India December 2015: Kwid in Top 10, lifts Renault to record month

The Renault Kwid is now among India’s Top 10 nameplates. 

* See the Top 20 brands and Top 100 models by clicking on the title *

The Indian new car market ends 2015 on a solid note: up 11% year-on-year in December to 230.930 registrations, lifting the annual result up 7% on 2014 to a record 2.723.362 units. Brand-wise, Maruti remains ultra-dominant, even outpacing the market at +13% to 111.333 sales and 48.2% share. Hyundai continues to take off: up a stunning 29% to post a fourth consecutive month above 40.000 sales at 41.861 whereas the Korean manufacturer had never crossed that milestone before last September. Ford is up 58% and Datsun up 141% to a still meagre 1.699 sales but the Indian elephant in the room this month in India is the staggering performance of Renault: up 160% year-on-year to lodge a 5-digit sales figure for the first time in its Indian history at 10.292 deliveries and 4.5% share, earning a record 6th spot overall just below Toyota (10.446) and smashing its previous Indian best of 8.232 sales in March 2013.

Renault can aim at 100.000 Kwid sold in 2016, if production can be ramped up. 

One model behind Renault’s performance: the ultra low-cost Kwid. Up 26% on October, the Kwid sells 6.888 units this month to historically break into the Top 10. That’s the highest ever monthly volume by a Renault in India, beating the 6.313 units of the Duster in March 2013. For reference, the Datsun GO never managed more than 2.690 monthly sales (April 2014), the Tata Nano peaked at 10.475 units in March 2012 but hasn’t delivered a 5.000+ sales month in over 3 years and the Kwid now outsells one of its direct competitors, the Hyundai Eon (6.563). Renault reports more than 80.000 bookings and a 6 month-waiting list, a production ramp up is in the cards and the price of all variants was recently increased, now from Rs. 260k (3.600€/US$3.900) to Rs. 364k (5.000€/US$5.500) vs. Rs. 257k-353k at launch. The French carmaker is definitely onto something extremely interesting with the Kwid which will, if the sales curve continues this way, have a worldwide impact on its access range.

Already 10.572 sales for the Maruti Baleno in December. Picture motorbeam.com

In other model news, the Maruti Baleno brilliantly cracks the 10.000 monthly unit-mark for its third month in market at 10.572 sales, climbing to 6th place and already topping its category above the Hyundai Elite i20 (10.379). The Maruti Swift suffers as a result (-19%) and remains 4th, leaving the third spot to the Maruti Wagon R (+19%). Excellent showings of the Hyundai Grand i10 (+55%), Maruti Celerio (+65%) and Hyundai Xcent (+41%). The Hyundai Creta already loses steam at 4.709 sales and #16 vs. 7.437 and #8 in August, the Mahindra TUV300 is back inside the Top 20, becoming the brand’s 2nd best-seller below the Bolero (-27%), the new look Ford Figo stays inside the Top 30 and the Mercedes C-Class tops luxury vehicles at #54.

Previous month: India November 2015: Maruti Baleno strong, cannibalises Swift

One year ago: India December 2014: Tata Bolt and Datsun GO+ land

Full December 2015 Top 20 brands and Top 100 models below.