Kolkata: Home-grown sports utility vehicle major Mahindra & Mahindra has, for the first time, emerged second in retail sales of passenger vehicles with a clear 1.2% market share difference over Tata Motors, which is ranked third, and a 1.4% difference over Hyundai Motor, which is ranked fourth. Maruti Suzuki remains the market leader with a 39.4% market share, a clear lead of 25.6% over Mahindra.
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In the data for April announced by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association, M&M registered retail sales of 48,405 units in April 2024, up from 38,696 units in April 2023 when it was fourth on the market share chart among carmakers in India.
Maruti Suzuki, which dropped nearly 1% market share during the period, recorded retail sales of 1,38,021 units in April 2024, down from 1,39,173 units in April 2023.
Tata Motors' sales also decreased from 46,915 units in April 2023 to 44,065 units in April 2024. However, it is Korean automaker Hyundai Motor that witnessed the sharpest slide, with retail sales down from 49,243 units in April 2023 to 43,643 units in April 2024.
Hyundai, which has consistently been the No. 2 carmaker in market share in India for the past two-and-a-half decades, slipped from that spot in Feb 2024 to No. 4 and has since remained at the bottom of the leaders' board. The top four carmakers together occupy a 78.35% market share in the auto industry.
Even in wholesales, Hyundai occupied the second spot until Jan. It was pushed to the third spot by M&M in Feb. While it managed to narrowly reclaim the second spot in March, it was pushed to the fourth spot in April by M&M and Tata Motors.
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The surge of M&M, which manufactures only SUVs in the passenger vehicle segment, is primarily owing to the dominance of SUVs as customer preference, while other body stylings — hatchbacks, sedans and multi-utility vehicles — declined over the past seven to eight years.
FADA president C S Vigneshwar said sustained SUV demand underpinned volumes even as entry-level customers remained cautious, underscoring the need for OEMs to recalibrate production and reduce stock levels to mitigate deeper discounts and carrying costs at dealerships.
He further pointed out that despite limited model introductions, the PV segment registered a 1.5% year-on-year increase alongside a marginal 0.2% month-on-month decline in sales.