Highlights:
Mahindra (+1.7%) and Toyota (+1.6%) gained significant market share by posting 26% and 42% growth, respectively
Besides them, every other player has lost market share
The top six brands control 93% of the Indian passenger vehicle market
Maruti, Hyundai, Tata, Mahindra, and Toyota posted their best ever H1 sales in 2024
Manufacturer analysis
Mahindra (+1.7%) and Toyota (+1.6%) gained significant market share
Kia (0.9%) has lost considerable market share among top players
Renault, Skoda, Citroen, Jeep, and BYD have suffered massive de-growth in 2024
H1 2024 : Growth Champions
Mahindra Scorpio N is the major volume and growth driver for Mahindra in 2024, followed by Thar and XUV 700. The changed value proposition of the Scorpio N has unlocked a new buyer segment for Mahindra, which was earlier confined to semi-urban and rural setups.
The hybrid versions of the Innova (Hycross) and Hyryder were major volume and growth drivers for Toyota in 2024. The new hybrid drivetrain technology has proved to be a very successful venture for Toyota in India, as the Hyryder (58% strong-hybrid mix) and Hycross hybrid (50% strong-hybrid mix) versions are doing quite well.
Toyota now gets 47% of its sales from cross-badged Maruti products (Hyryder-Grand Vitara, Glanza-Baleno, Rumion-Ertiga, and Taisor-Fronx). Another collaboration strategy that turned out to be handy for Toyota to sell more cars from its showroom, and benefited its partner - Maruti, with incremental sales of existing product line with the least investment to change soft parts like the bumper, grill, headlamp, and tail lamp design; and obviously logo everywhere.
Check out our old article, where we analyzed the success rate of cross-badged products before the operationalization of the Toyota-Maruti partnership. https://www.autopunditz.com/post/the-past-future-of-badge-engineering
The common thread here between Mahindra and Toyota is that their growth is coming from products (Scorpio N, Thar, and Innova Hybrid) in relatively higher price segments. They didn’t take market share away from, let's say, existing segments. Rather, it is all about generating new demand, creating an uncontested market segment, and rendering the competition irrelevant by altering the value proposition.
It is not like competitors didn’t try to get into these segments; rather, they tried to play by the rulebook of incumbents, and failed.The most recent example is the failure of Maruti Jimny against Mahindra Thar- 2nd generation.