Source: Gasgoo Author: Song Mingxuan
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According to data released by Indian automakers on January 1, SUV sales in India increased in December. Sales of small cars are declining despite deep discounts on small cars.
While sales of entry-level vehicles remain slow due to inflation, automakers are benefiting from the sale of premium models, which are aimed at a high-end consumer segment that is not sensitive to high prices.
India’s SUV car segment has benefited from strong demand over the past year. Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra each reported a 24 % and 39 % year-on-year growth in SUV sales in the domestic market.
Image source: Maruti Suzuki
Mahindra, which produces SUVs including the Thar, Scorpio and XUV, hit all-time highs in SUV sales in multiple months in 2023. The company’s sales growth for each month of the current financial year has ranged between 20 % and 57 % so far.
The share of SUVs in Maruti Suzuki’s domestic passenger car sales has increased to 36 % so far this fiscal from 22 % in the previous fiscal, while for Mahindra, SUV sales account for almost all of its domestic passenger car sales.
Towards the end of the year, carmakers usually give bigger discounts, and this, coupled with low demand for entry-level models, has led Maruti Suzuki to increase the discount on its lower-priced models from 40 % to 45 %.
However, sales of its smaller models such as the Alto and Baleno fell by 29 %. This was also due in part to Maruti Suzuki’s restructuring of wholesale sales.
In addition, Tata Motors reported an 8 % year-on-year growth in its domestic passenger car sales, but did not specify the growth rates for different categories of cars.
