Utility vehicle sales surge in India

In India, the utility vehicles segment, including crossovers and compact SUVs, has eaten into passenger car sales and now boasts of over 27 percent market share of the total passenger vehicles sold (April-November 2017: 21,86,199) in FY2018 until now.

Between April-November 2017, UV sales cumulatively stood at 5,97,157 units (April-November 2016: 497,851), registering a substantial 20 percent growth. UVs accounted for a total hold of 24.69 percent of the total PV sales (20,15,699) between April-November 2016 and have jumped to settle at 27.31 percent in the first eight months of FY2018.

Maruti Suzuki UVs (Vitara Brezza, S-Cross, Gypsy and the Ertiga) hold 28.59 percent market share in the UV segment, selling 1,70,702 units (April-November 2016: 1,27,182), with the popular Vitara Brezza compact SUV selling 14,458 units in November, a 48.76 percent growth (November 2016: 9,719).

Japanese carmaker, Honda Cars India, sold a total of 40,238 UVs between April-November 2017 (April-November 2016: 17,571), growing 129 percent and increasing its UV market share to 6.74 percent, which earlier stood at a mere 3.53 percent during the same period last year. The WR-V has cumulatively sold 25,251 units in the market until November.

For Tata Motors, the Nexon and the Hexa, together, have contributed to rising sales, which stood at 25,338 units between April-November (April-November 2016: 10,444), and registered a remarkable growth of 142.6 percent. The company’s hold on the UV segment has also doubled from 2.1 percent to now reach 4.24 percent between April-November 2017.

Hyundai Motor India again has seen its Creta crossover to be a consistent performer for the company and it sold 8,528 units in November, growing 25 percent (November 2016: 6,822). Hyundai’s cumulative UV sales stood at 72,877 units between April-November 2017 (April-November 2016: 64,064) and the company’s market hold also remains almost consistent at 12.2 percent (April-November 2016: 12.87 percent).

Mahindra & Mahindra, has witnessed cumulative UV sales of 1,51,596 units in the first eight months of this fiscal (April-November 2016: 144,009), registering growth of 5.26 percent. However, the company’s UV market hold has declined from 28.93 percent between April-November 2016 to stand at 25.39 percent during the same period in 2017.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor registered cumulative sales of 64,943 units between April-November (April-November 2016: 59,867), growing 8.47 percent. However, the company’s UV market share has slightly declined from 12 percent to 10.88 percent over the first eight months of FY2018 due to the static month of June 2017, followed by the new GST regime from July that resulted in sales of big cars and SUVs pause and drop to a bare minimum. The highly popular Fortuner SUV, which otherwise averages 2,000 units (November 2017: 2,271) a month had come down to a negligible 356 units in June, and Toyota’s Innova, which flies at 6,000 units monthly, saw sales falling to 1,068 units in June 2017.

Ford India has seen UV sales numbers between April-November 2017 decline to 35,188 units (April-November 2016: 38,362), posting a decline of 8.27 percent. However, Ford’s refreshed EcoSport crossover bagged sales of 5,474 units in its maiden month of launch. Given the new EcoSport’s packaging, Ford India could soon be making a comeback and giving tough competition to the dominating Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and the Tata Nexon.

The UV segment is the top priority right now in the new model plans of most manufacturers, who want to benefit from the huge potential this space offers.