India August 2016: Renault Kwid breaks 10.000 monthly sales barrier

First month above 10.000 sales for the Renault Kwid. Picture motorbeam.com

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The Indian new car market continues to gallop upwards with wholesale deliveries up 15% year-on-year in August to  258.348 units, lifting the year-to-date total up 9% to a record 1.930.453. Like last month, market leaders Maruti-Suzuki (+12%) and Hyundai (+7%) gain slightly less ground than the market, resulting in eroding yet still imposing market shares at 46.4% and 16.7% respectively. Maruti-Suzuki manages to place a stunning 10 nameplates in the Top 15 best-sellers this month. The Alto (-9%), DZire (-16%), Wagon R (-1%) and Swift (-23%) all decline, but the Vitara Brezza (#8) cements its new status as the favourite SUV in the country and the Baleno (#9) take roots inside the Top 10 while further down the Ciaz (+50%) continues to lead its segment and the Ertiga (+62%) enjoys a second life.

The Maruti Vitara Brezza remains the #1 SUV in India. Picture autoeager.com 

Hyundai for its part has a very dynamic best-seller in the Grand i10, up 26% to 12.957 deliveries, the nameplate’s second highest monthly score below the 14.079 units hit last October. The Elite i20 is up 3% in 6th place and the Creta, although losing its SUV crown, still posts a solid 14% year-on-year increase. Indian manufacturer Mahindra confirms its third position in the brands ranking and improves its share to 6.6% thanks to deliveries up 21% to 17.115. Even though the Bolero has plummeted down to #18 – it ranked 7th over the Full Year 2015 – this demise has been more than compensated by the success of a new crossovers such as the KUV100 (#27) and TUV300 (#31).

The Ameo already accounts for 55% of Volkswagen wholesale deliveries. Picture autocarindia.com

Honda (-11%) and Tata (+1%) lose share as the BR-V (#32) and Tiago (#19) start to lose steam, but Renault continues to ride on the tsunami-shaped success of the diminutive Kwid. The French carmaker is up a mammoth 750% on August 2015 just as the Kwid breaks the 10.000 monthly sales barrier for the very first time at 10.719 units. Now Renault has to capture this incredible momentum with new launches such as a Kwid crossover and/or sedan… Datsun (+225%) is the other spectacular gainer in the August Indian charts thanks solely to the Redi-GO racking up another 3.205 sales this month, albeit down 19% on July. Finally Volkswagen (+6%) owes its year-on-year gain solely to the building deliveries of the all-new Ameo (#30), up 10% on its inaugural month and already accounting for 55% of Volkswagen deliveries just as the Polo (-61%) and Vento (-36%) freefall.

Previous month: India July 2016: Maruti breaks record, places 7 models in Top 10

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

Full August 2016 Top 20 brands and Top 90 models below.