Hyundai Motor India has moved back to the second spot in the domestic passenger vehicle market during June, surpassing Mahindra & Mahindra in retail sales during the month.
The South Korean car maker, which lost its position as the second-largest passenger vehicle seller in the Indian market in April, May, and June, retailed 42,661 vehicles in July, according to data from the Vahan portal.
Hyundai’s retail sales increased 8% from June retail, while M&M saw its passenger vehicle sales drop 2% from June to 41,476 units. Tata Motors remained in the fourth position with retail sales of 39,795, up 12.6%, narrowing the gap between the two players.
Hyundai India's COO, Tarun Garg, recently acknowledged that June was a challenging period, with the April-June quarter's demand being suppressed by the geopolitical situation.
The first quarter was marked by geopolitical situations. It started with the Indo-Pak war that lasted 17 days, the Iran-Israel conflict, and tariff confusion. There were a lot of factors pulling down demand,” Garg said.
However, Garg also indicated that demand would see a robust recovery in the coming months, driven by the upcoming festival season, lower borrowing costs, and income tax rebates.
M&M, for the first time, had surpassed Hyundai to become the second-largest player in the domestic passenger vehicle market during the first quarter of this financial year. The automaker was in the second position in April, May and June.
However, in July, M&M saw its passenger vehicle market share in retail sales decline to drop to 12.8% from 14% in June. Tata Motors also witnessed a market share decline to 11.7% from 12.3%. Hyundai, on the other hand, improved its market share to 13.2% from 12.9%.
Maruti Suzuki remains the largest player in the passenger vehicle market. In June, the automaker’s sales grew 8% to 1.28 lakh units from June while its market share improved to 39.8% from 38%.
Wholesale volumes from Hyundai, Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki are yet to be released.