Station wagon cars in India can be easily said as the least popular car body type sold. Station wagon cars or estate cars, simply put, is an elongated sedans with a tailgate opening boot (rather than a conventional separated boot lid) and a higher riding height.
They also have a lot of glass space which adds up to the airy feeling and enhanced space feel as well.
Why Station Wagon Cars Are Not Popular In India?
Station wagon cars are not popular in India due to one MAIN reason: They are not aesthetically appealing (Looks are subjective, and there are many good-looking station wagon cars in India as well!).
Although Station wagon cars scream practicality and have many added benefits, they really don’t visually appeal to most customers. And since most wagons are based on sedans, with a similar price (if not more), people would generally opt for sedans because of their sportiness, and visual appeal.
Also Read: Tata Estate & why Estate Cars (Station Wagons) Are Cool!
But this isn’t the only reason why Station wagon cars in India didn’t work. Read along to find out more.
Reasons Why Station Wagon cars Didn’t Work In India
Here are the other reasons why station wagon cars in India couldn’t leave a mark:
The convention of buying only an SUV/Sedan/Hatchback.
The typical Indian car buyer generally, while looking for a ride, would never look past an SUV/MUV, Hatchback, or a sedan. This is evident through sales figures of other car body types such as pick-up trucks, coupes, station wagons, etc…
Also Read: Why is India so Obsessed with Compact SUVs?
Low Requirement Of Station Wagons (Social Stigma Of Owning One)
Why would someone buy a station wagon in the first place? Most probably because they need space, a large boot, practicality, maybe a dog that needs to be fit into? Well, a person who has these requirements should most certainly look for a wagon.
However, the number of people having these demands is a few, and hence they opt for an SUV/Sedan/MUV instead. In fact, the Tata Indigo Marina was actually tasting good sales initially, but people couldn’t figure out what to do with the extra space.
Buying a car is mainly done for 2 reasons: The 1st one is for needs, the 2nd one being a want. One buys a car when they actually need it, for transportation. However, we also buy cars for discretionary purposes. (Example: buying a car just for the sake of driving a fast and zippy car, buying luxury cars for status etc…)
However, Station Wagons have never considered luxury cars. One of the reasons why station wagon cars never really took off in India was a social stigma. People felt that these cars weren’t “accepted”, eventually leading to their downfall.
More Expensive (Poor Pricing Done By Manufacturers actually)
Station wagons essentially are based on Sedan platforms. In fact, making a station wagon out of a sedan requires only about 10% extra cost! However, car several manufacturers took advantage of this and priced their cars at a 30% higher price.
Here’s an example of an estate car in India: The Skoda Octavia Combi. The Octavia Combi was basically the station wagon version of the Octavia. Both cars had almost the same dimensions and specs as the Octavia, yet it was priced at a whopping 40% more price.
The Octavia in 2005 was priced at around 10.5 lakhs, going up to 16 lakhs for the top model. On the other hand, the Octavia Combi was giving competition to its sibling, starting at 14 lakhs, going up to 14.26 lakhs.
Read in depth about it here: Remembering the Skoda Octavia Combi | A Station Wagon from 2005
Lack of space in the 3rd row (Sloping Roof)
Wagons have sloping roof line at the end, near the C pillar. This translates to the low headroom for the last row of seats. So the last row is only best suited for smaller heights only.
