Interestingly, almost a quarter (23.37%) of all the cars sold in India are in the 4-meter SUV form factor during July 2024. Mid-siized sedans comprising the likes of Honda City, Hyundai Verna Volkswagen Virtus and the Skoda Slavia were down by 38.96%.
At the OEM level, Toyota Kirloskar reported the highest year-on-year growth of 42.27% over last July, Mahindra up 14.96%, and Kia up 2.52%.
Despite its new avatar, the new Maruti Suzuki Swift hatchback is down 6% from July last year and is already on discounts of around INR 30,000. This is not the best of scenarios Maruti would have envisaged and confirms that the hatchback segment is tanking albeit slowly.
Maruti is holding its position and market share, thanks to the Ertiga (up 9.4%) and the Wagon R (Up 25%). Overall sales however are down a whopping 9.64% over July last year.
There has been no significant uptake in Swift sales since May 2024 when the new model was released.
Excitement in midsize SUVs
In the midsize SUV category, Hyundai Creta has been the segment leader. Recently, three new models have entered this space. Tata Motors has introduced its Curvv, Mahindra its Thar Roxx and Citroen the Basalt.
Upcoming months will be interesting to watch out if the introduction of the new models expands this market, or results in a tough fight with the existing players.
It may be noted that the midsize SUV category has about 10 models, but in terms of sales only 4 models have been successful. This includes the Creta, Seltos, Hyryder and the Grand Vitara, which together comprise 85% of the sales in this segment. What makes them a preferred choice is a wide range of engines and gearboxes, and a panoramic sunroof option. The remaining 6 of them are fighting for less than 15% of the segment.
Meanwhile, Creta also takes up the No 1 spot in the Top 10 bestselling PV models for July 2024. This was followed by Swift, WagonR, Punch and then Ertiga on No 5. Only 2 hatchbacks take up space in the Top 10 list, while 5 SUVs solidify their position in the list for July this year.
(Disclaimer: Niranjan N Prabhu is the CEO of Cargraphical Analytics Solutions. Views are personal.)
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
