FIVE BEST-SELLERS
As Indians go crazy over SUVs, Maruti’s Vitara Brezza and Hyundai’s Creta lead the pack
Indians are crazy about sports utility vehicles or SUVs. Even though, the pace of growth slowed down in February for this segment, but still, there is a lot in this bucket. Keeping this in mind, automobile companies are offering a wide variety of SUVs to the market.
Maruti Suzuki as a market leader rules the roost. Last month the five best SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles or MPVs were led by Maruti Suzuki's popular Vitara Brezza followed by rival Hyundai’s attractive Creta, Maruti Ertiga, Mahindra Bolero, and Toyota Innova Crysta in the pecking order.
If we look at UV segment, the first eleven months between April 2018 and February 2019, the sales grew by 2.09 per cent. Whereas, passenger vehicles or PVs had a little low singledigit growth rate of 3.37 per cent as per the latest records of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers or Siam.
With the changing taste of buyers who increasingly prefer to own an SUV, including the first time buyers, some manufacturers are readying to enter this market with their UV offerings.
NEW HOT VEHICLES
The latest entrant, Kia Motors, a South Korean brand is all set with its SP2i Concept. Where as, on the other hand, the British brand MG Motors, now owned the Chinese carmaker Saic with the Hector and homegrown brand
Tata Motors, which is readying its sevenseater version of the Harrier.
This popular crossover has been unfazed by the competition even as Ford Ecosport or the competitively priced and Tata Nexon have not been able to halt Brezza's sales in the country.
ARCHRIVAL CRETA
The Hyundai Creta at number two position is holding its turf and giving tough competition for its rivals in the price conscious market. In order to make it more attractive, Hyundai has recently added more features to its popular crossover and has introduced a segment-first feature of ventilated seats in a new top-of-theline SX Executive variant, priced at a premium of around Rs 30,000. Interestingly, the latest Maruti Ertiga, which saw the update recently, continues to make a positive buzz, securing itself a third position, ousting the Ford Ecosport.
The Maruti Ertiga, given its fresh appeal in a well-balanced new package, has the potential to set new milestones.
The popular and the rugged Mahindra Bolero stole the fourth position last month despite the liquidity crunch clearly impacting sales of this workhorse.
NEW SAFETY REGULATIONS
Interestingly, with new safety regulations set to kick in October 2019, Mahindra is in the works to give a major update to the Bolero in order for it to conform to the upcoming crashand pedestrian-safety norms.
At fifth in the pecking order is the Toyota Innova Crysta with an uptick in sales volumes, albeit with a drop in one position. “We have seen improvement in consumer sentiments as compared to last month leading to a growth in demand. However, the auto sales is witnessing a temporary slowdown in preelection phase in addition to factors like tight liquidity condition impacting the buying behavior,” N Raja, deputy managing director at Toyota Kirloskar Motor said. The Bangalore-headquartered carmaker is happy that the Innova Crysta continues to maintain the positive growth momentum in sales as compared to the same period last year, he pointed out.
The other brands who tried hard to make a mark last month are the Tata Nexon which sold 5,263 units, Mahindra XUV300 at 4,484 units, Mahindra Scorpio at 4,445 units and Ford Ecosport at 3,156
units.
With new regulations set to kick in by Oct 2019, Mahindra is planning to give a major update to Bolero to conform to the upcoming crash and safety norms