India March 2017: Maruti Baleno shoots up to #2 in market up 12%

 The Maruti Baleno posts its best month so far in India. Picture motorbeam.com

* See the Top 22 All-brands and Top 90 models by clicking on the title *

The Indian new car market continues on their great momentum with sales up 12% year-on-year in March to 280.597, lifting the year-to-date tally up 11% to just under 800.000 units at 799.670, a new Q1 record. Market leaders Maruti (+7%) and Hyundai (+9%) are in positive but trail the market growth whereas Mahindra drops 1% in third place above Honda (+9%). The heroes of the Top 10 are below. Tata gains 83% thanks to the Tiago (#23) and the arrival of the all-new sedan Tigor (#27), Toyota is up 81% thanks to the Innova Crysta (+159%) and the new Fortuner (+328%), Volkswagen is up 34% thanks to the Ameo and Datsun up 150% thanks to the redi-GO posting its largest monthly volume since last October (2.969).

The all-new Tigor helps Tata sales up 83% this month. 

But the real action is in the models ranking: below the Maruti Alto the traditional leader of the Indian sales charts, we find for the first time the more premium Maruti Baleno – exclusively sold in the new Nexa dealership channel – jumping from #12 in February to #2 this month with a stunning 16.426 units, by far its largest monthly volume so far. The Maruti DZire (-11%) is knocked down to #3 whereas the Maruti Swift (+7%) gains one spot on last month to #4. Below the Hyundai Grand i10 in great shape at +31%, the Hyundai Elite i20 signs its best volume in two years at 12.394 (+16%) with the Maruti Wagon R in tow (-17%).

The Innova Crysta helps Toyota sales up 81% in March. Picture quickr.com 

The Renault Kwid posts a five-digit sales figure for the first time since last September and the third time ever, the Maruti Vitara Brezza breaks its volume record for one unit at 10.057 and the Hyundai Creta does the same for the 2nd month in a row, passing the 10.000 units benchmark (just!) for the first time ever. This means no less than ten nameplates have sold over 10.000 units this month in India, a record. Further down the ranking, the Maruti Ignis breaks into the Top 20 for the first time at #19 with an al-time best 5.209 sales, the Honda WR-V shoots up 36 spots on its inaugural month to a splendid 24th place

Previous month: India February 2017: Hyundai Grand i10 up, Honda WR-V lands

One year ago: India March 2016: Renault Kwid officially a hit, breaks into Top 5

Full March 2017 Top 22 All-brands and Top 90 models below.