SUVs have a 63 percent market share compared to April 2023; Maruti, Hyundai and Toyota witnessed highest growth.
After notching best-ever sales of 4.21 million passenger vehicles last fiscal, carmakers in India despatched 2,13,117 SUVs and MPVs in April 2024 – a 19 growth over April 2023 – accounting for a 63 percent share of the PV market. Of the 16 carmakers on this list, only eight have registered growth. Similarly, UV sales have helped buffer the sharp 22 percent decline in sales of hatchbacks and sedans in April 2024.
Maruti Suzuki
Maruti Suzuki saw flat PV sales in April 2024 – 1,37,952 units compared to April 2023’s 1,37,320 units. At 56,553 units last month, cumulative sales of the Brezza, Ertiga, Fronx, Grand Vitara, Invicto, Jimny and XL6 recorded a strong 54 percent YoY growth. UVs accounted for 41 percent of the company’s overall passenger vehicle sales in April 2024, probably the highest in a single month. In the process, they have helped buffer the sustained decline in demand for Maruti’s entry-level hatchbacks and sedans.
Speaking of, there was a decline in demand for its hatchbacks and sedans: 56,953 units sold in April 2024 are down 24 percent YoY (April 2023: 74,935 units). And the sole premium sedan, the Ciaz, saw demand fall 15 percent YoY to 867 units.
Mahindra
Mahindra despatched 41,008 SUVs in April 2024, up 18 percent YoY (FY2023: 34,694 units). This is the fourth month in a row that Mahindra has dispatched over 40,000 units: January 2024 (43,068 units, up 30 percent); February 2024 (42,401 units, up 40 percent); and March 2024 (40,631, up 13 percent). In an extremely competitive market for utility vehicles, Mahindra, with as many as eight SUVs, is extremely well placed to capitalise on the surging demand for this vehicle type. The recently launched XUV 3XO is expected to be a disrupter in the compact SUV market.
Hyundai
SUVs accounted for 67 percent of Hyundai’s total PV sales of 50,201 units in April 2024. At 33,788 units, sales were up 24 percent (April 2023: 27,304). Hyundai currently retails seven SUVs with the facelifted Creta clocking 15,447 units, up 9 percent (April 2023: 14,186). Demand for the Venue and Exter compact SUVs at 16,876 units was up by a strong 63 percent (April 2023: 10,342).
Hyundai sells two hatchbacks (Grand i10 Nios, i20) and two sedans (Aura, Verna), and as per the latest SIAM data, they sold 14,842 units last month, down 19 percent YoY (April 2023: 18,396 units). Despatches of the sixth-gen Verna sedan at 1,571 units were down by a sizeable 61 percent (April 2023: 4,001 units), likely due to inventory already having built up in showrooms across India.
Tata Motors
Tata Motors, with its four-model portfolio of the Nexon, Punch, Harrier and the Safari, despatched an estimated 33,788 units (the same as Hyundai), which makes for a 10 percent increase (April 2023: 30,748 units). The Nexon’s sales has been slowing down, but with a CNG model soon in the offing, Tata Motors’ bestseller should soon be back to big numbers. Meanwhile, the Punch, whose portfolio has expanded with the rollout of CNG and EV variants, continues to snare sales from rivals.
While Tata Motors’ model-wise sales data is not available, industry estimates put the company’s passenger car wholesales for April 2024 at 14,095 units, down 13 percent YoY (April 2023: 16,259 units).
Kia
Kia’s UV sales last month, at 19,968 units, were down 14 percent YoY (April 2023: 23,216 units), as sales of all its four products were down. Its bestseller in April 2024 was the Sonet with 7,901 units (down 19 percent; April 2023: 9,744), followed by the Seltos with 6,734 units (down 6.64 percent; April 2023: 7,213). The Carens MPV with 5,328 units was down 13 percent (April 2023: 6,107) and five units of the EV6 was a 96 percent decline (April 2023: 152 units).
Toyota
Toyota Kirloskar Motor, which sold 18,676 passenger vehicles in April 2024, saw its UV share increase to 76 percent – 14,117 units – compared to 73 percent in April 2023 (10,180 UVs out of 13,896 PVs). The Innova Crysta and Innova Hycross MPVs together accounted for 7,103 units, up 47 percent YoY (April 2023: 4,837). The Rumion MPV and the Urban Cruiser Hyryder together sold 4,444 units, up 70 percent (April 2023: 2,616). The remaining 2,570 units were of the Fortuner, Hilux, Land Cruiser and Vellfire, down 6 percent YoY (April 2023: 2,727).
Toyota’s Glanza hatchback and the Camry sedan are the only two non-SUVs to register growth in April 2024, albeit on a much-lower base. While the Glanza sold 4,380 units, up 20 percent (April 2023: 3,653 units), the premium Camry saw despatches of 179 units, up 184 percent YoY (April 2023: 63 units).
Volkswagen
Volkswagen India, which despatched 1,866 UVs last month, recorded 20 percent YoY growth (April 2023: 1,551 units). The bulk of the sales are of the Taigun, which at 1,758 units, is a 16 percent increase (April 2023: 1,520 units). The Tiguan SUV sold 108 units, up 248 percent on a very low year-ago base of 31 units. Volkswagen despatched 1,183 units of its Virtus sedan in April 2024, down 20 percent YoY (April 2023: 1,481 units).
Honda
The Elevate SUV has given Honda Cars India a new charge in the UV segment. In April 2024, the company despatched 1,731 units of the Elevate, which takes the total number of Elevates sold in India to 35,373 units.
Coming to sedans, Honda despatched a total of 2,620 cars – 2,693 units fewer than it did a year ago – which is a 51 percent decline. Of this total, the Amaze sedan accounted for 1,796 units, down 47 percent (April 2023: 3,393 units) and the City sold 824 units, down 57 percent (April 2023: 1,920 units).
SUV sales vs sedan and hatchback sales
From the 5,52,135 UVs sold in FY2015 to the record 25,20,691 units sold in FY2024, the increase has been 356 percent over a decade.
SUV and MPV sales surpassed the million-units milestone for the first time in FY2021 (10,60,750 units, up 12 percent), and for the next three fiscals, it’s consistently delivered high double-digit growth. While FY2022 saw 1.48 million-unit sales and 40 percent growth, the 2 million-milestone was achieved in FY2023 at an equally robust 34 percent YoY growth rate. And the UV segment has wrapped up FY2024 with 26 percent growth at 2.52 million units.
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