Why the Accord, Passat did not do well?

Clearly, the Indian customer is willing to spend, and spend a decent sum for a set of luxury wheels; otherwise our inboxes won’t be choked with sales reports from Audi and Mercedes, month after month. But, the Indian customer isn’t willing to settle for a car that doesn’t have the right badge on the nose. If you consider the Accord and the Audi A4 for instance, the Honda is larger, more comfortable and way better suited as a chauffeur driven car. It isn’t exactly short on equipment, either. Yes, the build quality and the materials aren’t as good as on the Audi, but overall, it still makes a lot of sense.

The only reason for the Accord’s failure then, is the badge – when it comes to snob value a Honda can’t complete with an Audi, not in India. Another strong contributor for Accord’s slow sales, of course, has been the lack of a diesel engine. 

But then, the Passat only came with a diesel engine. And it was, in fact, even better equipped than the Accord. It had the self parking feature, an intelligent light system and a build quality which was almost as good as an Audi or a BMW or a Mercedes. But, it never did well either. Simply because it runs exactly the same badge on its nose as a Rs 4 lakh Polo. And no brand conscious Indian spending that much money on what is dead investment, will accept this.

So, even though, we loved the Passat and we recommended it over the likes of the A4 because it was just so much better value (and in fact, it had a more powerful engine), it just did not sell.

There’s another important factor that has led to poor sales of these high-end cars from main stream makers compared to similarly priced cars from the luxury car makers – focus. You see, for an Audi or a BMW, or a Mercedes or a Volvo, cars that cost Rs 30 lakh and thereabouts, are their bread and butter models. So, they push these models hard. They offer discounts and better finance options and they pursue prospect customers relentlessly calling them every other day and offering them extended test drives.

For a Honda or a Volkswagen, the Accord and the Passat are ‘hero’ models. They are essentially there at the dealership in a hope their size, class and equipment will have a positive rub-off on customers interested in the likes of the Citys and Ventos, respectively. ‘After all, if a company can make a luxury car, its regular products would also be engineered very well if not as well,’ is a line you commonly hear on showroom floors. But, does it make any difference to Honda or Volkswagen if they don’t sell 1000 units of these cars, or even 500, or even 100 units for that matter? No, it doesn’t. So, there are no aggressive follow-ups from the dealership sales staff, no special finance schemes and no promise of ‘living the brand experience’. It’s simply a car sale, an expensive car sale, and nothing more.

No wonder, luxury cars with luxury badges continue to rule the roost, while models like the Accord and the Passat appear with a bang and then fade into oblivion...