reflect, the Sonata continues to suffer due to customer perception of Hyundai being a small-car manufacturer.

Among the new variants that were launched in 2005, we thought that the Toyota Corolla and the new City ZX were the most improved, with much better looks, ride and refinement levels.

Honda has also gone ahead and launched the more powerful, VTEC-engined version of the City ZX for the more `bhp-hungry' among sedan buyers.

While on the subject of engines, the year also saw the re-launch of two important, indigenous models with new engine technologies. The new Mahindra Scorpio CRDe and the Tata Safari Dicor, both of them sport the latest common rail direct injection system for their diesel mills. But both of them could still do with more of NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) refinement.

Mahindra & Mahindra, and for that matter all sedan customers, however, have more interesting times to come with the company's planned launch of the Renault Logan by early 2007.

The Logan, an entry-level, economy sedan will be the result of M&M's tie-up with the French automotive giant — the Renault-Nissan group.

This year is also expected to be exciting with a number of new launches planned. While many more super luxury cars from companies such as Porsche, Lamborghini and DaimlerChrysler are expected, there's likely to be much hype around these stratospherically priced automotive beauties. But a number of new products in the lower-priced passenger car segments will also set the markets on a roll.

Three new cars to look out for this year will be the Honda Civic, GM Chevrolet Aveo and the Skoda Fabia.

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