Top 5 gainers in the Indian car market

Some products that have always done well, no matter what. And then there are products which need to evolve themselves in order to scale the sales charts. The Indian car market has been more of a fiefdom that emerged in the license raj and continued because it became a habit. But then, new manufacturers, newer products and changing market dynamics have brought out new leaders today. We list out those cars that have been on sale from January to July 2017 and compared those numbers with the corresponding sales this year to figure out which amongst them have gained the most in terms of sales.

Honda Amaze

2018 Amaze has turned Honda’s fortunes on its head in the Indian car market, catapulting the Japanese brand to the third position on the sales chart. With almost 30,000 cars in the last three months, over 90 per cent of sales this year have come from the new Amaze. And despite that, the numbers have increased by over 81 per cent over 2017. With the bookings exceeding the production numbers, the Amaze is expected to hover around the 9,000 unit mark for the next three-four months at least.

Maruti Suzuki Dzire

The king of the compact sedan segment has extended its lead even further as its sales jumped a whopping 74 per cent for the January to July period as compared to the corresponding time frame in 2017. The new chassis, better space and the unparalleled real-world fuel economy has become a value proposition that is increasingly becoming difficult to match for any of the competitors. Also, the highest selling car across all the segments, the Dzire sold 1.66 lakh cars in the first seven months of the calendar year 2018.

Tata Tiago

This is the only entry-level car in this biggest-gainers list and Tata would be proud of their newest budget hatchback. The Tiago has been pivotal in the Tata 2.0 turnaround program, and now in its third year on sale, the numbers have improved by 48 per cent this year over the corresponding sales from January to July 2017. With 53,576 cars sold, the Tiago has brought Tata out of the doldrums in terms of revenues as well, helping the Indian conglomerate to invest in future products and technologies without going into the red.

Ford Ecosport

The Ecopsort opened up the floodgates for one of the highest growth segments of the Indian market, the sub-four metre compact SUVs. While it ruled the roost in the early days, the arrival of competition in the form of the Vitara Brezza, the WR-V and the Nexon dented its numbers quite a bit. Ford responded with a facelift and added features which meant that the sales were up by 24 per cent to almost 35,000 units sold in the first seven months of 2018.

Hyundai Verna

The Hyundai Verna had dethroned the Honda City from the pedestal of the family sedan segment in India, aided by the diesel-frenzy earlier in this decade. The fluidic design was great but lingered on too long and with newer options from the competition, the Verna numbers dried out. With the new car launched a year ago, the sales numbers have revived with the Verna back in the fight for the top spot.