Automobile makers in India have noted strong sales in the passenger car segment during the period January to July 2018. The passenger vehicle market has registered double digit growth at 10.6% while the top 30 models commanded an 87% market share. Maruti Suzuki models as usual topped the list of top 30 cars sold to date. These included the DZire, Alto, Swift, Baleno, WagonR and Brezza.
Maruti Suzuki DZire has scaled to new heights. At No.4 on the list of top 30 models during the same period in 2017, the DZire has now jumped to first position. 95,557 units of the Suzuki DZire were sold in the January to July 2017 period, going up to 1,66,088 units in the same period of the current year. Alto sales dipped 1% from 1,48,422 units in the first 7 months of the 2017 period to 1,46,761 units till July 2018.
Maruti Swift also lost one position from No. 2 to No. 3, but sales went up 23% from 1,06,270 in 2017 to 1,31,091 units to date. The Maruti WagonR also lost its No.3 position and went down to No. 5 with 1 % increase in sales while Maruti Baleno went up from No. 5 to No. 4 with a 32% increase in sales. Maruti Suzuki Brezza sales increased from 2017 period by 16%.
Brezza sales in the January to July 2017 period stood at 75,599 units going up to 87,893 units in the same period of the current year. Maruti Suzuki also had the Celerio, Omni, Eeco, Ertiga, Ignis, S-Cross and Ciaz on the list of top 30 best sellers though the Celerio, Ertiga, Ignis and Ciaz noted diminished sales. However, it is expected that the facelifted Ciaz and Ertiga will allow the company to end this year with over 53% market share.
Hyundai i10 Grand, i20 Elite and Creta scored on the list of 30 best selling passenger cars at Nos. 7, 8 and 9. The sales of i20 sales increased 2% from 79,602 units in the 2017 period to 81,464 units in the current year. Hyundai i10 Grand sales however dipped 10% from 87,721 units to 79,014 units while Creta sales increased 15% from 61,503 units to 70,501 units. Hyundai also had the Eon, Verna and Xcent at Nos.20, 25 and 28 with sales of the Eon dipping 8% while sales of Verna increasing 498% to 27,883 units. The Verna did not make its way to the top 30 passenger car list in 2017. Xcent sales dipped 1% from 27,379 units in the first 7 months of 2017 to 25,029 units in the January to July 2018 period.
Mahindra and Mahindra found its Bolero and Scorpio on the list of top 30 passenger cars sold in the first 7 months of this year, while its KUV100 and TUV300 dropped out of the list. Mahindra Bolero sales increased 15% from 47,798 units in the 2017 period to 54,752 units this year while sales of the Scorpio increased by a marginal 1%.
Tata Motors found three of its models on the 2018 list of best selling passenger vehicles. Tiago, Nexon and Tigor stand at Nos. 12, 23 and 30, while last year it was only the Tiago that appeared on this list. Tata Motors also expects the newly launched Harrier to add it increased sales before this year draws to a close.
Honda Cars India saw three of its passenger cars among this list of top 30 passenger cars. The Amaze, City and WR-V were at Nos. 19, 26 and 29. Out of these three models, it was only the Amaze and WR-V that noted an 81% and 19% increase in sales while sales of the City dipped by 33% from 38,979 units sold in the first 7 months of 2017 to 26,253 units sold in the same period of the current year.
Toyota, Renault and Ford also had one entrant each on the list of top 30 passenger cars sold in the January to July 2018 period. Toyota Innova sales increased 13% from 40,988 units to 46,297 units while sales of the Renault dipped 30% from 54,724 units to 38,459 units in the 2017 and 2018 period respectively. Ford had its EcoSport which jumped up from No.23 to No. 17. Sales in the first 7 months of 2017 stood at 28,161 units while sales in the same period of 2018 went up to 34,793 units. The Datsun RediGo which was at No. 30 on the list of best selling passenger cars in 2017 dropped off the list this year.
