New car sales in India grew 9.3% to 819,998 in the first six months of 2008 in contrast to many developed markets such as the USA where sales were off 10% in the same period.
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Data from UK-based analysts Jato Dynamics showed the Maruti Alto (sold here in Europe and elsewhere as a Suzuki) remained the country’s best-selling model.
Maruti, which makes India’s top three selling models, also remained, by a considerable margin, India’s most popular brand with 44% of the market.
In the last year, no rival automaker was able to challenge the overall dominance of India’s ‘big three’ – Maruti, Tata and Mahindra – which took 65% of the market while Hyundai remained the only non-Indian manufacturer preventing these low-cost, locally produced vehicles from forming a formidable one-two-three, Jato noted.
Spokesman Nasir Shah added: “Growth in the Indian market continues to be driven by the country’s love affair with small cars, and with one or two exceptions it’s the local manufacturers that have the advantage in terms of affordability and availability.
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By GlobalData“That dominance looks set to continue this year, but there are signs that the European and Japanese manufacturers are beginning to make inroads into this exciting market.”
Volkswagen and Toyota have both made ambitious claims about their strategy for India with each aiming for as much as 10% of the emerging market in the next few years.
Volkswagen is due to open its first wholly-owned factory there in 2009 while Toyota plans to have a second facility operating in 2010.
Brand performance
While the dominance of India’s local brands remains undisputed, foreign brands have been achieving strong growth in the region. Skoda performed well, growing 67.8% in the past year, thanks in part to the local launch of the Fabia, and significant investment in the region by parent company Volkswagen.
Meanwhile, Fiat, which signed a joint venture with Tata in late 2007, saw brand growth of 75.5%.
Chevrolet also did well, growing 30.1%, while the Mahindra-Renault joint venture building the Logan continued to yield strong results with growth of 146.1% in the past year.
Mercedes-Benz and BMW also made significant gains, with sales up 54.3% and 354% respectively. Both have successfully carved out a niche in India’s small, but rapidly growing, executive and luxury market.
Sales of luxury vehicles, which include the Mercedes S-class and BMW’s 6 and 7 series, grew 147% in the first half of 2008, indicating the growing affluence of India’s elite.
Top 10 Models
The best-selling car in India in the first six months of 2008 remained the Alto, ahead of the automaker’s larger Swift (up 81.6%), Wagon R (up 4.2%) and rival Tata’s Indica.
Hyundai’s i10, launched in early 2008, quickly became India’s fifth most popular model, with sales of 58,526 units in the first half of 2008.
Other new models introduced in the last 12 months, and currently selling well, include the Skoda Fabia (4,152 units), Chevrolet Captiva SUV (1,346) and ICML Rhino (783).
Segment Trends
The mini car segment was the largest in the first half, up 7.3% on the same period in 2007. The Alto was the top-selling model ahead of the Wagon R, i10, Hyundai Santro, and Maruti’s long-serving 800.
The second largest segment YTD was small cars, up 18.0%, led by the Swift, Indica, Tata Indigo, Honda City and Chevrolet Spark [aka Matiz elsewhere].
The SUV segment was the third largest segment and the biggest sellers were large, relatively low-cost vehicles with significant off-road ability, such as the Mahindra Bolero and Scorpio and Tata Sumo and Safari, rather than the more expensive, more road-biased products that appeal to western buyers.
However the Honda CR-V (up 21%) and Chevrolet Captiva (a new GM-Daewoo product) took an increasing share.
The mini-van segment is the fourth largest in the Indian market, despite having the small number of products available: just Maruti’s microvan-based Omni and Versa, and Toyota’s larger Innova. The lower medium segment also remained significant.
India H1 2008 – Brand performance
| Make | H1 2008 | H1 2007 | % Change |
| MARUTI | 359,665 | 346,504 | +3.8% |
| HYUNDAI | 136,194 | 100,925 | +34.9% |
| TATA | 114,716 | 121,723 | -5.8% |
| MAHINDRA | 57,628 | 49,464 | +16.5% |
| CHEVROLET | 33,955 | 26,090 | +30.1% |
| HONDA | 32,517 | 32,228 | +0.9% |
| TOYOTA | 29,589 | 26,982 | +9.7% |
| FORD | 15,647 | 22,481 | -30.4% |
| MAHINDRA RENAULT | 12,715 | 5,166 | +146.1% |
| SKODA | 10,247 | 6,106 | +67.8% |
| HINDUSTAN | 3,894 | 3,753 | +3.8% |
| FORCE MOTORS | 3,688 | 3,448 | +7.0% |
| MITSUBISHI | 2,559 | 1,978 | +29.4% |
| FIAT | 2,371 | 1,351 | +75.5% |
| MERCEDES | 1,799 | 1,166 | +54.3% |
| BMW | 1,531 | 337 | +354.3% |
| ICML | 783 | 0 | – |
| VOLKSWAGEN | 230 | 0 | – |
| NISSAN | 212 | 222 | -4.5% |
| VOLVO | 58 | 0 | – |
| Grand Total | 819,998 | 749,954 | +9.3% |
India H1 2008 – Segment Trends
| JATO regional segment | H1 2008 | H1 2007 | % Change |
| PR Mini | 341,322 | 318,147 | +7.3% |
| PR Small | 238,423 | 202,077 | +18.0% |
| PR Lower Medium | 50,156 | 55,399 | -9.5% |
| PR Upper Medium | 699 | 618 | +13.1% |
| PR Executive | 4,632 | 4,188 | +10.6% |
| PR Luxury | 512 | 207 | +147.3% |
| PR Mini Van | 68,241 | 67,916 | +0.5% |
| PR SUV | 110,085 | 95,577 | +15.2% |
| PR Other | 5,928 | 5,825 | +1.8% |
| Grand Total | 819,998 | 749,954 | +9.3% |
India H1 2008 – Top 10 Models
| Make & Model | H1 2008 | H1 2007 | % Change |
| MARUTI ALTO | 134,567 | 144,824 | -7.1% |
| MARUTI SWIFT | 70,057 | 38,584 | +81.6% |
| MARUTI WAGON R | 64,338 | 61,722 | +4.2% |
| TATA INDICA | 61,207 | 76,928 | -20.4% |
| HYUNDAI I10 | 58,526 | 0 | – |
| HYUNDAI SANTRO | 49,674 | 74,490 | -33.3% |
| MARUTI OMNI | 40,589 | 44,553 | -8.9% |
| MARUTI 800 | 34,217 | 37,111 | -7.8% |
| MAHINDRA BOLERO | 30,788 | 22,407 | +37.4% |
| TOYOTA INNOVA | 26,464 | 22,952 | +15.3% |
