India July 2019: Maruti Wagon R #1 for the first time, Hyundai Venue #1 SUV, MG lands in 4th double-digit market drop in a row (-30.2%)

The Maruti Wagon R is #1 in India for the first time in history.

High dealer stocks and the absence of any push by the government mean new car wholesales in India accelerate their freefall in July at a ghastly -30.2% year-on-year to just 201.669 units, marking a 4th consecutive double-digit drop, the 11th decline in the past 13 months and the steepest dive in over a decade. Brand leader Maruti (-36.7%) even falls significantly faster to 47.8% share, whereas its podium followers spectacularly outpace the market: Hyundai (-10.3%) and Mahindra (-7.4%) manage to contain their drop thanks to a raft of new launches as we’ll see further down. Ford (-19.6%) and Toyota (-23.8%) gain share but Honda (-48.7%), Renault (-41.1%) and Tata (-38.6%) properly implode. At #9, Volkswagen (+2.2%) is the only brand to score an official year-on-year uptick in July.

The Baojun 530 has become the MG Hector for India.

But the event of the month may be in 10th place with the return of the MG brand, now under Chinese ownership and having transformed into a local producer thanks to the purchase of the Halol, Gujarat Chevrolet factory. Its initial wholesales volume, over 1.500 units, is encouraging and already places the brand above Skoda, Datsun and Jeep. The initial model with which MG is intending to reconquer India is the Hector crossover, which is in fact a rebadged Baojun 530.

The Hyundai Venue is the best-selling SUV in India for the first time.

We witness a historic first in the models ranking: the Maruti Wagon R (+5%) is lifted up by the new generation to its first ever monthly pole position finish, becoming only the 5th nameplate to have scored at least one #1 ranking in India over the past 30 years alongside the Maruti 800, Alto, Swift and Dzire… Maruti manages to monopolise the July Top 6 as it does YTD with the Dzire (-49.6%), Swift (-36.6%), Alto (-50.5%), Baleno (-41.6%) and Eeco (+29.5%), but in 7th place we have the 2nd surprise of the month. The Hyundai Venue is up 2 spots on June to land in 7th place overall with a new record volume approaching the 10.000 mark, instantly becoming the brand’s best-seller in India but, perhaps more significantly, the #1 SUV in the country, toppling the perennial best-seller the Maruti Vitara Brezza (-62.6%) down to #14 this month and completely annihilated by this new competitor. Worse: the Brezza even drops to #3 in the SUV ranking below the Hyundai Creta (-36.8%).

Previous post: India First Half 2019: Maruti Alto back in charge, Mahindra (+6.6%) swims upstream in market down -9.9%

Previous month: India June 2019: Hyundai Venue breaks into Top 10 in third straight double-digit market drop (-17.6%)

One year ago: India July 2018: Amaze pushes Honda up 17% to first podium in 3 years

Full July 2019 Top 23 All-brands and Top 85 models below.