Civic's craze was behind drop in City's sale, says HSCI

New Delhi, July 18 (UNI) Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (HSCI), the leader in premium car segment, has attributed the poor domestic sales of its popular 'City' model to the ''craze for Honda 'Civic' in India''.

Leading the Premium (A5) segment with the flagship model 'City', HSCI domestic sales during June had a steep fall by 56.92 per cent to 112 units as against 260 sold during same month last year. This steep fall of HSCI in June also led to a drop in the overall growth of the premium segment's during the first quarter of current financial year, FY07.

''The poor sales of premium car, especially the leading 'City' model, was mainly because of the launch of 'Civic' in the country,'' sources in HSCI told UNI over phone.

''The advertisement of the launch of Civic car in Indin market created hype, which led customers to postpone their plans to purchase City and wait till the new launch'' the sources said.

The price of Civic was also not declared till its launch in New Delhi on July 4, which has compelled the customer to wait before going for purchase, they added.

Owing to the HSCI's poor performance in June, the overall domestic sales of the passenger vehicles in the hatchback category in the first quarter ended June 30, 2006 showed a slight drop of around 1 per cent at 1,371 units as against 1,384 units during the corresponding quarter last year.

Domestic sales in the premium category declined by 25.33 per cent to 339 units in June, as against 454 units during the corresponding period last year.

Hyundai Motor India, with its Sonata model in the segment, showed decline during the month with 25 units sold as against 38 during the same period last year, while Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold 51 units in June 2006, which was 59 during June 2005.

However, SkodaAuto India reported a booming 190 per cent rise in its sales in the as segment with 58 units sold in June as against 20 during the same period last year.

Daimlar Chrysler India was the only other company which bettered its sales with 93 units sold in June, as against 77 during same period last year.

Apart from domestic sales, the export in this segment were almost zero as no car of this segment was imported by other countries in June.

Last year four premium cars of HSCI were exported during June.

UNI VJ CS VC1240