India August 2015: Hyundai breaks record, Ford Aspire lands at #13

Thanks to the Creta (#8), Hyundai sells over 40.000 units in India this month – a record.

* See the Top 70 best-selling models and Top 20 brands by clicking on the title *

The Indian new car market is up a satisfying 4% year-on-year in August to 225.168 registrations including selected luxury brands, bringing the year-to-date total to 1.765.461 deliveries, up 6% on 2014. According to Autocar India, the car sales gain is mainly in anticipation of an increase in demand for the upcoming Diwali festive season. Indian data is indeed wholesale deliveries to dealerships, not end-consumer purchases, so August data reflects the anticipated sales by dealers for the coming months. Brand evolutions vary widely however, and the carmakers with new offerings are the only ones improving year-on-year.

Instant blockbuster: the Aspire is Ford’s best-seller in India for its first month on sale.

Market leader Maruti Suzuki outpaces the average growth at +9% to 47.4% share but the big news comes from Hyundai in 2nd place: thanks to sales up 20% on August 2014, the Korean manufacturer breaks its all-time monthly sales record in India at 40.505 units, the first time it sells north of 40.000 cars in a single month in the country. This performance is mainly due to the success of the Creta SUV as we’ll see in more detail below. Honda (-7%), Mahindra (-7%) and Tata (-4%) all lose ground whereas Toyota is stable and Ford gains a splendid 22% thanks to the arrival of the new Aspire sedan, also known as the Ford Ka sedan in Brazil.

The Mercedes C-Class is the best-selling luxury model in India this month.

Volkswagen is up 5%, Datsun up 34% but still extremely shy at 0.7% market share. On the other end of the scale, Chevrolet is down 47%, Renault down 53% now that the Lodgy has levelled out (only 271 sales this month) and Nissan plunges 54%. This month we also have access to rare luxury brand data, showing declines across the board: Audi leads the charge at #14 overall but drops 6%, followed by Mercedes (-7%) while BMW lags significantly lower and is down 10%. Model-wise, the Mercedes C-Class (#56), E-Class (#57), Audi A6 (#63), BMW X1 (#66), 3 Series (#67) and Audi Q3 (#69) all manage to squeeze inside the August Top 70.

Maruti Celerio

For the first time the Top 10 best-selling models in India this month are either Maruti Suzuki or Hyundai. The Alto reclaims the pole position it has been holding annually for a decade now thanks to sales up 7% to 23.017, knocking the Maruti DZire down to #2 with the Swift and Wagon R holding their traditional #3 and #4 ranks. The Hyundai Elite i20 (+61%) and Grand i10 (+54%) lodge spectacular gains to rank #5 and #6 respectively. The all-new Creta SUV is down one spot on July to #8 but at 7.437 deliveries, it obliterates the SUV competition: the Ford Ecosport is down 36% to #24 and the Renault Duster down 64% to #36. The Maruti Celerio is very solid at #7 (+19%) as are the Maruti Omni at #9 (+33%) and Eeco at #10 (+16%).

Solid performance by the Maruti S-Cross for its 2nd month in market.

Just outside the Top 10, the Honda City is up 7-fold on the previous gen last month to #11, the Honda Jazz confirms it is a successful relaunch at #12 and 5.404 but the most impressive performance is delivered by the all-new Ford Aspire, landing directly at #13 with 5.176 sales and instantly becoming the American manufacturer’s best-seller above the Ecosport (3.137). The Maruti S-Cross soars 3-fold and 15 spots on its opening score last month to climb to an excellent 16th place. The Tata Nano enjoys the AMT effect with sales up 3-fold year-on-year to 2.235 and the Tata Zest (#30), Datsun GO+ (#40), Tata Bolt (#43) and Datsun GO (#45) are stuck at depressing levels.

Previous month: India July 2015: Maruti above 50% share, Hyundai Creta in Top 10

One year ago: India August 2014: Hyundai Elite i20 up, Tata Zest lands

Full August 2015 Top 70 models and Top 20 brands below.