It has been 13 years since Hyundai first launched the Hyundai Accent. The company expected the Accent to follow the success of the Santro, but the car didn’t do that well. If not the best selling model, the Accent definitely has made its point by surviving in the market for more than a decade and now after serving us for such a long time Hyundai is going to discontinue this product.
Because of the introduction of new sedans such as Skoda Rapid,Volkswagen Vento, Toyota Etios,Ford Classic and others and Accent’s dated looks, its sales has been gradually decreasing over the years and last month the car sold only 182 units. In more than 5 years, it was Accent’s lowest ever monthly sales. Another reason for the discontinuation is the fact that the Accent we know in India is dead whereas the Accent brand on the global platform is still very much alive in the form of Verna(Hyundai Verna is sold as Accent in global markets).
Coming to the Honda now, the once popular Civic sedan is now at the mercy of its customers. A few years back it used to sell like hot cakes and today it cannot even manage to sell 150 units a month. Therefore Honda has finally decided to discontinue the product. Assembled from completely knocked down kits (CKD), Honda will build with remaining kits it has and probably before the festive season of Diwali, it will be able to roll out rest of the Civics.
As per sources, the very fact that the company does not have a diesel engine to offer has forced prompted Honda to pull its hands off. It did launch a high tech 1.6 litre diesel engine for the European market but the company feels the engine is not compatible for Indian conditions. The 2012 Civic which was launched in the global market recently has been criticized to an extent, and the complaints registered by Civic owners has together forced Honda to not launch the 2012 model in India.
The long journeys of both the Accent and Civic is soon going to come to a dead end. Whether the respective manufacturers will bring in a new model to fill the gap created by absence of Accent and Civic, is yet to be seen. We will keep an eye on the developments in this segment and keep you posted, stay tuned to Car Blog India for more updates.
via – HT & ACI
