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Hyundai Motor India emerged as the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment leader for the second consecutive year in 2021. The Korean heavyweight has maintained its lead in the fast-growing automotive segment, sending carmakers to scramble for production.
Hyundai sold 252,586 units of the Creta, Venue, Tucson, Kona and Alcazar during 2021. The company is sitting on pending orders of more than 100,000 units, 40 per cent of which are for Creta, the flagship product of Hyundai.
Tarun Garg, Director (Sales, Marketing & Service), Hyundai Motor India said, “Hyundai had sold more than 180,000 SUVs in 2020 and followed it up with sales of more than 252,000 SUV sales in 2021, which is a growth of 40 per cent.”
But while Hyundai maintained its grip on the top spot in the SUV segment in 2021, Mumbai-based Tata Motors raced in to close the gap with the segment leader. As per data available till November 2021, Tata Motors expanded its market share to 14 per cent in the SUV segment from just under 9 per cent clocked till November 2020.
Best-selling brand
Tata Motors, which sells Nexon, Punch, Harrier and Safari in the SUV segment, sold more SUVs in October than any other company in India, to emerge as the best-selling brand.
Hyundai’s share during the same period came down due to issues in the supply chain network. Hyundai’s market share in the SUV segment closed at 21 per cent, which was a fall from 25.5 per cent clocked by the end of November 2020.
Like the rest of the industry, Tata Motors has also been affected by the shortage of semiconductors. However, the severity of the shortage is not as negative on production as it has been for its rivals like Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai and Renault. Riding on the continuous increase in production Tata Motors managed to beat Hyundai for the first time in monthly sales in December.
Rise in SUV market share
SUVs have heavily influenced the decision-making process of Indian car buyer in the last few years. From 13.5 per cent in 2015, the contribution of SUVs in the total pie of passenger vehicles (PV) sold in India increased to 38 per cent in 2021. There are 15 large volume SUVs on sale in India, including Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Hyundai Creta, Tata Nexon, Kia Seltos, Sonet, Mahindra XUV300.
“Last year the SUV share in PVs was 29 per cent and we were thinking if it had hit a peak. But in 2021 it has gone up to 38 per cent. We can see this crossing the 40 per cent mark in 2022. Aspects like status, features, space, design is what is drawing in the consumers,” Garg added.
The growth is happening at the cost of hatchbacks. In 2020, hatchbacks contributed 47 per cent to total sales, which crashed to less than 41 per cent in 2021.
“Compact low hatch dropped from 10.9 per cent to 8.8 per cent, compact mid hatch dropped from 11.6 per cent to 9.7 per cent, compact high hatch fell from 11.6 per cent to 10.3 per cent and compact premium to 13 per cent to 12 per cent till November 2021. Share of sedans too came down from 11.4 per cent to 9.6 per cent,” Garg added.
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