The drop in demand for entry and mid level hatchbacks clearly weighed on the total sales, but interestingly the top 10 list is still populated by the cars from these segments.
18 Mar 2016 | 7809 Views | By Shourya Harwani
In what was one of the weakest performances by the passenger cars segment in the recent past; sales fell by over 4% in February and dragged down the overall passenger vehicle numbers for the month. The drop in demand for entry and mid level hatchbacks clearly weighed on the total ...
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In what was one of the weakest performances by the passenger cars segment in the recent past; sales fell by over 4% in February and dragged down the overall passenger vehicle numbers for the month. The drop in demand for entry and mid level hatchbacks clearly weighed on the total sales, but interestingly the top 10 list is still populated by the cars from these segments.
Maruti Suzuki, the largest carmaker in the country, took the top spot in the list with the Alto hatchback, which recently became the first Indian car to cross 30 lakh sales units milestone. The company despatched 21,286 units of the car in the month and maintained its dominance in the entry level hatchback segment and the list of top 10 most sold PVs. Despite the Alto being the most sold car in India ever, its sales have been falling for some time now, given the ageing design of the car. When compared from last year the sales for the Alto fell by over 17% in February. In the 11 months of this fiscal, Maruti has sold 241,321 units of the car, the highest for any model in the country.
The Dzire, along with the Tour edition popular among fleet owners, grabbed the number 2 spot in February with combined sales of 17,410 units. Maruti’s masterstroke to revive the previous generation Dzire in the form of the Tour edition for fleet owners has paid rich dividends for the company in terms of incremental sales and has made the car the most popular compact sedan in the country. The company has sold 216,446 units of the Dzire duo in the fiscal so far.
As usual, after the top two Maruti’s in the list comes another Maruti car. The Swift hatchback took the next spot on the list with sales of 15,475 units. Even as the recently launched Baleno has managed to eat into some share of the Swift, it continues to be a large volume driver for the company. However, the Swift too has seen a sharp decline in sales from last year (-20.8%). Since April, the company has sold 180,519 units of the hatchback.
Right behind on number four with sales of 12,744 units was the Wagon R. The ageing entry-level hatchback has seen its sales getting affected by newer feature laden entrants in the segment, and has seen a YoY decline of 1% in February. The company has sold 154,978 units of the car in the fiscal till February.
Hyundai Motor India with its Elite i20 and Grand i10 hatchbacks captured the fifth and the sixth spots on the list. The Elite i20 outdid its sibling after falling behind in the last two months with sales of 10,202 units. The Elite i20 also beat its closest rival Baleno for the second straight month as Maruti’s latest premium hatchback failed to make it to the Top 10 in February. The company despatched 8,898 units of the Grand i10 in the month.
The Creta also featured in the list in February and became the only SUV to do so with sales of 8,196 units.
Renault India’s Kwid hatchback also made a comeback in February with sales of 7,544 units. The company reported a robust growth of 158% in the month on the back of overwhelming response for the Kwid, which continues to drive Renault’s expansion plans in India with customer orders crossing the 100,000 mark. The company has ramped up the production capacity at its Chennai plant to meet the growing demand for the product apart from expansion of its product, network and customer engagement.
Mahindra & Mahindra’s Bolero took the penultimate spot on the list with sales of 7,446 units. A favourite of the rural customers, due to its rugged and go anywhere image, the Bolero has been the most consistent performer for M&M despite being in production for 16 years now. It is without doubt the overall No. 1 selling UV of India, with over 850,000 vehicles on the road since its launch in 2000.
Maruti’s Omni van was the last on the top 10 list in February, with 7,151 units. The van segment along with UVs had saved the blushes for Maurti Suzuki in the month, which reported a mere 0.2% growth in February. Maruti has sold 72,204 units of the van in the current financial year so far.
Also read: Top 5 Utility Vehicles in February 2016