From the rise of compact SUV segment to fall in the demand of compact sedans, the on-going FY 2017 brought noticeable changes in the Indian passenger vehicle market. While the top two-players, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motors affirmed their number one and number 2 positions in the ranking table respectively, the year was quite a roller-coaster for other players.
Renault, the French carmaker, riding on the success of its small car Kwid, doubled its market share to 4.44 per cent in February 2017 from 2.34 per cent in the same period last fiscal. As per SIAM data, it sold 1,22,935 units in the 11 months (April 2016-Feb 2017) as against 59,308 units in the same period last fiscal. Renault had earlier stated that its immediate goal is to achieve 5 per cent market share.
For that, Renault will expand its dealerships across India to 320 by the end of this year, from 270 now. Beside beefing up its design team, the carmaker wants to make India as the global hub for its small car. To further increase its market presence across segments, Renault is planning to launch at least five new models between 2017 and 2019.
The year also proved to be beneficial for the home grown Tata Motors whose small car Tiago struck a chord with consumers. After losing market share in the PV market for consecutive years, Tiago helped Tata to increase its market share marginally to 5.6 per cent during the period under review selling 1,55,411 units. Its market share in the same period last fiscal was 5.45 per cent and it sold 1,38,152 units. The company will soon launch Tigor, a compact Sedan to further increase its market share in the coming financial year.
Mayank Pareek, President, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors said. “The Tata TIGOR Styleback is a clear and exciting harbinger of future vehicles from Tata Motors, set to disrupt the passenger car market in India.” Tata Motors has commenced pre-bookings for the Tata TIGOR, India's first ‘StyleBack,' across all authorized dealership with a booking amount of Rs 5000. The company has also laid down plans to tap the fast growing SUV segment.
In the recently concluded Geneva Motor Show, Tata Motors and German auto giant Volkswagen AG signed an in-principle agreement to explore the possibility of working together to develop a new range of products to be shared by Tata, VW and the German automaker’s unit Skoda Auto AS.
While Tata Motors and Renault grew on the back of successful small cars, other OEMs who had no significant small car launch, lost market share. Mahindra & Mahindra sold 2,10,776 units in the April-February period of 2016-17, a market share of 7.62 per cent, lower than 8.27 per cent a year ago when it sold 2,09,422 units. The home-grown company still gets its maximum sales volume from old horses- Scorpio and Bolero, while TUV 300 and KUV 100 lag behind in the fierce competitive segment.
Japanese carmaker Honda Cars also witnessed a marginal decline in market share to 5 per cent, selling 1,38,363 units. Its market share in the year-ago period was 6.89 per cent with 1,74,630 units sold. The company said that it wants to remain a premium brand and going forward it will not launch small cars.
Toyota Kirloskar, which makes big SUVs like Fortuner and Innova saw a marginal decline in market share 4.68 per cent with 1,29,568 units in the April-February period this fiscal. The company's market share was at 4.77 per cent in the corresponding period last fiscal with 1,20,857 units.
BW Reporters
The author is Senior Correspondent with BW Businessworld
