Maruti vs Tata vs M&M vs Hyundai: Who really won India’s auto race in Q1?

The four-wheeler manufacturers have benefited from the global trend of families wanting their own transport with more and more living in distant suburbs and making long commutes to college / office.

Margin Pressures: Why Input Costs Are the Real Story

However, amidst the demand boom, a cause for concern for the auto industry remains rising input prices, like steel and copper, and its impact on operating margins and net profits of auto companies.

To help readers get an insight on which four-wheeler player is racing ahead on the growth highway, we looked at the performance of the four leading players in this segment.

Here are the findings.

Tata’s JLR Roadblock: Why 80% of Revenue is Under Pressure

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles’ UK-based Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR) operations accounted for nearly 80% of the company’s quarterly consolidated revenues of Rs 95,799 crore.

However, at Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles UK operations, the company faced several operational headwinds – a fire at a major component supplier at the start of the quarter, disruptions related to the Middle East crisis and the planned wind down of outgoing Jaguar models ahead of the launch of Jaguar Type 01.

As a result, retail sales for JLR declined 15.4% y-o-y to 79,900 units, and revenues in the UK operations were £ 5.97 billion (Rs 77,950 crore) as compared to £ 6.6 billion (Rs 86,160 crore) a year earlier.

A silver lining for the company was its smaller Indian operations benefited from strong demand for its electric vehicle models like Punch, Tiago and Harrier. It is not just Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, even other leading auto players like Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai Motors and Maruti Suzuki have benefited from consumers’ shift to SUV.

As a result, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles domestic sales volumes grew 46.2% y-o-y to 182,300 units and passenger vehicle revenues grew 64.8% y-o-y to Rs 17,930 crore.

Strong performance in its domestic operations helped Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles’ consolidated revenue from operations rise 9.3% y-o-y to Rs 95,799 crore.

However, higher raw material costs and disruptions in UK operations resulted in a core operating loss of Rs 2,270 crore as compared to an operating profit of Rs 164 crore a year earlier. And consolidated net profit of the company also declined 78.5% y-o-y to Rs 859 crore.

1QFY27 standalone results (YoY%)

	Maruti Suzuki India	Mahindra & Mahindra	Hyundai Motor India	Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles
Growth in four-wheeler vehicle sales (% change y-o-y)	29.3%	15%	Fall of 1.3%	Fall of 15.4%*
Growth in net sales (% change y-o-y)	35.9%	23%	Flat	9.3%**
Growth in net profit (% change y-o-y)	-11%	6.8%	Fall of 34%	Fall of 78.5%**

Maruti’s Haryana Advantage: How the Kharkhoda Plant Drives Growth

Maruti Suzuki India grew its total vehicle sales by 29.3% y-o-y to 6.82 lakh vehicles. The company highlighted a 44.6% surge in SUV sales for models like Grand Vitara, Invicto, Jimny, Victoris. The company had recently commissioned its second plant in Kharkhoda, Haryana and it enabled the above growth.

For perspective, the company’s total vehicle sales grew 1.1% y-o-y to 5.27 lakh units in the June 2025 quarter.

SUV manufacturers have benefited from the government reducing the GST on these vehicles to 40% in September 2025 from the earlier 43% to 50%, and it has helped spurred consumer demand.

Strong vehicle sales in the June 2026 quarter helped Maruti Suzuki India’ standalone revenue from operations grow 35.9% y-o-y to Rs 52,455.7 crore. Its average realization per vehicle also rose 5.2% y-o-y to Rs 7.68 lakh.

Nevertheless, Maruti’s cost of materials consumed rose nearly 420 basis points (4.2%) y-o-y to 61% of standalone revenue from operations, and that was largely owing to higher input costs like steel and copper.

Higher operating costs resulted in Maruti Suzuki India’s operating profit margin shrinking 380 basis points y-o-y to 8.2%. And its net profit also shrank by nearly 11 % y-o-y to Rs 3,352 crore.

The core automobile business for Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra and Mahindra, and Hyundai Motor India is reflected in their standalone quarterly results.

Mahindra’s Dual Engine: Balancing SUV Growth with Tractor Demand

For Mahindra & Mahindra, the largest player in the SUV segment, total SUV vehicle sales grew 15% y-o-y to 1.74 lakh units, and it benefited from strong demand for electric vehicles like XEV 9S. Meanwhile, in its farm equipment division, where the company is also the largest player, total tractor sales grew 18% to 1.58 lakh units.

For perspective, Mahindra & Mahindra’s SUV sales grew 22% y-o-y to 1.52 lakh units in the June 2025 quarter, and its tractor volumes grew 10% y-o-y to 1.34 lakh units.

Meanwhile, the growth in SUV and tractor sales helped the company’s standalone revenue from operations rise 23% y-o-y to Rs 41,919.7 crore in the June 2026 quarter.

For Mahindra & Mahindra, too, cost of materials rose 130 y-o-y basis points to 73.2% of standalone revenue from operations. Higher raw material costs resulted in the company’s operating profit margin also declining nearly 200 basis points y-o-y to 12.2%.

However, a lower tax burden helped the company’s standalone net profit grow 6.8% y-o-y to Rs 3,685 crore.

Hyundai’s Export Hurdle: Decoding the 34% Drop in Net Profit

Hyundai Motor India’s total vehicle sales declined 1.3% y-o-y to 1.78 lakh units. The company has highlighted temporary production disruptions along with a 19.6% y-o-y fall in export vehicle sales. A bright spot was the 7.6% y-o-y growth in SUV model sales like Venue and Creta to 97,456 units.

Nevertheless, the company’s standalone revenue from operations was broadly flat y-o-y at Rs 15,865.3 crore. Its average realization per vehicle also fell 2.3% y-o-y to Rs 8.79 lakh per vehicle.

Higher raw material costs resulted in its operating profit margin also declining nearly 420 basis points y–o-y to 9.1%. And net profit also declined nearly 34% y-o-y to Rs 883.1 crore.

Return on Equity: Driving ahead in Efficiency

Maruti Suzuki India had a standalone Return on Equity of 14.5%, according to Screener.in, and it was 23.1% for Mahindra and Mahindra, and 30.3 % for Hyundai Motor India.

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles is the most efficient automaker

Auto company	Standalone Return on Equity
Maruti Suzuki India	14.5%
Mahindra & Mahindra	23.1%
Hyundai Motor India	30.3%
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles	34% (consolidated)

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles had a consolidated Return on Equity of 34%.

Upcoming 2026 models to be launched

For Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles at its UK-based JLR operations, the company has highlighted it will accept orders shortly for Range Rover Electric coupled with the launch of Range Rover Sport Electric later this year.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki e Vitara, its first all-electric SUV, is expected to be launched this calendar year along with the new Brezza variant, amongst others.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s launches for the current calendar year include the Scorpio N facelift and BE.05, an electric SUV.

And Hyundai Motor India launches include Hyundai Creta Electric.

Growth Outlook: Ensuring buoyancy in vehicle sales amidst Middle East crisis and rising steel and copper prices

For Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, the clear focus of investors will relate to ensuring normalcy once again in the daily operations at JLR coupled with the success of forthcoming launches planned by this luxury brand. The above factors would be key to ensuring a revival in JLR and also the company’s broader performance, since its UK-operations account for 80% of total turnover.

With regard to the domestic market, with the start of the festive season a few weeks away, investors will also be watching demand conditions and any signs of premiumisation of vehicles sold. Also, investors will continue to monitor input prices and the ability of four-wheeler makers to pass on higher costs.

Maruti Suzuki India has also announced price hikes of up to Rs 30,000 per vehicle across its range, and other players have also announced price hikes. The above trend should help auto companies to deal with higher input costs, going forward.

Investors will also continue to monitor the impact of the Middle East crisis and its impact on the broader domestic auto industry, in terms of higher cost of production and sustainability of demand.

Valuations: Is still worth buying four-wheeler stocks?

Maruti Suzuki India trades at a standalone P/E of 30.9 times while Mahindra & Mahindra trades at a standalone P/E of 26.2 times.

Hyundai Motor India trades at a standalone P/E of 37.1 times.

And Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles trades at a consolidated P/E of 23.7 times.

Auto company	Standalone P/E
Maruti Suzuki India	30.9
Mahindra & Mahindra	26.2
Hyundai Motor India	37.1
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles	23.7 (consolidated)

Maruti Suzuki India is expected to see the full benefit of its recently commissioned second plant in Kharkhoda, Haryana during FY27. Readers could consider adding Maruti Suzuki India, and the other auto stocks, to their watch list of stocks for 2026.

Disclaimer:

Amriteshwar Mathur is a financial journalist with over 20 years of experience.

Disclosure: The writer and his family have no shareholding in any of the stocks mentioned in the article.

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