India November 2019: Kia teases Mahindra for podium finish with 14.005 sales in stabilised market (-0.5%)

The Kia Seltos is up to #6 in India for its 4th month of sales.

After falling for 10 consecutive months including 6 straight double-digit declines, the Indian new light vehicle wholesale market seems to have now stabilised: to October’s 1% gain we can now add a tiny -0.5% drop in November to 265.358 units. This is mainly due to a handful of extremely successful new launches as we’ll see further down. Because of such a horrendous start of the year, the 2019 volume remains in frank negative at -13.1% to 2.730.911 units after 11 months. Maruti (-3.3%) slides down faster than the market but manages to remain well above the 50% share mark at 52.4% this month vs. 49.9% YTD. Hyundai (+2%) posts a reasonable gain but can’t quite match its YTD share at 16.8% vs. 18.3% while Mahindra (-6%) holds onto the third spot for now but it would appear its days on the India podium are now counted…

Not abating to any extent, the stunning arrival of Kia in the Indian market continues to smash all record, with its unique model to-date, the Seltos SUV, crossing the 14.000 monthly wholesales for only its 4th appearance in the charts which equates to a 5.3% market – only 240 units off a first podium finish – with sales now adding up to over 40.000 units in just four months. In terms of market share, this is almost exactly equivalent to sister brand Hyundai’s launch in India in September 1998… At a time when the Indian market was much smaller, Hyundai sold 8.447 units of the Santro for a 1.6% share in 4 months in 1998, a score also achieved with a single nameplate. The only other great performer in the Top 10 is Renault (+77.4%) up two spots to #5 and 4.1% share vs. 2.8% YTD thanks to the new Triber and facelifted Kwid. As for Chinese newcomer MG, it holds onto a splendid 10th place but drops 8.4% on its record October volume. Volkswagen (+17.4%) also shines below, but Datsun (-50.8%), Honda (-50.3%), Tata (-38.8%) and Toyota (-22.5%) all implode.

When adding Toyota Glanza volumes (pictured), the Suzuki Baleno is the most popular vehicle in India in November.

The top of the models ranking is reshuffled this month even though all four best-sellers lose more ground than the market. The Maruti Swift (-13%) is #1 for the first time since last May and the third time in the past 13 months, and is followed by the Maruti Baleno (-3.2%) up to #2 which is its best-ever ranking, also hit in March 2017, July 2017, October 2018 and March 2019. The novelty this month is that when adding sales of its rebadged version, the Toyota Glanza, the Baleno becomes the best-selling vehicle in India for the first time in history. The Maruti Dzire (-16.1%) drops two spots on October to #3 while the Maruti Alto (-19.1%) is in dire straits at #4 but comfortably holds onto the YTD pole position. Just below the Maruti Wagon R (+29.5%) in excellent shape thanks to the new generation we find the Kia Seltos edging up one spot on last month to a barely believable 6th place, only 1.081 units below the Maruti Alto… One potential cannibal culprit for the Alto’s weakness is the tremendous success of the Maruti S-Presso up a further 8.3% on October to lift its volume record to 11.220 at #8. Other record breakers in November are the Hyundai Venue (9.665) and Renault Triber (6.071), with the Maruti Eeco (+35.8%), Mahindra Scorpio (+33.4%), Maruti Ertiga (+18.5%) and Hyundai Grand i10 (+10.1%) posting market-defying gains.

Previous month: India October 2019: Kia matches Hyundai’s 1998 record launch with 12.854 Seltos, first market gain of 2019 (+1%)

One year ago: India November 2018: Honda (+10%), Mahindra (+4%) stay afloat in market down -2.8%

Full November 2019 Top 25 All-brands and Top 90 models below.