Maruti tops UV segment in FY18, M&M stages comeback in Q4

The race for top honours in the utility vehicle segment between Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) intensified in FY2017-18 despite the market leader ending ahead of the homegrown rival.

While MSI ended the year with 2,53,759 units of UVs, including Vitara Brezza, Ertiga and S-Cross, M&M retailed a total of 2,33,915 units during the just ended financial year.

However, in the fourth quarter of 2017-18, M&M pipped MSI to capture the number one slot with 67,805 units sales against 63,781 units of the latter, according to figures shared by the companies.

M&M, which sells popular models such as Bolero, Scorpio, XUV500 and TUV300, had been the undisputed UV maker in the Indian market till 2016-17 when it sold a total of 2,22,541 units as against 1,95,741 units by MSI.

However, it was dethroned from the top spot by MSI when it launched Vitara Brezza in 2016.

In 2017-18, MSI dominated the UV sales for the first three quarters. The company MSI sold 57,125 units of utility vehicles while M&M sold 53,082 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter also MSI stayed ahead with 67,123 units as compared to M&M's 61,516 units.

The trend continued in third quarter, as MSI retailed 65,730 units while M&M could manage only 51,512 units.

An MSI official said the growth of the company's UV segment has been driven by Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga with demand still continuing to be strong as some of the model having weeks of waiting period.

There is still a waiting of around 42,000 units for the company's various UV models, the official added.

However, on the back of strong performance of models like Bolero and Scorpio, M&M ran ahead of MSI in the fourth quarter.

Commenting on development, M&M President Automotive Sector Rajan Vadhera said, "On the product front, power brands such as Bolero Power+ and the new Scorpio saw demand growing in FY18. While product and marketing interventions have brought increased traction for the TUV300 and the refreshed KUV100 NXT."

He also said a focussed rural strategy has led to increased network reach and penetration thereby "bringing 12 percent overall growth in upcountry markets".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)