Tata Motors’ best-selling SUV, which has sold over a million units in India since September 2017, hit a new monthly high of 23,365 units in January. Robust growth of 35% and 176,814 units in the past 10 months ensure the Nexon will become the first SUV in India to hit the 200,000 mark in a fiscal year.
09 Feb 2026 | 1046 Views | By Ajit Dalvi
January 2026 was a red-letter month for Tata Motors. Not only did the car and SUV manufacturer register its highest wholesales of 70,222 units but its top two models – the Nexon and Punch compact SUVs – also clocked their highest monthly dispatches to showrooms across India.
The Nexon, ...
This is an Autocar Pro Plus article. Subscribe to continue reading.
January 2026 was a red-letter month for Tata Motors. Not only did the car and SUV manufacturer register its highest wholesales of 70,222 units but its top two models – the Nexon and Punch compact SUVs – also clocked their highest monthly dispatches to showrooms across India.
The Nexon, launched on September 21, 2017, is Tata Motors’ first compact SUV. Sold with petrol, diesel, electric and CNG powertrains, the Nexon can be credited with having enabled Tata Motors’ strong resurgence in the SUV and passenger vehicle market.
Since launch till end-January 2026, the Nexon has clocked total wholesales of 997,437 units (see data table below) including a record 23,365 units last month. The remaining 2,563 units to achieve the million milestone would have been sold in the first few days of February. With this, the Nexon has become the first Tata SUV to clock a million (10,00,000) sales, with the mega milestone coming eight-and-a-half years after the model’s launch.
The accelerated pace of demand can be gleaned from the fact that while the first 500,000 Nexons were sold in 68 months (500,841 units: September 2017 to April 2023), the next 500,000 units took a little over 33 months (496,596 units: May 2023 to January 2026).
While the first 500,000 Nexon sales took five-and-a-half years, the next 500,000 units were sold in less than 3 years which reflects the sharply accelerated pace of demand for the compact SUV.
The Nexon drove past 200,000 sales in June 2021, 45 months after launch. The next 200,000 units took 16 months (October 2022) to achieve the 400,000 milestone and a scant six months more to 500,000 units, and seven months from half-a-million to 600,000 units. While the Nexon hit the 700,000 sales mark in July 2024, the 800,000 mark was crossed in February 2025, and 900,000 seven months later in September 2025. While the million milestone was crossed in early February, the Nexon has sold 109,830 units in just five months – September 2025 to January 2026. Four of these five months saw over 22,000 units sold – September: 22,573 units, October: 22,083 units, November: 22,434 and January: 23,365 units.
As a result of the sharp rise in demand, the Tata Nexon is currently India’s No. 1 best-selling SUV with 176,814 units in the first 10 months of FY2026, up 34% YoY (April 2024-January 2025: 131,374 units). Of Tata Motors’ total 10-month wholesales of 502,866 PVs, the Nexon accounts for the bulk – 35% – with sibling Punch the next highest contributor (144,255 units, 29% share).
While the 176,814 units sold between April 2025-January 2026 are already the Nexon’s highest in a fiscal, the 35% share of Tata Motors’ 502,866 passenger vehicles is also the highest for the SUV.
The Nexon was India’s best-selling SUV for three fiscals in a row – FY2022, FY2023 and FY2024. It lost the crown to sibling Tata Punch in FY2025 but is now set to regain the title in FY2026. With 176,814 units and robust 35% YoY growth in the first 10 months of the current fiscal, the Nexon is a good 10,669 units ahead of the next best-selling SUV, the Hyundai Creta (166,145 units) and 12,838 units ahead of third-ranked Maruti Ertiga (163,976 units).
Considering the Nexon has averaged monthly sales of 21,724 units between November 2025 and January 2026, one can expect Tata Motors to sell 40,000-plus units in February-March 2026. This would take the Nexon’s total sales in FY2026 to over 215,000 units, which would make it the first SUV and utility vehicle in India to ever achieve 200,000-unit wholesales in a single fiscal year.
Compact SUVs have won the No. 1 Utility Vehicle title in eight of the past 10 years. The Tata Nexon, the winner from FY2022 to FY2024, is well set to wear the crown for the fourth time in FY2026.
After the first 10 months of FY2026, at 176,814 units, Tata Motors needs to sell another 19,754 units to beat the Punch’s record of the UV with the highest sales in a fiscal year. With its current rate of growth, Tata’s No. 1 compact SUV should achieve this in February 2026 itself and, along with March sales, go on to clock an estimated 210,000 units in FY2026. This will ensure it regains the No. 1 SUV title after a one-year gap.
Decadal data of the best-selling SUVs/UVs reveals that compact SUVs have topped eight times, with the leading model’s sales reflecting the growing demand for this vehicle category. In FY2016, the Mahindra Bolero was the best-selling UV with 81,559 units, which made it the fourth straight fiscal of UV market leadership for the model. In FY2017, the game-changing Maruti Vitara Brezza (108,640 units) which opened the compact SUV segment won and maintained its dominance in FY2018, FY2019 and FY2020 (see 10-year UV leader table above).
FY2021, which saw the world recover from the debilitating pandemic, saw the Hyundai Creta midsize SUV (120,035 units) top the charts only to lose it to the Tata Nexon (124,130 units) in FY2022. The Nexon held onto the title for the next two fiscals in FY2023 (172,138 units) and FY2024 (171,697 units). FY2025 saw the Nexon (163,087 units, down 5% YoY) drop six ranks to No. 7 and lost the UV/SUV No. 1 crown to the Tata Punch (196,567 units, up 16% YoY).
ALSO READ: Tata Motors headed for record sales of 600,000 PV, 100,000 EVs in FY2026
India’s Top 30 SUVs, MPVs In CY2025 – Hyundai Creta Pips Tata Nexon To Top Spot