Hyundai Creta drives past 200,000 sales milestone in 25 months

Four months after it surpassed the 150,000 sales landmark in the domestic market, the Hyundai Creta has driven past the next milestone – 200,000 units. Launched on July 21, 2015, the popular Hyundai SUV has taken 25 months to notch the landmark, averaging monthly sales of 8,000 units a month.

Speaking to Autocar Professional, Rakesh Srivastava, director (Sales & Marketing), Hyundai Motor India, said: "We are delighted with the Creta crossing the 200,000 sales mark. What started with numbers of 6,000 units initially has seen a strong growth of reaching up to 10,000 monthly units in the present day, based on the strong credentials of the product and it being liked by  customers. The demand for the crossover is consistent and we intend to increase our supplies to the dealers, so as to cut down on the waiting time, which currently ranges between 2-3 weeks." 

Highest sales in July 2016: 10,556 units
Thanks to the GST-driven price reductions in July 2017, the Creta hit its highest monthly sales last month with 10,556 buyers driving home the Hyundai SUV.  The Creta is available with a choice of one petrol (123hp, 1.6L) and two diesel engines (90hp 1.4L / 128hp 1.6L). The diesel variants are estimated to have sold around 69 percent compared to 31 percent of the petrol variant.  

Within eight months of its launch, the Creta had received over 100,000 bookings and a waiting period of up to 10 months, enough to make Hyundai ramp up capacity by 30 percent for the model. To mark the model’s first anniversary, Hyundai rolled out a limited-run First Anniversary Edition as well as newer variants of the Creta including a petrol automatic and a more affordable diesel automatic to further bolster its position as one of the best-selling SUVs in the country.

With its stellar sales performance, the Creta also became the second most sold UV in India in 2015-16 after the Mahindra Bolero, which ended the fiscal with sales of 67,484 units. Of Hyundai's total of 64,796 UVs sold in 2015-16, the Creta accounted for 63,836 units, helping the Korean carmaker overtake Ford India, Renault India and Tata Motors.

In 2016-17, the Creta sold a total of 96,899 units accounting for the bulk of Hyundai’s total UV sales of 98,498 units in FY2017. However, No. 1 position in the UV segment eluded it mainly due to the game-changing Maruti Vitara Brezza which topped the UV sales chart at 108,640 units last fiscal.

In the current fiscal year, in the April-July 2017 period, the Creta has sold a total of 34,582 units including best-ever monthly sales of 10,556 units in July 2017.

For the first seven months of calendar year 2017, the Creta has sold a total of 61,503 units, averaging 8,786 units a month or 283 units a day. Given this average, the Creta would have sold 5,660 units in the first 20 days of August 21, enough to help cumulative numbers cross the 200,000 units mark. Till end-July 2017, cumulative sales were 195,317 (see table below), 4,683 units shy of the 200,000 milestone.  

As Hyundai Motor India completes two decades, it is now eyeing speedier growth in the domestic market. In 2016-17, the company sold a total of 509,705 units in 2016-17 (+5.24%) and had a 16.73 percent market share in PVs and 12.93 percent in UVs. The Creta clearly will be one of the key drivers, along with the recently revealed Verna which is to have its national launch tomorrow.  

Also read: Market share analysis of UV manufacturers for April-July 2017