The Rise and Fall of Sedans in India

The Indian Car Market is quite volatile. Customer demands keep on changing and the manufacturers that have coped up with these changing demands have survived. 

Original Story by Prashant Sachdev

Unlike the 80s and early 90s, which were primarily dominated by two car makers (and two primary car models), customers have multiple options to choose from. During the last 30 years, the Auto Industry has changed a lot - with many players exiting the Indian Market (HM, Daewoo, GM and Ford) and others struggling (Honda).

The Rise

During the 20th Century, two car makers, namely Hindustan Motors and Maruti Udyog Ltd. dominated the Indian Roads. Hindustan Motors ruled the market through it’s revolutionary sedan Ambassador. Maruti Udyog (which started as a joint venture between Maruti Udyog Ltd. & Suzuki Motor Corporation) gained popularity from it’s Maruti 800 hatchback. Later, Maruti also launched the Maruti 1000 to compete in the Sedan Segment (which was an older version of the Maruti Esteem).

Due to the longer and wider dimensions of the Ambassador, it was considered as a luxury car (having a car during that time itself was a luxury) and this led to the popularity of Sedans in India. Later Hindustan Motors also launched the Contessa Sedan which is still a dream car for many people. It was based on the British car Vauxhall VS Series.

Later, during the 90s, globalisation motivated many global car makers to enter the Indian Market and most of them even started manufacturing operations within the country rather than opting for CBU or CKD models. Some of these manufacturers were Daewoo, Hyundai, Honda etc.

Let’s look at some of the popular Sedans of the 80s, 90s and early 2000s:

Hindustan Motors Ambassador

Hindustan Motors Ambassador has set the record of being the longest produced car in India.

The Ambassador hit the Indian roads in 1958 and continued to be manufactured and sold until 2014. Over its life span, the Ambassador moved from being just a Car to a “Lal Batti” Car due to it being used by many government officials.

The Hindustan Motors Ambassador

However, most people might not know that the Ambassador was actually a rebadged Morris Motors Oxford Saloon Series II. Morris Motors was later sold to one company and then to another. A subsidiary of Morris Motors - MG Motors (Morris Garages) now manufactures and sells the Hector SUV in India.

Recently, HM sold the “Ambassador” brand to Peugeot.

Hindustan Motors Contessa

The second and last successful car that HM manufactured and sold after the Ambassador was the Contessa.

This car needs no introduction. It is also known as India’s own muscle car.

HM Contessa

The car was loved by many and you will still find some well maintained units in the hands of car enthusiasts.

HM pulled the plug on Contessa’s manufacturing and sales in 2002 when people started buying modern looking cars which offered higher fuel efficiency and more comfort features.

Maruti 1000 / Esteem

By this time, Maruti Udyog had also realised that it was essential for them to launch a sedan to remain competitive in the Market. So in the year 1990, they launched the Maruti 1000. Later, the 1 Litre engine was upgraded to a 1.3 Litre engine and the Maruti 1000 was rebranded as the Esteem.

Maruti Esteem

Most people won’t be aware that the Maruti Suzuki Esteem (or Maruti 1000) was actually a rebranded 1989 American Suzuki Swift!

Daewoo Cielo and Nexia

Daewoo entered the Indian Market with its advanced Cielo sedan in 1990. It was India’s first car equipped with an MPFI engine.

The Daewoo Cielo was way ahead of its time. It had all power windows, Cassette and CD Changer, Front and Rear Fog Lamps, Front and Rear Windshield Defoggers and a lot more!

Daewoo Cielo

The Nexia was later launched alongside the Cielo with a more powerful engine and enhanced interiors.

However, Daewoo had to shut operations in India in early 2000s when the parent company went bankrupt. General Motors took over Daewoo’s Global Operations but left out the Indian Business Unit.

The company could have done well in the Indian Market as they were the only ones launching global market models in the Indian Market rather than launching the globally discontinued models - this was the reason why Cielo and Nexia were well equipped and futuristic at the time.

Check out TeamBHP’s detailed thread on Daewoo’s abandoned factory in India:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/118687-visit-daewoo-motors-argentum-plant-surajpur-up-chronicle-pictures.html

Honda City

Honda launched its first car - The Honda City in India in the year 1998. It is the only sedan from the 20th Century that is still alive in the Indian market.

1st Generation Honda City

The Honda city was a sporty looking car that was priced similar to the Maruti Esteem. It easily became a better option than the competition and won hearts.

This generation of the Honda City was actually based on the Global Honda Civic and naturally became a success in India.

Opel Astra

General Motors tried to enter the Indian Market a couple of times before finally exiting India in 2020.

They entered India using their German Subsidiary “Opel”. The first car that they launched was the Opel Astra which was later followed by the Opel Corsa and Vectra. The Opel Astra Club edition was India’s first mass marketed car with a built in sunroof.

Opel Astra

The car had a fantastic build quality and met the German standards, but it also had a hefty price tag which led to lower sales and eventually GM decided to shut the Opel Brand in India and started focussing on their Chevrolet Brand.

Chevrolet Optra and Cruze

Later in the 2000s, GM entered the Indian market using their American brand Chevrolet.

After failing to succeed the Chevrolet Forester SUV (which was another old discontinued global market car launched in India), GM launched the Chevrolet Optra Sedan and Tavera SUV.

Chevrolet Optra

The Optra was aimed at the Executive Customers and it had many attractive features such as an Automatic Climate Control System, Alloy Wheels, Sunroof, Steering Mounted Audio Controls, Electrically Adjustable and Retractable ORVMs, Adjustable Lumbar Support Seats, a very silent Cabin, Beige Interiors, Cooled Glove Box etc.

It was priced slightly higher than the Honda City. Later, Honda launched the Civic in that segment which led to the downfall of the Optra.

To compete with the Civic, GM launched Chevrolet Cruze which had a powerful 2000 cc diesel engine.

Chevrolet Cruze

Both the Optra and Cruze were rebadged Daewoo Lacetti and were designed by GM Daewoo Korea.

Honda Civic

Honda killed the entire competition when it launched the 8th generation Civic in India. It was a futuristic looking car and was an immediate head turner.

8th Generation Honda Civic

The Civic had a powerful 1800 cc i-VTEC engine. It didn’t just look sporty and futuristic on the outside, but also had a dual instrument cluster on the massive dashboard with India’s first car to have a digital speedometer.

Honda Civic (8th Generation) Instrument Cluster and Dashboard

However, with time, more companies started launching good cars at a cheaper price and the D Segment sedans including the Civic eventually got phased off.

Honda launched the 10th Generation of the Civic again in 2019. However, due to the high price, it didn’t sell in good numbers and people had already started buying SUVs by then.

Other Popular Sedans

Fiat Padmini, Toyota’s Corolla, Honda Accord, Mitsubishi Lancer, Hyundai Accent, Ford Icon, Chevrolet Aveo, Toyota Camry, Ford Mondeo, Suzuki Kizashi, Chevrolet Cruze were some of the other exciting sedans that were sold in India but eventually got discontinued.

The Fall

Due to poor road conditions in India, most of these sedans were hard to drive in India as they had lower ground clearance.

Lower Ground Clearance in Sedans

Further, many of these sedans were being manufactured in India through the CKD (Completely Knocked Down) model. With the increasing import taxes in India, these cars became more expensive day by day.

Due to this, people started buying large SUVs such as the Ford Endeavour, Tata Safari, Toyota Fortuner or resorted to smaller hatchbacks.

Soon, these larger SUVs became dream cars of many people. Car Manufacturers soon realised this and started manufacturing “Compact SUVs” to capture the mass market.

The first successful compact SUV in India was the Renault Duster.

Renault Duster

Soon, other manufacturers started following the trend and the Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, Kia Seltos etc. were born.

Conclusion

Car Manufacturers have smartly catered to the customer needs by building SUV like looking crossover hatchbacks. These have larger wheel rims, high ground clearance, body cladding that makes them look like SUVs. However, this design makes the car body quite unstable due to elevated Moment of Inertia. These are also small in size (most of them under 4000 mm in length for lower tax brackets) which make them less spacious when compared to longer and high wheelbase sedans.

Companies need to build more exciting sedans that need to offer better designs and features at a competitive price in order to make Sedans lovable again.

There are still some manufacturers trying to make the sedan segment exciting such as Honda with its 5th Generation City, Skoda with its Slavia, VW with the Virtus - but they have to walk a long road to win the battle.