H1 2023 : Indian mass-market passenger vehicle market body-style analysis
Highlights:
SUV/Crossover body styled products now command a 46% share of the Indian passenger vehicle market.
The hatchback segment is now reduced to 33% due to a lack of demand for entry-level products.
MUVs' and sedans’ shares remained flat.
Body style market share
SUV/Crossover body styled products established a strong lead over hatchbacks with a 46% market share.
Hatchbacks continue to lose ground to new-age crossovers.
Reduced deliveries of the Maruti Ertiga in the market kept the overall MUV market share at 11%.
Sedan market share remains marginally constant, still reeling under diminishing demand.
High growth segments
There are three segments that grew fast in H1 2023. This is largely due to the ever-growing obsession of Indian customers with SUVs.
4m monocoque SUV/crossover:
This segment has witnessed phenomenal growth in recent times. Tata Nexon became the segment leader with a 24% share, and its EV drivetrain gave it an edge over the competition.
Maruti has started fortifying the sub-4-meter SUV/Crossover segment with the launch of the monocoque Fronx crossover in the lower price spectrum and the ladder-chassis true blue SUV ‘Jimny’ in the higher price spectrum. This is something similar to what Maruti did in the hatchback segment: price overlap between multiple products from the higher and lower segments so as to offer a variant for every buyer at a different price point. Thus, Maruti achieved close to 29% share for the new tech-loaded Brezza and Fronx.
The combined share of Hyundai and Kia with multiple drivetrain offerings stood at 32%. Renault-Nissan's share was reduced to 7% as both are facing pressure from Maruti
Fronx.
Mid-size monocoque SUV/Crossover (~4.3m)
The entry of new products from Maruti-Toyota has expanded the segment further. Still, the segment is strongly dominated by Hyundai-Kia (53%) and Maruti-Toyota (32%). Hyundai is selling, even more, Creta than ever before, though things will change with the upcoming facelift of the Kia Seltos. The rest of the new products are reduced to a mere 15% in the segment.
Premium ladder-frame SUV (4.5m+)
On average, Toyota has sold over 3,000 copies of the Fortuner in H1-2023, decimating the lone competitor, MG Gloster. Fortuner was always the dominant player in this segment despite the presence of competent Ford Endeavour in the past; now it’s a de facto choice of customer segment looking for a strong man image, mostly in white or black color.