5 popular cars sold in India that failed to mark their presence

India is world's 5th largest automobile market in the world. But even then some of the most popular cars sold in entire world struggled to impress the Indian consumers. Reason? There are many reasons for them: reduced technological features, reduced safety, increased cost, and much more. But lets just leave the reasons for some other day. And for today, lets just take a look on 5 worldwide popular cars that failed to mark their presence in Indian Automobile market.

1. 10th gen Honda Civic:

Since its first launch in India, Honda Civic has been a very popular car in Indian Automobile market, its predecessor the 8th gen Honda civic was an instant hit in the Indian market. Largely applauded for its fun to drive dynamics, powerful engine, luxurious cabin and an sporty exterior. But due to lack of upgrades this car lost its customers with passage of time time. But it still had a loyal fanbase in the used car market. And with the announcement of 10th gen Honda Civic launching in India in 2019, it once again became the talk of the town. Its loyal fan base started doing advance bookings but one of the many issues that became a hurdle towards its success was its price range. This car was placed in the price range of ₹17.95 lakh- ₹22.26 lakh. Which in today's market is much more competitive than it was 10 years prior. And in this same price range one could honestly buy a feature loaded SUV like Hyundai Creta, Tata Harrier, MG Hector, Kia Seltos and Mahindra Scorpio and many more. Even its segments' rivals such as Hyundai Elantra and Toyota Corola were available at much lower prices than the Civic. But price was not the only hurdle in its journey. When the cars were delivered the reviews were out in no time. And one thing was clear that the manufacturers clearly misunderstood their consumer base.

A car that was widely popular for its driving dynamics got almost 156 hp, which sounds quite enough as compared to its rivals. But for the transmission, it got the dull CVT which basically muted its performance. And when it comes to the luxury then the first thing that comes to mind is the rear seat sitting experience. And that's where it lacks leg room space. And for someone with a height near 6 foot than the headroom in a 3-people sitting condition will be very limited for the one sitting at window sides.

Honda Civic car

2. Mitsubishi Cedia: It was basically a Mitsubishi Lancer car sold in international market, but in India was sold as a much more premium successor to the Mitsubishi Lancer with the badge of Cedia. Being a successor to Lancer, such a popular and loved car throughout the world. It was expected to be a hit. But due to some faulty decisions of management it failed. The major problem being quality issues throughout the car's components. As the management decided to buy resources for Lancer from local Indian market. Mitsubishi Lancer started facing quality issues. And with changing trend in Indian Automobile market, the company's management quickly realised that they can't stay and rule the Indian market just on the basis of performance. So they decided to pull the plug on Lancer badge and sell a next gen Lancer as a Cedia, a premium successor to the Lancer. But with not so good local resources it also faced the same hurdle of quality issues. Still being popular among Indian rally circuit, it remained separated from Indian customers due to its poor fuel economy, fewer service stations and expensive spare parts along with quality and reliability issues. And due to low sales Mitsubishi decided to stop its production and sales in 2013.

Mitsubishi Cedia car

3. Hyundai Tucson: First launched in India in 2005, Hyundai Tucson was a car way ahead of its time in Indian Automobile market. Powered by a 1.9litre diesel engine which produced 120hp and a peak torque of 270Nm. It was offered with a manual gearbox and 4WD & AWD powertrains. The cabin offered too was spacious and loaded with then top notch features. But what fell short was the Hyundai's understanding of Indian market.

Because the Indian consumers were just not ready to accept the trend of big SUV cars. At that time almost everyone wanted a family hatchback car with low maintenance and in low price range. But the Tucson was offered at a price point of around ₹16lakh. And the SUVs which were selling in high volumes were either offered at low price points of around ₹10lakh or were full fledged off-road and luxurious SUVs with a much more compelling road presence like the Toyota Fortuner. It was again launched in 2016 but again due to low sales got discontinued in 2020. And now again its relaunched in the Indian automobile market in 2022. And it would be interesting to see how it performs in present time, considering the wave of increasing SUVs popularity.

Hyundai Tucson car

4. Volkswagen Beetle: An icon in the history of world's automobile history, Volkswagen Beetle is one of the highest selling cars in the world with 23million cars sold in its 65 years of lifetime. And the same performance was expected in the Indian market too. But it failed to attract Indian consumers. And just remained a hot topic in Indian Automobile market. Volkswagen only managed to sell 500 units in India. The problems were not many but its one of the USP in global market became its hurdle towards sales in India. Known as a cheap and reliable car all across the world was offered between the price range of ₹21lakh- ₹30lakh. Which is not at all cheap in Indian Automobile market. It was a classy, luxurious, and a high performance car but where it lacked was in generating an emotional touch with the Indian consumers.

VW Beetle car

5. Hyundai Santa Fe: Launched in 2014 Auto Expo, Santa Fe was the Hyundai's flagship car in India. And because it was sold in India as a Completely Knocked Down unit, it created difficulties for the Hyundai to place it at some lower price range. And thus Hyundai was compelled to launch it as the rival for the Ford Endeavour and Toyota Fortuner. Launched with 2.2litre, 4-cylinder engine it produced 195Bhp and 421 Nm of torque, making it a powerful machine with a quality of luxury in its cabin space. On the exterior it was equipped with its fluidic design which made it look beautiful and eye catching. But what fell short was that because it was competing in a segment dominated heavily by Fortuner and Endeavour, its marketing was not able to compel the buyers to switch to Santa Fe. And one reason other reason responsible for its low sales was that it was not a suitable car for off-roading, because of its tuning and low ground clearance. It was an excellent city car but to compete in that segment it did not offer anything exceptional. Instead it would have sold well if this car somehow be launched at a lower price range.

Hyundai Sanata Fe car