At the time Hyundai India had rolled out its new entry level car, Eon, the company had announced that it was aiming to take on Maruti Suzuki Alto, the highest selling car of India. However, the sales of Alto have grown steadily in the past three months, though the South Korean manufacturer’s hatchback was also popular in the market. Nevertheless, the new car from its stables could not affect Alto the way that it had hoped to.
Maruti had sold 24422, 24113 and 32965 units of Alto in India during November 2011, December 2011 and January 2012, respectively. This was against 7418, 6223 and 7344 Eons sold in India in the three months, respectively, showing that the sales of the car were close to 1/3rd of that of Alto's. It is clear that Eon has not taken over the share of Maruti's entry level hatchback. On the other hand, it is highly improbable that Eon reinvigorated the domestic market on its own considering the ongoing slump in domestic car sales.
Therefore, it can be said that Hyundai’s new hatchback model has captured the market share of other entry level hatchbacks present in India, including Santo Xing, its cousin. Statistics for the past three months support this belief, showing that Santro Xing has faced a sudden slump in sales since the launch of Eon. Moreover, there has been no notable increase in sales even after the market conditions slightly improved recently, casting shadow over the role of the new hatchbacks on its older sibling.
The South Korean car maker had sold 3141 units of Santro Xing in October last year, its lowest figure ever. Sales have risen since then, allowing Hyundai to sell 5000 Santros on a monthly basis, but it still remains far away from the 7000 units that the manufacturer used to sell before Eon hit the market. Thus, it has become clear that Hyundai has inadvertently hit its own sales with the Eon rather than Alto's.
