Maruti continues to hold sway in passenger vehicle segment

Maruti Suzuki India maintained its leadership position in the domestic passenger vehicle (PV) market in December, with six of its models featuring in the top 10 brands last month.

French car maker Renault’s entry level car Kwid also made it to the list last month.

According to the latest data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), in the top 10 best passenger vehicles, Maruti’s Alto retained the top position last month, with 22,589 units, as against 22,296 units in December, 2014.

The company’s compact hatchback Wagon R was the second best-selling model with 14,645 units compared with 12,329 units in the same month last year.

MSI’s premium hatchback Swift was third, selling 14,548 units, as against 17,410 units in the year ago month. Further, the company’s compact sedan DZire stood fourth with 13,176 units, as compared to 15,526 units a year ago.

Hyundai Motor India’s Grand i10 moved to the fifth slot with 12,749 units in December, from seventh in the same month in 2014 with 8,210 unit sales.

Maruti’s newly-launched Baleno made it to the sixth rank with sale of 10,572 units, dislodging Hyundai’s Elite i20 from the position.

Elite i20, however stood at seventh position last month with 10,379 units, as compared to 9,345 units in December 2014.

Maruti’s compact car Celerio was at eighth position, selling 8,019 units. It replaced Omni, which had sold 6,252 units in same period of 2014.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s Bolero continued to be in top ten at ninth position with a sale of 7,133 units. Renault’s entry level car Kwid made it to the top ten list with sale of 6,888 units in December.

Honda’s mid sized sedan City and Hyundai’s entry level model Eon were the noteworthy exclusions from the list last month.

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Mahindra takes on Maruti, Hyundai by introducing KUV100

Automobile major Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) has ventured into a new segment with the introduction of KUV100, a compact SUV targeted at the youth.

With the introduction of this product with a petrol engine and aggressively pricing it to attract first time car buyers and even college students, the company has taken on passenger car market leaders Maruti Suzuki for its Swift and DZire models and Hyundai for its Grand i10 and Astra.

The KUV100 combines aggressive styling and an SUV stance and ample space to accommodate even six people including the driver. The vehicle is available at all Mahindra dealers from Friday and has been priced starting Rs. 4.42 lakh (ex- showroom Pune) for the petrol base model and Rs. 5.22 lakh (ex-showroom Pune) for the base diesel variant.

KUV100’s price is cheaper than its competitors in the market. The vehicle is also fuel efficient. The diesel engine provides a fuel efficiency of 25.32 km/l while the petrol engine provides mileage of 18.15 kms/l.

The vehicle has been developed with an investment of Rs. 1,200 crore and it took four years to come out with the final product including an all new petrol engine. This is the first time that Mahindra has developed a petrol engine on it own.

“The launch of KUV100 is a defining moment in the automotive journey of Mahindra. This vehicle is our first foray into ground up petrol engine and with it we are defining a new SUV sub-segment and targeting a new customer group,” said Dr Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

“Yet another ‘Make in India’ product, the KUV100 aptly represents our ‘Rise’ philosophy in action, as our development team used alternative thinking and challenged the limits to deliver a vehicle that is poised to be nothing less than a game changer for us. We are entering a new orbit and hope to deliver yet another icon (after Scorpio and XUV500), yet another dream SUV,” Dr Goenka added.

KUV100 which stands for Compact Utility Vehicle will be available in seven colours and Mahindras are working on a financing scheme to enable college students to buy this vehicle.

“Being a market leader in SUV space it has always been our endeavour to offer breakthrough products like the KUV100. I believe that this vehicle will appeal to the youth and first time car buyers with its aggressive styling, trendy interiors and the whole list of new features,” Pravin Shah, president & Chief Executive (automotive) M&M said.

This is the 9th vehicle to have been introduced by Mahindra in this financial year. With this vehicle Mahindra intends to gain volume and marketshare which it had lost in the past two years amidst steep competition from all passenger car makers.

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