One of the best selling car segment, the sub 4 meter SUV sales have declined due to lockdown in India
May’2020 sales figures across segments have brought in interesting trends. Some of the erst-while best sellers in various segments have recorded historic de-growths. However, other models have managed to buck the trend and have fared better than their rivals.
One such example was that of the VW Polo which became the 5th best selling hatchback in May’20. In regular times, it would not even feature in the top 10 list, however May’20 was an exception and the car became the 5th best selling hatch for the first time since its launch. In the highly popular compact SUV segment too, there are some interesting updates.
Usually, the top spot in the sub 4 metre SUV segment has been contested between the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Hyundai Venue. However, for the very first time, the XUV300 from Mahindra became the best selling compact SUV.
| No | Sub 4m SUV | May-20 | May-19 | Diff | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mahindra XUV300 | 1,257 | 5,113 | -3,856 | -75.42 |
| 2 | Hyundai Venue | 1,242 | 7,049 | -5,807 | -82.38 |
| 3 | Tata Nexon | 623 | 4,506 | -3,883 | -86.17 |
| 4 | Maruti Brezza | 572 | 8,781 | -8,209 | -93.49 |
| 5 | Ford EcoSport | 331 | 3,604 | -3,273 | -90.82 |
| 6 | Honda WRV | 114 | 1,520 | -1,406 | -92.50 |
| 7 | Mahindra TUV300 | 0 | 1,393 | -1,393 | -100.00 |
| – | Total | 4,139 | 31,956 | -27,817 | -87.05 |
Mahindra managed to dispatch 1,257 units of the XUV300 in May’20, beating Hyundai which could ship 1,242 Venues last month. Sales figures aren’t good for either of the models, however in such times, it is all about who de-grew lesser, as performance becomes relative. XUV300 recorded 75% degrowth while the Venue saw it sales decline by 82% (over last year).
The third car on the list was the Tata Nexon which could clock sales of 623 units, after registering a de-growth by 86%. 4th car on the list was Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza. Maruti could sell 572 units of the Brezza in May’20, clearly the worst sales performance of Brezza since its launch. In pre-Corona times, the compact SUV would comfortably register sales of around 8-10K units per month.
Ford’s EcoSport achieved the 5th spot on the list by selling 331 units, against 3,604 units in the same month last year. The SUV saw its sales decline by 91%. Honda’s WR-V too registered heavy degrowth. Its sales went down from 1,520 units last May to just 114 units in May’20. It managed the 6th spot for itself in the overall sales tally. Mahindra’s TUV 300 had the worst May’20 as Mahindra couldn’t sell even a single unit of the SUV. Last year, it had sold 1,393 units of the TUV300 however sales stood at 0 units in the month of May’20.
We would like to highlight that these sales figures represent the number of cars sold by OEMs to their dealer partners. May’20’s sales performance will look skewed as many OEMs have been struggling with supply chain related issues, bringing in heavy limitations on overall production capacity. In the coming months, the compact SUV segment is all set to get more competition in the form of Kia Sonet, Renault Kiger and Nissan Magnite.
