India’s Top 5 UVs in April-November 2022 amass total sales of over 3 million units

If the passenger vehicle industry is setting the pace for India Auto Inc with strong double-digit growth of 30%, then it’s thanks to the surging demand for utility vehicles (UVs), whose sales have crossed the million mark for the third consecutive year. In the ongoing FY2023, this big number has come about in just the first seven months of the fiscal.

Of the movers and shakers in the UV business, the top five models – the Tata Nexon, Hyundai Creta, Maruti Ertiga, Tata Punch and Maruti Brezza – have set a scorching pace and are en route to setting individual sales records for themselves in FY2023.

With eight months – April-November 2022 – of FY2023 completed, a close look at their market dominance reveals some interesting takeaways, particularly when it comes to number-crunching sales in the domestic market.

The Tata Nexon is the topper in both November 2022 (15,871 units) as well as April-November (115,835 units). The Nexon, which is available in petrol, diesel and electric, is India’s best-selling UV having dethroned the Hyundai Creta in FY2022.

The midsize Creta, with 13,321 units last month and cumulative 100,683 units for April-November, is fighting back and is hard on the heels of the Nexon. The popular Maruti Ertiga MPV though beat it to second place in the monthly rankings with 13,818 units but remains No. 3 on the cumulative front with 90,197 units.

The Tata Punch, which continues to punch above its weight, remains a strong market performer with 12,131 units in November and 89,164 units in April-November. In fifth place is the Maruti Brezza with 11,324 units in November and cumulative sales of 88,092 units.

New highs to be scaled this fiscal
The massive and sustained demand for UVs in India, particularly for popular models like these five and some other rival products, has meant that new individual highs will be scaled this fiscal.

The Tata Nexon, at 115,835 units, is just 8,295 units shy of its previous best of 124,130 units in FY2022. The Hyundai Creta is 23,617 units away from its record 124,300 units sold in FY2019. The Maruti Ertiga, with 90,157 units sold in April-November 2022, is 26,993 units away from its FY2022’s 117,150 units. The Maruti Brezza with 88,092 units is 69,788 units from the 157,880 units it sold in FY2019 (all of them diesel-powered Brezzas).

The Tata Punch, the youngest of this bunch and launched in October 2021, is just 14 months old in the domestic market but is firing on all cylinders: cumulative sales of 141,880 units means it has averaged 19,134 units a month. Not only is the Punch a regular in the Top 5 UV chart but it has already gone ahead of many well-established models.

Top 5-pack packs 3 million units and counting
Further number-crunching of India’s five best-selling UVs in the ongoing fiscal reveals that their cumulative sales have gone past the 3-million mark: 30,55,484 units.

Three of these models – the Ertiga, Brezza and Creta – have crossed the 800,000 sales milestone in the domestic market in the past four months – the Ertiga in August 2022 (10 years and 5 months since launch), the Brezza in September 2022 (79 months from launch), and the Creta in November 2022 (89 months from launch). Given their similar volumes, this trio are very close when it comes to their contribution to the 3.05 million-unit sales: Ertiga has 27.53%, the Brezza 27.08% and the Creta 26.60%.

The two Tata Motors SUVs – the Nexon and Punch – together account for 18.76% of the cumulative Top 5 UV sales, very commendable considering the Nexon rolled out only in FY2018 and the Punch in FY2022.

It is only fitting that these five models also represent three UV sub-segments – compact, midsize and multi-purpose. Given the huge demand for compact SUVs, it’s not surprising that three models – Brezza, Nexon and Punch – belong to this sub-segment, while the Creta and Ertiga remain hugely popular in the midsize and MPV categories respectively.

With four months left to go in the fiscal year, and most rivals many thousands of units away from their numbers, these Top five should easily maintain their status in FY2023 albeit their individual rankings just might change, given the stiff competition in the UV segment. Of course, it also depends on market availability as the chip supply woes keep rearing their head. Stay tuned for more updates.

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