Mumbai: The sedan — the car with a boot, once considered a symbol of prestige — is fast losing ground to imposing, high-seating sports utility vehicles in the Indian market. Sedans accounted for just 11.8% of new passenger vehicle sales in 2020, compared with 29% SUVs. While sedans’ share has shrunk more than half in the past five years, that of SUVs has more than doubled. The share of compact sedans — under four metres length — that were popular due to lower taxes fell to 8.8% of the market, from 14.7% in 2018, as most automakers started offering similar-sized SUVs to leverage the same tax benefits.Even the pandemic’s impact was not uniform across the automotive industry — sales of sedans declined almost 38% in 2020, underperforming the broader market that shrank 18%. SUV sales declined by a much lower 8% last year.80277457“Decline in sales of sedans is in part due to style,” said Ravi Bhatia, president, Jato Dynamics, an automotive business intelligence firm. “They are not as practical as hatchbacks, not as spacious as SUVs, not as comfortable as MPVs and certainly not as glamorous as sports cars. Paying ₹70,000-80,000 (extra) for a boot is no longer seen as utilitarian by Indians.”Slipping BackSeveral automakers have pulled the plug on their previously popular sedans due to the changing consumer preference, which industry experts say is not limited to India, but is a global trend.Honda stopped the sales of the Civic last month. Toyota did not upgrade the Corolla and Etios to Bharat Stage-VI emission standards and stopped selling both sedans from April 2020. This caused Maruti Suzuki to abandon its plan to offer a cross-badged sedan based on Toyota’s Corolla.Germany’s Volkswagen, which curated the Ameo specifically for India, has stopped selling the compact sedan, while for US’ Ford, volumes of sub-4m Aspire have come down to an average of about 350 units a month in 2020, from its peak of almost 2,000 units in 2017.SUVs in DemandOf the 50-55 launches or upgrades planned for 2021, the number of mainstream sedans is just three or four. Only luxury carmakers have action lined up for new generation saloons.But even in the top end of the market, more than 50% of sales now come from SUVs. “SUVs gaining popularity is a global phenomenon, not just in India. Any brand you see today, I think the SUV equivalent of the same product will be selling more than the sedan,” said Pratap Bose, VP, global design, Tata Motors.Tata Motors, which has seen a steady rise in demand for its SUVs, has deferred plans for a sedan based on the Altroz, which was called Goshawk internally.“People can say that we are missing a sedan (from our portfolio), but we know how our market is going to grow or not. So, we play our cards very carefully. Sedan is a classic example of a shrinking body type,” Bose said.The biggest casualty of this changing consumer preference has been the executive sedan segment, where vehicles are priced at ₹15-25 lakh.
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