India January 2016: Mahindra hits the mark with the KUV100

Mahindra KUV100. Picture zigwheels.com

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

After gaining a robust 9% in 2015, the Indian new car market starts 2016 virtually immobile (+0.2%) at 231.252 registrations. Maruti gains 1% to a mammoth 46% market share, followed by Hyundai up 9% to 16.4%. In third position, Mahindra is up a stunning 15% to 20.693 units and 8.9% share, thanks to two successful crossover launches in the past few months: the TUV300 maintains itself inside the Top 20 for the 2nd time running, and the KUV100 lands directly at #23 with 3.413 units for its maiden appearance in the Indian sales charts. The Bolero (-29%), XUV500 (-24%) and Scorpio (-20%) are hit but lose less sales than these new entrants bring. Honda (-6%), Tata (-18%) and Toyota (-33%) on the other hand lose significant ground.

The Renault Kwid is not threatening the Maruti Alto for 1st place just yet, but is headed to Brazil.

Up 151% in 8th place we find French manufacturer Renault with 8.031 sales, 5.985 of which come from the Kwid (#13). Indian sales data are ex-factory deliveries to dealers and these seem to have plateau’ed for the Kwid, despite the 6 month-waiting time and reported 100.000 orders. The situation should change in the next few months though. Renault India CEO Sumit Sawhney recently told India Today Kwid production at its factory in Oragadam near Chennai will increase to 8.000 units/month in February and 10.000 in March. But these won’t all be for India, and may not impact the Kwid’s ranking here. The French carmaker will start exporting the Kwid as SKDs (semi-knocked down units) to Brazil in March… Renault reported they already received 100.000 bookings in Brazil since the announcement. More on this here. A one-litre engine capacity and automatic variants were unveiled at the Delhi Auto Expo last week. Renault is confident it will hit 100.000 sales in India in 2016.

Ford Endeavour. Picture zigwheels.com

Further down the ranking, the Ford Endeavour (aka Everest) reappears in the Indian ranking thanks to the new generation at #56 with 480 sales, already putting a dent in the sales of its nemesis: the Toyota Fortuner, down 46% to 825 units. The Fiat Abarth Punto goes completely unnoticed at #99 with 17 deliveries. Finally, the Tata Zica should have made its grand entrance in the Indian sales charts this month, however the Indian manufacturer had to postpone is launch while it is securing a new name from the model in the wake of the spreading epidemy of the Zika virus in Brazil…

Previous post: India Full Year 2015: Maruti tightens grip on record market

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

One year ago: India January 2015: Hyundai Elite i20 back in Top 5, Tata Bolt in Top 30

Full January 2016 Top 20 brands and Top 100 models below.