India loves its SUVs less now? Creta, Vitara Brezza, Bolero, Innova feel the heat
The honeymoon period for SUV segment may be over. Or at least that is what data suggests. It was racing ahead on the demand speedway, but now is logging flat growth, or even falling sales, as top selling models, including Hyundai Creta, Maruti Vitara Brezza, Mahindra Bolero, Toyota Innova and Ford EcoSport, which collectively powered this run for the past three years, are losing their allure, said Times of India, citing SIAM data for July 2017 vs July 2018. The SUV segment is facing volume pressure, as sales of all these models have fallen, pulling down the segment by as much as 9 per cent.
Auto major Maruti Suzuki witnessed a 5 per cent drop in SUV sales in July ( year-on-year), as Maruti Vitara Brezza witnessed a sale of 14,181 units. Image source: official website
Hyundai Creta sales have gone flat, as Creta sales in July 2018 were 10,423 (from 10,556 units in July 2017) . Image source: official website
Toyota’s Innova Crysta witnessed a 29% drop. Innova was down in July, 2018 (from 9,369 units in July 2017). Image source: offcial website
Ford EcoSport was also down as it could sell 4,040 in July 2018, compared to 4,375 units in July 2017. Image source: official website
Mahindra’s Bolero was flat with the sale of 6,559 units in July 2018, as compared to 6,597 in July 2017. Image source: official website
Significantly, sales had started slowing since March and both Brezza and Creta were reportedly flat with growth rates of 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent respectively by April. Image source: official website
Market players, however, feel that with a host of new products lined up for the market — including compact SUVs from Hyundai, Mahindra and others — sentiment will lift again. Image source: official website