In a fiscal where Maruti Suzuki India drove past the 1.5 million sales milestone for the first time, it wouldn’t be wrong to expect the country’s largest carmaker to have a stranglehold on the Top 10 best-selling passenger vehicles (PVs).
Thus it is that Maruti, which has a has all of seven models in the Top 10 list for FY2017 – one more than in FY2016 – with only Hyundai’s Grand i10 and Elite i20 and Renault’s Kwid keeping it company.
A close look at the PV sales data sheet for both fiscals reveals that Maruti continues to have the first four positions but what’s clear is that sales have slowed down for three models – the entry-level Alto (-8.27%), the Swift hatchback (-14.4%) and Dzire sedan (-14.63%). While the trio together contributed 654,404 units in FY2016, their combined sales are down 12 percent to 575,786 units. The Wagon R is the sole model in the top four to have recorded growth: 1.64 percent at 172,346 units (FY2016: 169,555)
As is known, Maruti Suzuki closed 2016-17 with its highest ever total sales of 1,568,603 units, a growth of 9.8 percent. This includes its highest ever domestic sales of 1,444,541 units. The seven Maruti models in the Top 10 together add up to 1,074,937 units or 34.38 percent of the India market sales.
What helped the company was the huge consumer demand for two of its new products – the premium Baleno hatchback and the Vitara Brezza compact SUV. Not surprisingly, these two are in the Top 10 best-sellers list. There’s also the Celerio, which has dropped from No. 7 position in FY2016 to No. 10 in FY2017.
For Hyundai Motor India, its twin entries in FY2016 – the Elite i20 and Grand i10 – continue to be in the Top 10 but in interchanged position. In FY2017, demand for the Grand i10 was more than that for the Elite i20.
The Kwid is Renault India’s weapon of entry into the Top 10. At eighth position, the hatchback sold 109,341 units in FY2017, its first full year of sales in the domestic market. Launched in September 2015, the car had sold a total of 41,204 units in FY2016.
FY2017-18 promises to be a bullish year for PVs. With the Indian PV market having crossed the 3 million unit sales mark for the first time, with 9.23 percent year-on-year growth, consumer sentiment has seen an uptick. Also, a good number of new models are expected to roll out in this fiscal. Stay tuned.