Baleno Overtakes Elite i20 In Sales For December 2015

Maruti Suzuki's Baleno is beating its rival, the Hyundai Elite i20, December numbers released by Siam, the industry body, show 10,572 for the Baleno and 10,379 for the i20. The margin is little less than 200, however, the premium compact segment, which has been the i20's turf, is losing ground to the NEXA showroom launch - Baleno.

The recent inauguration of the 100th NEXA outlet by Maruti Suzuki, is looking to ramp up the sales of the Baleno, which comes with waiting period for the customers. During the month of November, the sales figure stood at 10,074 for the Elite i20 and 9,074 for the Baleno, a difference of 1000, however, Maruti has overtaken the rival in December. The Indian manufactured car for the global market, has invoked a tremendous response by the customer here in India.

Launched in October, the Baleno has driven customers to the NEXA showroom and the footfalls has not reduced much. The car starts with the starting price of Rs. 4.99 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) which aggressively positioned itself among the other premium compact cars like the VW Polo, Hyundai's Elite i20 and the Honda Jazz. A lot is to do with the features of the car, which came with standard dual airbags, ABS and EBD on the base model, Sigma.

The Creta has pulled way ahead in terms of number for Hyundai, which has seen a tremendous success, to counter that, Maruti will be launching the Vitara Brezza at the Auto Expo 2016 to add fuel to the fire in the competition between the two manufacturers. Time will tell how the Brezza is going to fair compared to the successful Creta.