Hyundai Accent was introduced in India long back in 1999, at that time very few sedans were offered in that style in India. Though it did not have many rivals at that time, but cars which were giving tough competition to Accent at that time were MarutiâEUR(TM)s Esteem and DaewooâEUR(TM)s Cielo. Other sedan cars placed above it included, Opel Astra, Honda City and Ford Escort. However, these were highly pricey cars which only the premium class could afford to own. Above these cars were the Ford Mondeo and Opel Vectra. After these sedans were some of the magnificent luxury saloons offered by Mercedes Benz India. So this was the hierarchy at that time which now has been changed completely.
A lot of other car makers have come into the picture and they have induction new segments which include the entry level segment and then the C+ segment and finally the D segment. Hyundai Accent Price in India made it one of the most looked upon cars in the Indian car market. The industry was hungry for new cars and with the launch of Hyundai Accent the company took notice of the sedan. The sedan was the second vehicle from the South Korean car maker in the Indian car market and the company anticipated to get the same response for the sedan as it got for Santro hatchback. The sedan did not get an overwhelming response if compared to Santro but it did manage to survive in the Indian car market for a long time.Â
One thing which we should take into notice is that almost all the sedans we spoke about above, except Honda City have been killed and are not being manufactured in India. Hyundai Accent however is still present in India and this implies that the car has done considerably well. Through the years, a number of new sedans have also forayed into the domestic market have changed everything in the sedan segment. On the other hand few sedans came into the Indian car market stayed here for a while and then were given farewell due to low response. These cars include, Ford Ikon, Chevrolet Aveo (which will be replaced by Sail sedan later this year) and Chevrolet Optra. In comparison, Accent is still standing intact.Â
However, the glory seems to come to an end which is quite evident in the dimming sales of the sedan. In the month of July Hyundai managed to sell only 182 units of the sedan, a strong reason could be the availability of other new sedans like Toyota Etios, Nissan Sunny, Maruti Swift Dzire etc which offer much better features driving ability and also come with an affordable price tag. This was the lowest sales of the sedan in the last five years, the numbers have been plummeting since last year as only 11,000 units were sold in the country last year which is now expected to slump to half this year.Â
With such low numbers, the company should either think of a major makeover or should mull over a replacement for the sedan as Verna is again not a part of the entry level sedans, however the sedan is doing pretty well in India but with so many cars coming in the entry level sedan segment HyundaiâEUR(TM)s absence could cost it a lot. Therefore Hyundai should contemplate seriously on its India portfolio which now has an A segment hatchback but lacks a good option in the entry level sedan division.
