NEW DELHI: Few years back India’s top 10 list was entirely dominated by hatchbacks and entry level sedans that were easy on pocket and delivered high mileage. Then came Hyundai’s Creta and Maruti Suzuki’s Brezza. The two SUVs became a regular on top 10 list but Alto, Swift, Dzire and WagonR managed to corner large chunk of sales.
However, things changed drastically in recent years as automakers shifted their focus on bringing aggressively priced compact and sub-compact SUVs. Aided with changing preference of costumers towards SUVs and hatchback no longer being super affordable due to multiple price hikes, SUVs have taken over other segments by a large margin.
In the month gone by (September), 5 of the 10 best-selling passenger vehicles were utility vehicles (4 SUVs and one MPV). When it comes to total sales, SUV segment emerged as a clear winner with sales of 87,720 units in September 2021 while sedans and hatchbacks could jointly sell only 64,235 units in the same month.
Maruti Suzuki’s Ertiga emerged as the second best-selling model overall and top selling UV in September. It was also the only vehicle, beside Alto, to breach the 10,000-unit sales mark. Maruti sold 11,308 units of Ertiga, 13% more than its sales in September 2020.
The big rally in the list was made Kia Seltos last month. After a long gap, it came to the list of top 10 vehicles and saw itself as the third most-sold car in India last month. Seltos found 9,583 customers in September, up by about 5% from the same period last year.
The next in the list was Tata Motors’ Nexon. Tata sold 9,211 units of the sub 4-meter SUV, more than 50% of what it sold in September last year. Nexon also overtook sales of Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Hyundai Venue and Kia Sonet last month. The other models on the top 10 list were Maruti Suzuki’s Baleno, EECO, WagonR and Tata Motors’ Altroz.
Four SUVs and one MPV among top-10
Kia Seltos came to the list of top 10 vehicles and it was the third most-sold car in India last month. 9,583 units of Seltos sold in Sept, up by about 5% from the same period last year.