In recent times, manufacturers have introduced utility vehicles in the compact segment. The sub 4m SUV segment is now buzzing with new cars, as this segment has shown good potential in recent times. It was the Ford Ecosport that set the segment rolling, as it was first launched in 2012.
Today, sales for the stalwart have contracted owing to a myriad of entrants. New entrants include the likes of Hyundai Venue, Mahindra XUV300, Tata Nexon and Maruti Brezza. All these years, sales of Ford EcoSport have been on a steady decline, and it was relegated to the 5th spot, beihnd all major rivals. But in Aug 2019, that has changed.
Venue sales top the chart in August 2019 with 9,342 units sold. A bit lower than 9,585 units sold in July 2019. The vehicle has no base sales comparison owing to its recent launch. This is the 2nd consecutive month that Venue sales have higher than that of Maruti Brezza – car which has long been at the top of the sales charts in SUV segment post launch in 2016.
Maruti Brezza has held on the second spot with 7,109 units sold. In terms of volume, it’s the biggest loser have seen 46.43 percent volume contraction. Sales in August 2018 stood at a range topping 13,271 units. Compared to July 2018, sales are up 34.08 percent, up from 5,302 units sold the month earlier.
Ford Ecosport takes third spot on the list with 2,882 units sold. Sales decline is reported at 35.02 percent, down from 4,435 units sold in Aug ’18. Sales in July were higher by 8.13 percent at 3,137 units sold.
While sales have reduced greatly for Ecosport, this is the first time in 2019 that Ecosport sales are reported as higher than that of Tata Nexon and Mahindra XUV300 in the year 2019. Mahindra XUV300, a fairly new entrant sold a total of 2,532 units. That’s at a decline of 43.28 percent from 4,464 units sold in July 2019. This is the first time that sales of Mahindra XUV300 have gone below 4,000 units.
Tata Nexon sales have pretty much halved at 2,275 units, down 49.43 percent from 4,499 units sold in August 2018. Sales is down 31.97 percent from 3,344 units old in July 2019. This is the first time in 2019 that Tata Nexon sales have been so low.
Honda WRV sales is down 58.26 percent from 2,822 units sold in August 2018. Sales has contracted 11.23 percent from July sales of 1,122 units. Mahindra TUV300 units are reported at 1,059 units, down 46.13 percent from 1,966 units sold in August 2018. Sales is down 5.61 percent from July 2019 when 1,122 units were sold.
In all, the segment has retained sales volume with a marginal sales decline of 2.28 percent. August 2019 sub 4m SUV sales stood at 26,377 units whereas the same number stood at 26,993 units in August 2018. Sales volume is down 6.73 percent from July 2019 when 28,281 units were sold.