Maruti Suzuki has achieved a new sales record. The car maker has sold 4 lakh units of the Vitara Brezza in under 3 years. The Brezza is the best-selling compact SUV in India with a market share of 44.1%.

According to the company, the model has registered a year-to-date sales growth of 7% with average monthly sales of 14,675 units. By July 2018, Maruti had sold 3 lakh units of the Vitara Brezza. The milestone was achieved in just 28 months. 

The Vitara Brezza was launched in March 2016. An Auto Gear Shift (AGS) variant was introduced in May last year along with minor cosmetic updates. The SUV is available with a 1.3-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine that produces 89 BHP @ 4,000 rpm and a torque of 200 Nm @ 1,750 rpm. Transmission options include a 5-speed manual and 5-speed AMT.

Mercedes-Benz topped the luxury car sales charts in 2018. The carmaker sold a record 15,538 units, registering a growth of 1.4% compared to the previous year. The Long Wheelbase E-Class was the highest selling model in 2018. Models like the C-Class and CLA were among other popular sedans, while the GLC remained the most popular model among SUVs.

According to media reports, BMW sales increased by 13% compared to 2017. The company sold 11,105 units. Audi slipped to third place and registered an 18% decline in sales compared to the previous year. The carmaker sold 6,463 units.

Jaguar Land Rover sold 4,596 units in 2018 and posted a growth of 16.23%. Volvo registered the highest growth among premium brands in India. The Swedish carmaker sold 2,638 units, clocking a growth of 30% compared to the previous year.

The scooter segment which has been booming for the past 7 years registered single-digit growth in the first five months of FY 2018-19. Sales grew by 6.77% compared to 18% during the same period last fiscal.

The motorcycle segment however registered higher sales compared to the last fiscal. Sales grew from 8% in the first 5 months of FY2017-18 to 14.67%.

Yamaha has registered a slump in its scooter sales during the period of April-August 2018. Scooter sales are down 13%. Hero MotoCorp registered a drop of over 11%, however Honda registered a growth of 7% during the same period. Motorcycle sales for all three manufacturers are up by 17%, 12% and 9% respectively. 

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the two-wheeler segment as a whole grew by 11.50% during the period of April-August 2018. The domestic passenger vehicle segment grew by almost 10%, while 3-wheelers clocked 44% growth. Medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) and light commercial vehicles (LCV) registered a growth of 55% and 34% respectively.

Source: Business Standard 

Commercial vehicles (CV) sales in India are set to cross the 1 million mark for the first time. According to a media report, CV sales have grown by 52% to 4,57,524 units in the first 5 months of FY2018-19. Medium and heavy-duty CV production has grown by 72% to 1,78,688 units compared to the previous year, while LCVs registered a growth of 41% to 2,78,836 units.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), as of August 2018, domestic demand for CVs has grown by more than 41%, while exports stand at 35%. At this pace, the annual growth of the CV sector is predicted to be 15%. In comparison, 8,94,551 units of CVs were produced in the last fiscal, registering a growth of 10.40%.

Passenger vehicles (PV) and 2-wheeler sales have already reached the 1 million sales milestone. In FY2017-18, 4 million PVs were sold, while 2-wheeler sales stood at 23 million.

Source: Business Standard

Luxury carmakers in India have announced their sales numbers for the first half of 2018. Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volvo have registered growth during the period January-June 2018.

Mercedes-Benz sold 8,061 units in H1-2018, its highest ever half yearly sales in India. The carmaker registered a growth of 12.4% during the period of January-June 2018 compared to the same period last year.

According to Mercedes-Benz, the luxury sedan segment comprising of the CLA-Class, C-Class, E-Class, S-Class and Mercedes-Maybach S-Class grew by 15.2% during January-June 2018, while the luxury SUV segment saw growth of 15.9%. These include cars like the GLA-Class, GLS-Class, AMG GLC 43 Coupe, AMG GLE 43 Coupe, AMG GLS 63 and AMG G 63.

BMW delivered 5,171 cars during January-June 2018, registering a growth of 13% compared to 2017. This includes both, BMW and Mini cars. A total of 4,890 BMW cars were sold during this period, which amounts to a growth of 12% compared to last year. Mini sold 281 cars in H1-2018, registering a growth of 30% compared to the same period last year. BMW-Motorrad sold 208 motorcycles in the first half of 2018.

Volvo registered a growth of 33% in January-June 2018 compared to the same period last year. The company registered total sales of 1,242 units out of which, the XC60 accounts for 25%.

The Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza has crossed the 3-lakh sales mark in 28 months, setting a new record in the SUV segment.

According to the company, in the last 5 months, sales of the Brezza grew by over 25% compared to the same period last year. On average, Maruti sold over 12,600 units every month during this period.

In May 2018, Maruti launched the Auto Gear Shift (AGS) variant of the Brezza and that has garnered over 23% fresh bookings. The carmaker reports that the top-end Z and Z+ variants amount to 56% of the total Brezza sales.

Maruti introduced the Vitara Brezza compact SUV back in March 2016. It is offered with a 1.3-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine which puts out 89 BHP @ 4,000 rpm and 200 Nm of torque @ 1,750 rpm. Transmission options include a 5-speed manual and 5-speed AMT. 

The Brezza competes with the likes of the Tata Nexon and Ford EcoSport and has a market share of 43% in its segment.

Maruti Suzuki has claimed that it has sold 1 lakh units of the new Swift in a time of just 145 days - a new record.

The third-generation Swift was launched in India at the 2018 Auto Expo. The car is based on the fifth-generation HEARTECT platform and comes with features like a SmartPlay touchscreen infotainment system and voice recognition among others. 

The Swift is powered by a 1.2-litre, 4-cylinder petrol engine, which produces 82 BHP @ 6,000 rpm and 113 Nm of torque @ 4,200 rpm. The car is also offered with a 1.3-litre, 4-cylinder diesel engine that develops 74 BHP @ 4,000 rpm and 190 Nm of torque @ 2,000 rpm. Transmission options include a 5-speed manual gearbox and a 5-speed AMT.

The Swift has been on sale in India since 2005 and Maruti has sold over 18.9 lakh units of the car till date. Maruti's car no. 2 crore built in India was also a Swift.

Sales of high-end, imported bikes doubled within weeks following the government's announcement to reduce import duty on completely built unit (CBU) motorcycles.

In the 500-1,000 cc segment, 1,391 units were sold during February and March 2018, which is 12% higher compared to the same period last year. In the 1000 cc and above segment, 500 units were sold during this period, up by 41% compared to last year. 

In February 2018, the government reduced the import duty on CBU bikes with engines larger than 500 cc to 50%. This resulted in a price cut of Rs. 1-5 lakh depending on the segment. Earlier, bikes with engine capacities ranging from 500-800 cc attracted 65% import duty, while those with engines larger than 800 cc attracted 75% duty. Import duty on completely knocked down (CKD) kits was also reduced from 30% to 25%.

According to Panjaj Dubey, Managing Director, Indian Motorcycle, the company's volumes had dropped by 20-30% last year. However, in 2018, the bike maker is expecting a growth of 60-70%.

Tax on locally assembled bikes has been increased by 5.75% and this has adversely affected brands like Triumph that build majority of their motorcycles locally.

Source: ET Auto

With the advent of ride sharing services and improved public transport in the form of metro networks, car sales have seen a drop in large cities of India. Commuters face gridlocks and parking issues on a daily basis and hence more and more people seem to be swapping their cars for public transport.

According to a media report, 97,274 cars were sold in Mumbai in 2017-18 compared to 1.22 lakh in the previous year. That's a drop of 20%. In Bangalore, car sales dropped by 11% in the last fiscal. Delhi however, recorded a growth of 1.6% in car sales.

Meanwhile, more cars were sold in 2017-18 compared to the previous year in smaller cities. Lucknow saw a growth of 25%, while car sales in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh grew by 15% each. Kochi and Pune registered a growth of 7% and 2.4% respectively. That said, countrywide car sales grew by 10% during the same period.

According to Rakesh Srivastava, Director (Sales & Marketing) Hyundai India, the decline in sales in metropolitan areas can be attributed to more people using the metro and shared mobility platforms like Ola and Uber. N Raja, Deputy MD, Toyota Kirloskar told the media that fleet sales were adversely affected by GST, registering a drop of around 50% in 2017. Rajesh Goel, Director Sales and Marketing, Honda Cars India believes that growing congestion in large cities is likely to affect car sales in the years to come.

Source: TOI

According to a recent media report, there have been few takers for the Baleno RS. In fact, the Baleno RS, powered by a turbocharged petrol engine amounts to less than 10% of the total sales of the Baleno hatchback. 

CV Raman, Senior Executive Director (Engineering), Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) has told the media that volumes of the Boosterjet are in the range of 900-1,000 units per month, while on average Maruti sells around 15,000 units of the Baleno hatchback. The Baleno RS, a product targeted towards the enthusiasts, is suffering from low acceptability issues.

The Baleno RS was launched in March 2017. Currently, it is priced at Rs. 8.45 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). In comparison, the base price of the standard Baleno is Rs. 5.36 lakh. The Baleno RS is powered by a 1.0-litre, 3-cylinder, turbocharged petrol engine that produces 101 BHP and 150 Nm of peak torque. It comes equipped with a 5-speed manual gearbox. The car also features a tweaked suspension setup and comes with disc brakes at all four corners.

The Baleno RS' main rivals include the VW Polo GT TSI and the Abarth Punto.

Source: The Economic Times