The Hyundai Grand i10 did what it was meant to do after its launch last month, giving Hyundai a boost in sales. It also is far ahead of the Maruti Ritz in sales, a car it is often compared with as it is similarly priced. However, the car worst-affected by the entry of the Hyundai Grand i10 is its smaller sibling, the regular Hyundai i10!
Everyone expected the Hyundai Grand i10 to sell well, given the positive reviews and perceived value-for-money pricing. Hyundai claims it got 10,000 bookings within 20 days of launch and over 100,000 enquiries for the car. Most buyers saw the Hyundai Grand i10 as a direct competitor to the Maruti Ritz, while Hyundai actually intended to go after the Maruti Swift with this car.

Did it make a dent there? No.



Hyundai sold 8,411 units of the Grand i10 in September 2013, which is a commendable feat for a new car launch in a slow-moving automobile market. So how did it impact the other hatches in the market? All its competitors actually had a good month, ahead of the festive season with deals pouring forth. The Maruti Ritz sold 2,806 units, far below what the Grand i10 sold, but an improvement over the previous month, where it sold 2,533 units.



The car that actually took a solid hit was the Hyundai i10 – a double whammy effect of the Hyundai Grand i10’s launch and the discontinuation of the higher-powered 1.2 petrol variant of the i10. Sales of the regular Hyundai i10 dropped by nearly half from 6,017 units in August to just 3,260 units in September, knocking it out of the top-10 best-selling cars list.
Other hatchbacks and premium hatches also did well. Fiat, for one, is on a definite upswing with sales of the Fiat Punto slowly climbing. For the second month in a row, it has sold over 700 cars, with 737 being sold in September and 781 in August. Honda’s Brio on the other hand appears to be slipping – the lack of a diesel engine and newer entrants playing spoil sport. General Motors has seen some life come back to the Chevrolet Sail U-Va after restarting production of the diesel model, with sales creeping back to 630 odd cars. Mahindra’s Verito Vibe hasn’t caught on – and it has in fact taken away some sales from the Verito sedan.
Hyundai’s premium hatchback, the i20, saw sales go up slightly at 5,741 units clearly unaffected by the Grand i10 launch. The leader continues to be the Maruti Swift, selling 16,839 cars in September! (The top four best-selling cars in India continue to be Maruti vehicles, while the fifth is the Mahindra Bolero, overall, while the Hyundai Grand i10 is now number five in hatchbacks and premium hatchbacks.)
Overall, a good month, with the Grand i10 adding more volumes to the premium hatchback / hatchback segment.