I personally feel that India was never a market that appreciated small cars. Now, there is a difference between India being a huge market for small cars and Indians appreciating small cars. India was a huge market for small cars without appreciating them because at the time there was a huge difference between the price tag of say a Maruti 800 and a Ford Ikon and cars that time did not have as many variants associated with a model. So, looking at the relatively cheaper price tag of a hatchback and low maintenance costs associated with it, back then, people found these cars budget friendly.
Now, as I mentioned earlier, the difference between the price and maintenance costs of say a hatchback and a sedan was so much that a person who had a budget for a small hatchback, could not stretch his budget a bit to afford a bigger car. Also, in the past, the SUV segment was not the flavor of our country. It was mostly hatchbacks or sedans. Now, SUV has done away with both these segments to a certain extent.
What Is An SUV?
If we look at the present times, SUVs mean a lot more than what they meant earlier. SUV being a segment itself has created many more segments within. Every manufacturer now is competing to come up with its SUV, and that too not one SUV, but different SUVs associated with various sub-segments of the SUV segment. Today we have SUVs that cost 7 lakhs, and we also have SUVs that cost over a crore, in the Indian market. We have micro-SUVs like the Hyundai Exter, we have mid-size SUVs like the Hyundai Creta, we have off-road oriented SUVs like the Mahindra Thar, we have SUVs like the Mahindra Scorpio N, and we have luxurious SUVs like the Land Rover Defender.
The Exter even though based on the i10 platform offers ample ground clearance to be called an SUV.
So, if a person at present is looking to buy a small car like the Alto K10 which costs about Rs 6.5 lakh, he will try and pay a bit more and may be purchase an Exter or a Tata Punch, which would be better for long journeys, safer and would offer more space and features. Also, maintenance costs will also be almost the same as an Alto K10. This is a major reason for this shift to the SUV segment because the segment has expanded.
Another reason for the increase in demand of SUVs perhaps could be driving conditions in India. Even though a lot of new highways have come up in the country over the past decade or so, still in many parts of the country, roads are in bad shape. With rains every year and snow in the mountainous regions, roads develop huge potholes and sometimes the roads even cave in to a certain extent. Most of our highways still have bad patches here and there, and our rural areas to quite an extent, have broken roads or then there are just dirt tracks which become all muddy in the rainy season. So, for all of this, you need a car with a high ground clearance and suspension tune suited to such conditions and SUVs fit the criteria best. Now that there are so many varieties of SUVs in the market, being offered at all sorts of price points, it is like cherry on top of the cake.
The Demise Of Hatchbacks In India
I do miss the era when the hatch segment was blossoming with a wide array of offerings coming in by different manufacturers, every now and then. There was a lot of choice on offer, and we could pick the one that suited us the best. The segment is not completely dead and there are attempts being made by certain manufacturers to keep this segment alive, but it is nowhere close to the glory that it held in the past. The relatively sporty hatch segment that was completely gone has seen a few new offerings recently in the form of the Altroz Racer from Tata Motors and Hyundai i20 N-line. Though the N-line has been around for some time, the Racer is new to the segment.
The Abarth Punto was a fiesty little hatch which we dearly miss.
We have driven both these hot hatches and even though the i20 N-line Manual Transmission largely pleased me, in my opinion, it is still the FIAT Abarth Punto that rules the segment, even though it is not around anymore. Let’s hope that we see a balance between the hatch segment and SUVs in the coming year, because good hatches are missed by some at least, if not all.
