CHENNAI: Mahindra & Mahindra, the long undisputed king of the utility vehicle (UV) segment, is starting to feel the heat. The first quarter of this financial year saw the firm lose its pole position in the UV segment to Maruti Suzuki India.
Data from both Maruti Suzuki India and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) show that it beat M&M in terms of sales during the April-June period, bolstered by the demand for their new
Vitara Brezza.
Figures show that market share of Mahindra fell to just below 28 per cent from more than 31.6 per cent during the same period last year, even as Maruti’s share hit 30.5 per cent from 22.2 per cent. In terms
of sales, Maruti’s UV sales stood at 57,125 units during the quarter, seeing a sharp jump of
45 per cent compared to the previous year. Mahindra & Mahindra’s slid five per cent with sales at 53,082 units.
“This isn’t new. Competition at the top of the UV segment is heating up. Mahindra has been embattled by not just Maruti Suzuki, but Hyundai and Honda, too. But Mahindra has been shackled by the rural distress over the last few quarters, since many of their models are rural-centric. The others in the market sell more urban centric models. But Mahindra is responding and this is set to make the UV segment even more competitive,” pointed out a senior auto analyst.
Mahindra has also been affected by the lack of many petrol SUVs in its portfolio, at a time when demand for such variants is high.
In fact, the last few months have seen Maruti do particularly well, due to the rising popularity of the Vitara Brezza. The car beat Mahindra’s Bolero as the top selling UV in April, 2017, while Maruti has outsold Mahindra during April and May this fiscal, with the latter winning out in June.