India April 2018: Maruti breaks volume and share records at 55%

The Dzire (+195%) helps Maruti hit an all-time record market share in India at 55%.

* See the Top 25 All-brands and Top 85 models by clicking on the title *

New car wholesales in India shoot up 7.3% or more than 20.000 units year-on-year in April to 297.401, a new record for the month leading to a YTD volume up 7.1% to 1.153.384 after four months, also a new record. Thanks to a 13% year-on-year surge, Maruti Suzuki manages to break both its share and volume all-time records this month, at 55% (previous best 52.6% in November 2017) and 163.434 (previous best 153.298 in July 2017). This is an absolutely outstanding performance for the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese carmaker, tightening even further an already iron grip on the Indian market. Hyundai (+4%) follows at a distance but underperforms while Mahindra (+13%) and most strikingly Tata (+34%) are in great shape. Further down, only Porsche (+245%), BMW (+80%) and Volvo (+25%) post significant gains, with Honda (-37%), Renault (-22%) and Volkswagen (-15%) among the hardest hit.

The Ford Freestyle lands at #41…

Model-wise, the Maruti Dzire is up 3-fold on the previous gen in April 2017 to reclaims the pole position it holds year-to-date, signing a 7th win in the past 9 months and sealing its newfound domination of the Indian market. Its hatchback variant the Maruti Swift (-4%) is up one spot on last month to #2, both nameplates knocking the March leader, the Maruti Alto (-6%) down to #3. At #4, the Maruti Baleno (+16%) breaks its all-time volume record at 20.412 (previous best 19.153 in July 2017) and adds up to over 70.000 units so far in 2018, up 35% on the same period in 2017. The Maruti Wagon R (+1%) rounds up a Top Five 100% Maruti ahead of the Hyundai Elite i20 (-2%) and Grand i10 (+1%).

…while the Toyota Yaris lands at #37.

Further down, notice the Hyundai Verna (+498% thanks to the new gen), Tata Tiago (+71%), Mahindra XUV500 (+50%), Maruti S-Cross (+47%), Mahindra Bolero (+34%) and Maruti Eeco (+18%) all frankly beating the market. We welcome two new nameplates in India this month: the Toyota Yaris sedan lands at #37 and the Ford Freestyle – in fact a SUV-looking Figo – at #41.

Previous month: India March 2018: Tata up 31%, Maruti up 15% in record market

One year ago: India April 2017: Maruti, Swift and Baleno all beat volume records

Full April 2018 Top 25 All-brands and Top 85 models below.