India 2008-2009: Hyundai up to #2 for the first time, Maruti Wagon R up, Hyundai i10 lands

The Maruti Alto remains #1 in India.

The Indian new car market continues to grow, scoring a 7th consecutive record year in 2008 at 1.544.700 units, up 2.2% year-on-year. Brand leader Maruti (-1.8%) drops to below 700.000 units and 45.2% share, and the hero of the year is without a doubt Hyundai up a fantastic 22.4% to snap the 2nd brand spot overall off Tata (+1.7%) for the very first time. Mahindra (+2.7%) and Chevrolet (+9.4%) round up the Top 5.

2009 brings a 8th straight record with a 17.3% market surge to 1.812.260. 3 of the Top 4 brands outpace the market: Maruti (+19.9%) reaching 46.2% share, Hyundai (+18.1%) at 16% and Mahindra (+23.3%) at 8.3% with Tata (+12.3%) the only one losing share but still managing a double-digit gain. Chevrolet (+4.7%) remains in 5th place.

Maruti Wagon R

The Maruti Alto keeps the lead of the Indian car market with a comfortable margin, even improving its sales figure to a record-breaking 227,072 units in Fiscal Year 2007-2008 and a record 240,432 over the Full Year 2009. The Hyundai i10 launches in late 2007 and ranks 2nd already in March 2008 with 13,466 sales. It is #3 in 2009 at 137,564 sales.

Hyundai i10

The Santro stays on sale in the country but understandably drops to #4 in 2007/2008 and #6 in 2009, whereas the Maruti Wagon R goes up to #2 in 2009 at 149,757 sales. The Tata Indica stays strong at #2 in 2007-2008 and #4 in 2009. The Maruti Swift continues to progress at #5 in 2007-08 and in 2009 and its sedan version, the Swift DZire, enters directly in 11th position with 5,658 sales in March 2008, ranking #8 overall in 2009. The Tata Nano launches in July 2009 and reaches #18 in November of that year.

Full Year 2008 and 2009 Top 18 brands below.

Full Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Top 25 models, Full Year 2009 Top 95 models and monthly rankings for January-December 2009, November 2007, January-March 2008 below.