The newly launched Hyundai Venue, Mahindra XUV300 and MG Hector had made their presence felt in sales in July 2019
The recently launched SUVs are performing wonderfully in the domestic market despite the sales slowdown encountered since the beginning of the year. Hyundai’s Venue romped up to the top position as the best-selling SUV in the country by beating its main nemesis Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza in July 2019 with a total of 9.585 units.
Its bigger sibling, Creta, slotted in at the second place with 6,585 but it had to endure YoY decline of 37 per cent. The Vitara Brezza led the compact SUV segment for more than three years but it had to give up its position last month with 5,302 units. It saw a steep decrease of 63 per cent compared to the same month in 2018.
Mahindra & Mahindra introduced the XUV300 in the middle of February 2019 and it moved up the ranks to the third position by overtaking Tata Nexon. It stood there last month with a total of 4,464 units while the Nexon ended up as the fifth most sold SUV in the country by garnering 3,344 units with just 13 per cent sales de-growth.
| SUV Models | July 2019 Sales | July 2018 Sales |
| 1.Hyundai Venue | 9,585 | – |
| 2. Hyundai Creta | 6,585 | 10,423 |
| 3. Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza | 5,302 | 14,181 |
| 4. Mahindra XUV300 | 4,464 | – |
| 5. Tata Nexon | 3,344 | 3,840 |
| 6. Ford EcoSport | 3,137 | 4,040 |
| 7. Mahindra Scorpio | 2,864 | 3,876 |
| 8. MG Hector | 1,508 | – |
| 9. Honda WR-V | 1,327 | 3,386 |
| 10. Toyota Fortuner | 1,187 | 1,856 |
| 11. Mahindra TUV300 | 1,122 | 2,091 |
| 12. Mahindra XUV500 | 1,116 | 2,766 |
Source : AutoPunditz
The EcoSport finished sixth with 3,317 units and had to make do with 22 per cent volume drop. The Scorpio workhorse sandwiched the EcoSport and Hector with 2,864 units and 26 per cent sales decline. MG Motor kicked off its local operations with the Hector and it has made a certain impact. The aggressively priced SUV ended up eighth with 1,508 units.
Coming in at ninth was Honda WR-V as it managed 1,327 units as against 3,386 during the corresponding month last year with 61 per cent sales decrease. The Fortuner continued to lead the full-sized SUV space with 1,187 units with 36 per cent drop. Mahindra’s TUV300 and XUV500 were the other two SUVs registering four-digit sales in July 2019.
The micro SUV segment will be flooded with new competitors as Maruti Suzuki S-Presso will come on-board this festive season while Tata’s H2X based Hornbill is expected in the due course of 2020 as well. Hyundai appears to be pondering a new model for the affordable segment as well.