Why is no one buying sedans in India?

SUVs, known for its off-road capabilities and mile munching abilities were previously owned by a handful of people. Soon we saw a shift in the trend as more and more buyers are preferring SUVs over sedans. Today we have a very few sedans left as the market is completely dominated by SUVs.

SUV vs Sedan – High-set sitting position

Now this point has to go in the favour of SUVs as a big advantage. SUVs, no matter small or large, have a high-set sitting position. You sit high in an SUV which gives you an excellent view of the road ahead. That even translates into better judgement and confidence while driving around city traffic. In the majority of the SUVs you can clearly see the edges of the bonnet that lets you judge the distance between you and the car ahead of you.

Better ground clearance

SUV vs Sedan - Tata harrier ground clearance

India is a developing country and we still face problems of broken roads and broken speed breakers. To drive a sedan on such roads is always tricky due to their low ground clearance. You first have to slow down completely and drive very carefully. Some of the speed breakers are so weird that you end up scraping the underbody of your car. Whereas if you are driving an SUV with high ground clearance, you don’t really have to slow down that much. You can just glide over through broken roads and enjoy the benefits of high ground clearance. The high ground clearance even helps on the speed breakers as you don’t have to slow down as much as a sedan and cross any kinds of speed breakers without scraping your car’s underbody.

SUV vs Sedan – Wide range of options

Until 2010, we didn’t really had options for SUVs. We had some expensive SUVs like Fortuner, Endeavour, Pajero and affordable options like Safari and Scorpio. Now, we have SUVs starting from as low as Rs 8 lakh. We have micro SUVs like the Punch and Exter and compact SUVs like Nexon, Sonet, and Venue. Furthermore, we have an entire dedicated segment of Creta and Seltos which compiles as many as 8 SUVs. So that clearly shows the number of SUVs available in India. Whereas we have a very few mass market sedans available.

Status symbol

SUVs have always been a status symbol and continue to be even today. Back then we had SUVs like Safari and Scorpio that grabbed attention. Later came the mighty Fortuner and became the preferred SUV of politicians and businessmen. This happened purely because of the road presence an SUV commands. They are tall, wide and surely grab everyone’s attention. Even today we can see people buying SUVs as a status symbol with the Fortuner being the first preference.

SUV vs Sedan – Mindset

Now, one of the biggest reasons why people are preferring SUVs over sedan is the mindset we have. Generally, looking at the size of the SUV and their capabilities to go over bad roads made people believe that SUVs have more space and comfort. Well, that’s not completely true. The sedans are also equally spacious and comfortable when compared to an SUV. In fact in some cases the sedans are more spacious in terms of knee room and leg room and feel more comfortable on long trips.