10 Forgotten Sedan In India | From Cielo To Sienna

“If you don’t look back at your car after you park it, you bought the wrong car.” A segment which ensures that your choice is never questioned is the ‘Sedan’ segment. The Indian customers are known to flaunt their cars a lot, especially those luxury sedans. Companies are very well familiar with this. Here is the list of 10 forgotten sedans that were once defining luxury on the roads of India.

1. Maruti Esteem | A shape that launched a thousand sighs!

   

   Esteem or Maruti 1000, a car that marked the introduction of sedans from the company, was launched in 1990. 1000 came with a price tag of ₹3,81,000 which was towards the higher end at that time. It was powered by a 1.0-litre engine which could manage to produce 46hp of power. Later the car was upgraded with a 1.3-litre engine and was badged with the name tag of Esteem. This is the name many of you might remember.

2. Hyundai Accent | The Executive Sedan

   

   The Accent came in and ruled the market for real. The car was known to be a very optimum sedan by the ones who had the chance to get their hands on one of it. It was powered by a 1.5-litre CRDi engine which was pleasant to drive. But the car was not given the necessary facelift and the customers started to wary off with the old school design of Accent which was discontinued due to low sales.

3. Maruti Baleno | Is it not a hatchback?

   

   Baleno is sold through the NEXA channel of Maruti Suzuki, it has been the most successful subcompact car in the premium segment. But many of you might remember that it was not always a hatchback. This nameplate was used by Maruti Suzuki earlier in the year 1999 when the company launched the sedan. It was a good selling sedan as the segment was not flooded with a lot of rivals at that time. It was discontinued in 2007 paving way for the SX4 sedan later. Maruti Baleno is its sedan avatar can still be seen on the roads.

4. Tata Indigo | The sedan avatar of Indica

   

   Indica, which was the first fully indigenously built car by Tata also received a sedan version when the company decided to inject the car with a superhuman serum. It had spacious legroom and a commodious cabin. Indigo, though was famous as a taxi but was not able to pick a lot of traction in the market as Ola and Uber were not operating at that time.

5. Daewoo Cielo | Way ahead of its time!

   

   The company entered the Indian market with Cielo in 1995. The car had a starting price of Rs.5.46 lakhs and introduced a lot of new features in the market. It was powered by a 1.4-litre engine that delivered 71hp and a peak torque of 128Nm and offered a fuel efficiency of 13.4km. This was one of the first cars in India that came with fuel injection and a three-speed automatic transmission. It offered tough competition to the likes of the famous Maruti Esteem.
   But the response from customers didn’t turn out to be what the company had expected. Instead, it was totally the opposite. Within a few months of its release, more than 70000 consumers had cancelled their booking of Cielo and the actual sales were only 50% of what the company had expected. Unfortunately, Cielo turned out to be a dud for the company and they had to stop its sales in 1999.

6. Daewoo Nexia | Another try by Daewoo!

   

   The company after the failure of Cielo tried to tap in the sedan segment in India again with the Nexia. But again the company failed to attract the consumers in the country with vivid tastes. It was equipped with a 1.6-litre engine which produced 93hp of power and 132Nm of torque. The engine was mated to a manual as well as an automatic transmission too. It was priced at ₹6.22lakhs.
   Nexia did get a lukewarm response from the customers because of its unique design but couldn’t stand in the market for long and was discontinued when the company retired from Indian in 2002.

7. Chevrolet Cruze | More room for your life!

   

   If the company was not forced to shut down its operations in India, Cruze would still have been a very good selling sedan. It was powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine which produced a massive 164hp of power and a peak torque of 360Nm. It was a real luxury sedan equipped with power steering, ABS, power windows, air conditioning, airbags, automatic climate control, alloy wheels, only a few to list. Cruze is still seen on the roads cruising the way through the traffic.

8. Fiat Siena | A Palio Sedan

   

   Palio was nothing like its rivals. Everything in this hatchback came with maximum abilities for that time. And to add a cherry on the top of the cake, it was endorsed by the legend, Sachin Tendulkar himself. Palio was a real deal. With the success of the hatch, the company decided to introduce the sedan version of Palio. Well, it was not successful at all. The sales were low. Not many of you might even remember the name. Siena came and flew past the Indian market but without any noise.

9. Maruti Suzuki SX4 | For The Man In Every Gentleman

   

   This sedan was launched back by the company back in 2007. The premium looks and the stylish interiors made it an instant success story. SX4 had an amazing ride quality. It was powered by a 1.6-litre VVT DOHC petrol engine which could churn out 104hp of power and 145Nm of torque. But with the advent of diesel engines in the segment, SX4 started losing the monopoly in the market. In 2011, Maruti Suzuki tried to revive the SX4 by introducing a 1.3-litre DDis diesel engine which could produce 88hp of power and a torque of 200Nm. But by the time SX4 got this oil burner, it was too late. The sedan was discontinued in 2014. You might easily see one running on the roads at present.

10. Opel Corsa | The Difference Is German Engineering

    

    This sedan was GM’s attempt to finally set up in India. They launched three versions of Corsa ranging from Sedan which was the first one then a hatchback and a station wagon desperately trying to figure out which one would get them the boost they needed. Alas none of them did. Although being a German engineered car, it was not able to gain any sort of popularity in India. GM was not able to understand consumer trends in India.

So this is our list of 10 forgotten sedans in India. Don’t worry about the missed ones, there will be a part 2 soon. Let us know in the comments section below about your personal favourite sedan.