The country’s top automakers Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor India managed to maintain their hold in the Indian passenger vehicle market in a year which was marked by an unprecedented slowdown in demand and aggressive growth by some new entrants.

In 2019-20, Maruti retained its stronghold in the Indian PV market by maintaining its market share at 51 per cent, while the second-largest carmaker Hyundai improved its market share to 17.5 per cent from 16 per cent in the previous fiscal.

Maruti’s overall PV sales (including vans) stood at 14,16,450 units during 2019-20, a decline of 18 per cent, while Hyundai’s total PV volumes were down 11 per cent at 4,85,309 units. The overall PV market fell 18 per cent at 27,75,679 units in FY20.

The biggest battle in FY20 was fought in the SUV space which saw a huge shift in customer preference across categories. Maruti worked out its strategy to come out with new variants with SUV features to maintain its momentum.

“Buyers now prefer the design of an SUV, and we have found that this SUV design preference is not only in large vehicles, but also trickle down to smaller cars. It is in this response that we made the S-Presso, which is a small car, but also addresses the SUV design requirements. We worked out our plans for new refreshes,” Shashank Srivastava, Executive Director-Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India, told BusinessLine in a recent interaction.

Hyundai too rolled out some new products, especially for the SUV segment. The launch of compact SUV Venue in mid-2019 and robust sales of Creta spurred volumes and helped the company grow its position in the UV market. Hyundai now has the youngest SUV line-up in the Indian market with Venue, the new Creta, 2020 Tucson and Kona (electric SUV).

New entrants such as Kia Motors and MG Motor India managed to crack the SUV market quickly and reported good sales growth till the Covid-19 outbreak.

Both Kia Motors and MG Motor stormed the bastion of top companies ― the UV market ― with impressive SUVs, packed with new features. Maruti, Hyundai and Mahindra together held sway over two-thirds of the Indian UV market in 2018-19.

The two SUVs ― Kia Seltos and MG Hector ― created a strong excitement in the market despite higher price positioning when compared with most of the existing popular SUVs in the market. With the success of Seltos and MG Hector, the total UV share of the top three players fell to 63 per cent in FY20.

In addition to a strong product portfolio, MG Motor also created strong business fundamentals with a slew of initiatives in order to create confidence about the brand among the buyers. It is betting technology will stay strong in the Indian market.

In FY20, Kia Motors has emerged as the fourth-largest player in the Indian UV market after Maruti, Mahindra and Hyundai with a near-double-digit market share, which is a great achievement for a new player.

As the Covid-19-led lockdown crippled the entire auto sector, industry analysts expect a slow recovery in vehicle demand. However, small towns and rural markets may see a breather early by way of lifting of lockdown in the month of May.

This is likely to help Maruti Suzuki, thanks to its wide product range and strong presence in non-metro markets. Also, the entry-level segment is expected to see a faster recovery than premium categories. Hyundai is also expected to benefit from its vast presence and fresh product portfolio.

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