Hyundai Creta was the most sold mid-size SUV last year and its showed sales of 69 per cent diesel and 31 per cent petrol variants
Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) had the Creta leading the mid-size SUV segment on monthly basis until the arrival of the Kia Seltos, which took over the honours. However, the Creta did finish the calendar year of 2019 as the most sold model within its space. The contribution of diesel variants was more significant for the Creta at 69 per cent.
Amongst the total of 99,736 Cretas retailed last year, 69,256 were for the oil-burners and the remaining 30,480 for the petrol variants. The new-gen Creta launched only a while ago gets brand new BSVI compliant 1.5-litre petrol, 1.5-litre diesel and a 1.4-litre turbo petrol engines that are also used in the Kia Seltos.
It will be interesting to see the petrol and diesel sales penetration for Creta this year as Seltos’ 45,494 unit sales led to 55 per cent petrol and 45 per cent diesel sales variation in contrary. Mahindra & Mahindra perhaps has the strongest diesel engine portfolio amongst all manufacturers due to its presence in UV space and it reflects on its sales.
Model | Petrol | Diesel | Total |
1. Hyundai Creta | 30,480 | 69,256 | 99,736 |
2. Mahindra Scorpio | 0 | 46,725 | 46,725 |
3. Kia Seltos | 24,920 | 20,574 | 45,494 |
4. Maruti S-Cross | 0 | 18,179 | 18,179 |
5. Mahindra XUV 500 | 7 | 17,168 | 17,175 |
6. MG Hector | 9,110 | 6,820 | 15,930 |
7. Tata Harrier | 0 | 15,227 | 15,227 |
8. Jeep Compass | 4,443 | 6,492 | 10,935 |
9. Renault Duster | 3,114 | 5,860 | 8,974 |
10. Nissan Kicks | 1,457 | 3,319 | 4,776 |
11. Tata Safari | 0 | 2,432 | 2,432 |
12. Renault Captur | 395 | 1,387 | 1,782 |
13. Nissan Terrano | 1 | 428 | 429 |
As for Scorpio, all 46,725 units were powered by diesel as no petrol version exists while only 7 units of the 17,175 retail total last year for the XUV500 were petrol. The S-Cross was the fourth most sold mid-size SUV last year behind the Creta, Scorpio and Seltos and its disadvantage of not being offered with a petrol engine can be clearly seen.
Maruti Suzuki will be replacing the now discontinued 1.3-litre diesel engine with a 1.5-litre SHVS petrol mill soon for S-Cross to be back on sales. Our list comprises of not just the mid-size five-seaters but the SUVs slightly higher up a premium segment as well. Behind the XUV500, MG’s Hector stood sixth with 9,110 sales for petrol variants and 6,820 units for diesel variants.
The absence of a petrol engine put the Tata Harrier in seventh with 15,227 unit sales of diesel powered variants. The Compass, Duster and Kicks covered the top ten in eighth, ninth and tenth places respectively and all three of them had diesel variant sales dominating their petrol counterparts.