IAB Report - 2014 Honda City overtakes Hyundai Verna to become segment king

A couple of months into the launch and the 2014 Honda City has outsold the former segment king, the Hyundai Verna.

Launched in the first week of January this year, Honda has announced that 7,184 units of the new City left showrooms in January while 7,213 units were delivered in February. In contrast, Hyundai sold only 3,803 units and 3,342 units of the Verna for the respective first two months of 2014.

While those are still respectable sales figures, and in fact double than what VW or Skoda manage with the Vento and Rapid, the Verna's sales have clearly taken a beating compared to same periods last year. January 2013 saw Hyundai sell 5,066 units while 4,871 units were sold in February 2013.

The City's strong sales can be attributed to its diesel engine, which is not only being offered for the first time in the car, but is also India's most fuel efficient engine returning 26 km/l.

Hyundai India is certainly not sitting still and letting this pass. Just last month a new CX trim was launched on the Verna 1.4 petrol and diesel models, and the entire variant lineup was tweaked a little in order to make the car more appealing.

Read our review of the new Honda City

It remains to be seen whether the City can continue this sales performance, or whether these impressive numbers were recorded only because of the initial interest in a new product.