Indian car sales for March 2016: Winners and Losers

We were expecting relatively modest numbers in March, after the price hikes in tandem with the new budget. And we are glad that things haven’t turned out that way at all. In fact, March has been one of the best months for the auto industry, only second to the sales record set in October 2015 around the festive season.

Winner

This has been one of the best months for Maruti Suzuki. The company sold 1,18,895 units in March, which is substantially higher than sales in February and also in comparison with the same month last year. The numbers have been aided by the new Vitara Brezza – over 5,500 dealer dispatches in the first month is a good start. And we are expecting the sales to be a lot higher in the coming months.

For those who were curious about the response to the Mahindra KUV100, the SUVish looking hatchback is doing well. Of course, these are still early days for the car and also the segment, but Mahindra dispatched over 5,000 examples in March – going up from 4,500 sold in February.

We have said this couple of times before and we are saying it again – the Renault Kwid is a great success story. The product is smartly designed for the Indian customer and with the extremely competitive pricing, we are not surprised that it is doing well. Buyers are lapping up every unit that is produced at the facility and despite the hike in production, there is a waiting period of over three months. Renault dispatched close to 10,000 units last month; it is a great achievement for the brand and should have a cascading effect on the rest of its range.

Losers

We were expecting a drop in the Toyota Innova sales for a while and it has finally happened. The company stopped production of the MUV last month and the final lots have been dispatched to dealerships across India. The official numbers for March are 2,805 units and should ideally be lot lesser in April, since the new Innova Crysta will be launched only in May.

Tata has been refreshing the Nano often to keep it relevant. The facelift looks decent, it also has an AMT transmission, the features list isn’t too bad and the price is of course very competitive. Somehow, it still isn’t working out for Tata Motors. The Nano sales once again dropped to triple digits last month – only 732 Nanos were sold, far lesser than any of its rivals.