The main reasons for the giants to discontinue their flagship saloon has been depreciating Rupee, increasing cost of production , v high pricing and tough competition from German Luxury car makers . Accord in a 2.4 ltr petrol engine was priced at around 25 lakhs where As Passat 2.0 TDI top variant used to be around 31 lakhs , A person spending 25 lakhs or more has a lot of options namely An Audi A4,Q3 or may be a BMW X1 , 3 Series, 1 Series or even a Mercedes A class, B Class, C class .It should be understood that consumers and the ruling young generation of India is becoming brand conscious, If I can spend I want to be in a niche segment or own something exclusive not a brand which is owned by many. A person having a High income becomes a Honda Accord owner no matter how wonderful the car is but the fact is a person with an average income is buying a Honda Brio and is driving the same brand which the high income level person is driving. It misses the exclusivity factor.A mass product can never be a Niche product and vice versa. No wonder why Maruti and Hyundai have never been successful with Highend top premium Cars , All their high end cars have not done well ever in comparison to competitors viz Baleno, Grand Vitara, Kizashi, Elantra, Terracan, Tuscon, Sonata etc . They need to understand that they are a mass brand and not a premium brand . One can not be masters in every field , Either we can cater the mass or we can cater the niche . We need to understand the exclusivity factor when dealing with a high end product or brand .
Both the cars Accord and Passat together have sold less than 500 units in past 7 months, The factories and dealers have wiped out their stocks . We need to wait till 2016 when we assume Accord and Passat will be launched with a complete makeover in the bodyshell , interior , engine . I won't be surprised to see the diesel Honda Accord ! Let's keep our fingers crossed :)
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