Tata Motors’ Tiago back among best-selling passenger vehicles

Maruti Suzuki sold 15,661 units of Wagon R, the updated version of which was launched in January offering more space and safety features such as dual airbags.

Written by Guest

March 23, 2019 03:13 IST

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Alto’s domination on the list indicates that demand for mini cars remains intact.

By Pritish Raj

After a hiatus of nearly 14 months, Tata Motors’ hatchback Tiago made a comeback to the list of the top 10 best-selling passenger vehicles (PVs) in February, displacing Maruti Suzuki’s Celerio from the 10th position. Tiago, which has revived Tata Motors’ fortunes in the PV space since its launch in 2016, and contributes around 40% to the sales in the segment, found 8,286 buyers during the month.

The list was topped by Maruti Suzuki’s Alto, which contributes nearly 15% of the company’s total volume, for the fourth month in a row. Alto’s domination on the list indicates that demand for mini cars remains intact. It clocked 24,751 units in February against 19,941 units in the same month last year While Celerio did not make it to the top 10 list for the month, Mahindra’s Bolero, too, did not make the cut. Bolero was placed tenth in February 2018 but its volume has dwindled owing to three new product launches by the company.

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Data collated by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturer (SIAM) revealed that while Maruti’s Alto, Swift, Baleno, Dzire, WagonR and Vitara Brezza remained the top six selling cars last month, the seventh, eighth and ninth positions were grabbed by Hyundai’s Elite i20, Creta and Grand i10, respectively. Tata Tiago, at the tenth spot, also outsold Hyundai’s Santro, which competes in the same price range. Hyundai sold 6,785 units of Santro last month, around 1,500 units less than Tiago.

For Maruti Suzuki, analysts say, new models such as Baleno and Brezza have been the consistent performers. “Over the past three years, growth for Maruti has largely come from new models, especially Baleno and Brezza,” analysts at Equirus Securities noted. Swift gained one position in February, compared with the year-ago month with sales of 18,224 units. Availability of automated manual gearboxes in both petrol and diesel variants of its latest version fuelled its growth. Similarly, Baleno’s facelift in January helped the model rise one spot to third in February, with sales figure at 17,944 units compared with the month last year.

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Though the compact sedan Dzire fell three positions to the fourth spot since the same period last year, it fared better than its competitors Honda Amaze and Hyundai Xcent by selling 15,915 units.

Maruti Suzuki sold 15,661 units of Wagon R, the updated version of which was launched in January offering more space and safety features such as dual airbags. The firm’s Vitara Brezza, with sales of 11,613 units, was the best-selling utility vehicle. Post October, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai India, with a combined market share of around 68%, have ruled the top 10 spots even though the companies have been reporting flat wholesale numbers. Maruti Suzuki posted nearly flat sales at 1,48,682 units in February, while Hyundai India reported a 1.6 % year-on-year decline in sales to 54,518 units.

This article was first uploaded on March twenty-three, twenty nineteen, at thirteen minutes past three in the night.