Affordable Passenger Vehicles available in Indian market to buy - Part I

Hello friends, hope you guys are doing well and safe. Thanks for encouragement & suggestions on my first blog , I have received very good topics for blogs that I will definitely try to add in upcoming blogs.

One of the topic suggestions I have received is, which are the options of cars / SUV’s available to buy in Indian market. Most of the time people end up in buying car based on suggestions of closer friends / relative & their actual experiences . This actually not bad option, but we end up in very limited option to choose from. So its always better to understand total option pool available to choose from.

So in this blog we will focus on two points that is,  how passenger vehicles are classified (based on availability in Indian market) and what are options available to buy.

 Passenger vehicles are primarily divided in two categories i.e. passenger cars and utility vehicles . If you see sale figures of November 2020, passenger car contributes  58 % while utilities vehicle contributes 42 %.

In order to avoid confusion,  we will divide blog  in 2 parts i.e. part I will be for passenger cars while part -II will be for utilities vehicle (SUV's / MUV's).

Classification of Passenger Cars:

Even though there are many criteria available to classify passenger cars such as length, body construction, fuel types etc. But we won't use classical book methods to classify, as it won’t help you to buy. e.g. buyer won’t be interested in vehicle is having body on construction or monocoque body construction as long as it’s serving the purpose.

As shown in below chart, Passenger cars are classified into Hatchback & Sedans  (there are many other types such as fastback, station wagon, roadster, cabriolet etc. however in Indian market we don’t have many  vehicles in affordable range hence not mentioned in here)

I)  Hatchback: 

This has been very popular choice among Indian customers with about 47 % of market share from total Indian passenger vehicles.  Reason for popularity of this category of vehicle is low cost, suits well for both city and long drives, decent mileage, just enough space for small family etc.

Hatchback has three types based on length of vehicle, mentioned as below,

a) Mini Hatchback (A Segment): 

This is most affordable car you can get, which is also known as A segment hatchbacks. If you are looking for perfect city car, then this is one option you can choose. Key features of small hatchback are:

• No fancy stuff but value for money cars.
• Not having powerful engines but just having enough what is required to the job. (mostly petrol only, some offers CNG as well) 
• If you opt for AMT then no worries about city traffics.
• Compromise on internal space and trunk volume. If you are looking for long rides with comfort then this is not option suitable to you. 
• Offcourse, please don’t ask for safety star ratings cars from this segment. (Renault Kwid is 2 star this is max you can get in this segment) 
• Options available are Maruti Alto, S prsso, Kwid, Datsun redi-go etc.

• Price range for this segment is very much affordable i.e. 2.8 to 5.1 Lakh. (ex showroom prices)

b) Small hatchback (B Segment): 

This is the segment which offers all the features of mini hatchback, additionally it offers other features which make it popular option. That's why most of the OEM's having their product in this category

• More powerful power train option and little bit spacious interior.
• Petrol or CNG are popular engine options, no diesel engine option post BSVI for most of the vehicle in this category.
• Some of the option like Tata Tiago comes with 4 star safety ratings.
• This is better option for both city as well long duration travel.
• There are lots of options available in this category like Maruti WagnorR, Celerio, Ignis, Swift, Tata Tiago, Hyundai I 10, Santro,Ford Figo and Datsun Go etc.

•  Range for this vehicles starts from 4.5 to 8 lakh. (ex showroom price)

c) Premium Hatchbacks:

These are premium hatchback cars with length less than 4 m. These cars are becoming new favorites as its offers comfort and road presence of sedan & maneuverability of small cars. 

Below are key features of this segment:

• Spacious interior and trunk space (cars are mostly of 4 m length and wider in nature)
• More powerful engine with Turbo petrol and diesel as option to provide. 
• Built on sturdy platforms, vehicle like Tata Altroz comes with 5 star safety ratings.(which makes it safest car in Indian market) 
• From styling point of view also,  cars from this segment are best. 
• Due to this, segment becoming popular amongst buyers.  Options available are Maruti Baleno, Hyundai i20, Tata Altroz, Toyota Glanza(rebadged Baleno), VW Polo, Ford Freestyle, Honda Jazz etc. · 

• Cost ranges from 5 lakh to 11 lakh. (ex show room prices)

II) Sedans : 

Sedan provides good handling, road presence, spacious interior and more boot space for long travel. Off course you have to spend more money for it, also extra length makes it difficult to maneuvers through crowded cities.

a) Compact Sedan: 

These are sedan cars with length less than 4 m but comes with trunk at back. So it's hatchback with more boot space makes it good option to buy. From styling point of it, it's very tricky to fit sedan in length less than 4 m , but if OEM manage it to do it right then it make great package. 

I am personally fan of this category of cars since we will be getting cost benefits of hatchback segment and get benefits of sedan. Tata motors was first to bring this segment into India with its indigo cs vehicle. Currently options available are Maruti desire, Tata Tigor, Hyundai Aura & Ford Aspire, Honda amaze etc.

b) Crossovers: 

These are mix of sedan and SUV’s. There is only one option available in segment i.e. Maruti S-cross. Earlier Fiat Aventura was also there which got discontinued.

c) Medium Size Sedan: 

These are classical sedans which are having length more than 4m.  Before rise of SUV’s in India (before 2010) sedans from this category were popular and topping the chart. However now a days people are either going for SUV’s or hatchbacks.
Best features of this segment of cars are ample internal space, sufficient powerful engine options to offer, good stability (considering vehicle proportion) and excellent aerodynamics & styling due to more length.
Options available below 15 lakh are Honda city, Maruti ciaz, Hyundai Verna, Toyota Yaris, Skoda rapid and VW Vento.

There are some high end executive sedans which are available as listed below, which are above 15 Lakh such as Hyundai elantra, Honda civic, Skoda Superb, Toyota camry, Skoda Octavia.

So this is it,  this blog will help you  while purchasing new car. See you in part -II, in which we will discuss about Utility vehicles i.e. SUV's and MUV's .

(Please feel free to reach out for any query related to blog)

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