Maruti Suzuki increases its stranglehold on India’s car market to 57%

FY2018 has been one of the best fiscals for the Indian automobile sector, with overall industry sales clocking 24,972,788 units, growing at a strong 14.22 percent. The noteworthy performance has come in after a gap of five years, when the industry was reeling under tough times, recording low single-digit growth – FY2013 (2.49%), FY2014 (3.54%), FY2015 (7.06%), FY2016 (3.78%) and FY2017 (6.81%).

The passenger vehicle segment witnessed its highest-ever sales, almost touching the 3.3 million mark with cumulative sales of 3,287,965 units (+7.89%). While passenger cars sold 2,173,950 units (+3.3%), it was UVs, which went on to bring a dynamic charge to the PV segment, selling 921,780 units (+20.97%).

With the PV market scaling a new high, the bellwether of the Indian PV segment, Maruti Suzuki India made the most of the surging demand. Having sold a total of 1,543,467 PVs in FY2018 (+13.84%), it increased its PV market share to 49.98 percent (FY2017: 47.38%) and intensified its stranglehold of the market.

On the market share front, India’s leading carmaker has, over the past five years, gradually increased its PV share by nearly 10 percent. In FY2013 it had a 39.44 percent PV market share, which consistently rose over the 40 percent mark – FY2014 (42.09%), FY2015 (45.01%), FY2016 (46.79%), FY2017 (47.37%) and FY2018 (49.98%). With almost 50 percent share of the Indian PV market, one in every two cars sold in the country today is a Maruti Suzuki.

Return of form in the passenger car market
The company’s tremendous growth could be attributed to a slew of new model launches and product refreshes over the past five years, where hatchbacks like the Alto K10 and the Celerio in the high-volume-grossing mini and compact segments respectively have helped accelerate passenger car sales.

From a share of 45.44 percent of the passenger car market in FY2013, the company today commands an overwhelming 56.79 percent of the total passenger cars sold in the country in FY2018, with sales of 1,234,571 units. While the popular bread-and-butter, entry level Alto and Wagon R hatchbacks sold 427,183 units in the fiscal, the other popular cars included the Swift, Dzire and the Celerio which went home to 748,475 buyers.

The Dzire and the Swift siblings continue to make big contributions to the company’s speedy growth curve; now with the latest-generation versions of these two models also out, expect these models to further accelerate Maruti numbers.

The story of the Indian PV market tells that while there has been a notable growth and expansion in the size and volume, growth has been concentrated in the hands of only Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor India (which has a 19.65 percent market share), with the other OEMs in single-digit market share or less. 

Maruti Suzuki is relentlessly moving towards its goal of 2 million annual vehicle sales by FY2020 and looks to be in no mood to take a breather.