India January 2012: Nissan Sunny takes off, Renault Pulse lands

* See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

The Indian new car market is up a respectable 7% year-on-year in January at 242,738 registrations. No surprises in pole position: the Maruti Alto leads and even reaches its highest volume in 10 months at 32,965 sales and a robust 13.6% market share. In fact, the Top 4 is unchanged since November with the Maruti Swift at #2 and 18,756 units, the Maruti Wagon R at #3 and 14,888 sales and the Tata Indica/Vista at #4 and 11,534 units.

Skoda Rapid

The Hyundai i10 climbs back up to #5 while the Eon slips out of the Top 10 at #12, the Mahindra Bolero stays very solid at #6, the Tata Indigo/Manza reaches its highest ranking in almost a year at #7 and the Tata Nano manages to hold itself in the Top 10 for the second time in a row. But it is beyond the Top 10 that most changes occur this month in India:

Nissan Sunny

The Nissan Sunny is up 20 spots and a massive 506% on December to #25 with 3,218 sales and 1.3% market share, the Mahindra XUV500 beats its volume record again at 2,286 units (#26), the Fiat Grande Punto is up 16 ranks and 495% on last month to #35 and 1,600 units, possibly its strongest month ever in India, the Skoda Rapid continues to progress at 1,513 sales and the Renault Pulse makes its very first appearance in the ranking in 46th position with 746 units sold. This is by far the highest monthly volume achieved by a Renault in India in years.

Previous month: India Full Year 2011: Maruti Alto leads for 7th consecutive year

One year ago: India January 2011: Maruti Alto, Ford Figo and Hyundai i10 beat records

Full January 2012 Top 50 Ranking Table below.