Amid declining hatchback and sedan sales, utility vehicles (UV), with sustained double-digit growth, continue to act as a buffer for carmakers. In just the first five months (April-August) of the ongoing financial year, this segment has already attained 44 percent of the sales it did in the entire financial year 2024 (FY2024).
For context, a record 4.21 million passenger vehicles were sold in FY2024, and UVs comprised 60 percent of it.
Carmakers dispatched 1.10 million UVs to showrooms from April to August, an increase of 15 percent from the year-ago period. The segment accounted for 63 percent of overall passenger vehicle sales of 17,39,044 units; a year ago, its share was 57 percent.
The compact SUV lot is led by the Tata Punch, India’s bestselling SUV. It is followed by the Maruti Brezza and Fronx, Tata Nexon, Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet, Mahindra XUV 3XO and Hyundai Exter.
Four MPVs – Toyota Innova Crysta / Hycross, Maruti Ertiga, Kia Carens and Maruti XL6 – are the rest of the models in this list.
Hormazd Sorabjee
Anurag Chaturvedi
