The domestic passenger vehicle industry made a strong comeback in FY21. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry declined by just 2.2% in FY21 as against the fall of ~18% in FY20.
The resurgence of Tata Motors and strong performance from Kia were the key notable trends of the year. While Tata Motors managed to increase its market share by 330bps to 8.3%, Kia Motors emerged as a strong brand as its market share gained by +260bps to 5.7%. They were duly helped by the new launches during the year.
Among the listed players, Maruti Suzuki lost its market share by 340 bps to 47.7% owing to the lack of new launches while M&M lost 90bps market share to 5.8%. India's second-largest selling PV brand, Hyundai managed to maintain its market share at 17.4%,
SUV Segment Leads Tata Motors' Resurgence
Tata Motors' compact segment grew by 108.5% while it remained flat for the industry. Tata Motors gained a market share of 15.4% in this segment due to the good response to Altroz, launched in Jan’20.
Tata Motors' market share in the Compact UV segment grew by 140bps as the volumes of the upgraded version of Nexon grew by 47.4% YoY vs the segmental growth of 18.8%. In the UV2 segment, a market share gain of 16.1% was driven by strong momentum in Harrier and the relaunch of Safari.
Emergence of Kia
Kia’s strong performance in the domestic PV market was driven by a very good response to the Sonet. It offset the decline in the average monthly wholesales of Seltos (7.4k units in FY21 v/s 10.2k units in FY20.
Kia has emerged as a strong player in the UV1 segment with 17% market share within 18 months of its first launch. Kia is already third in SUVs, with a 14.7% market share. It is closing down on M&M in terms of market share. With 5.7% market share, it currently holds the fifth position in the domestic PV market.
Segment Specific Growth Trends
Except for the SUVs, other segments reported muted demand during FY21.
Volumes in the mini segment declined by 10.7% YoY. Maruti Suzuki further strengthened its market share to 85% in this segment. Hyundai and Renault ceded their market share by (-500bps) and (-20bps) respectively to Maruti Suzuki (MSIL).
In the compact segment, all the market players, except Tata Motors, lost their market share. MSIL lost its market share by 260bps in this segment after the discontinuation of its diesel variants. Tata Motors' market share leaped by 800bps while Hyundai’s market share declined by 350bps.
The Sedan segment declined by 24% YoY while the UV1 segment grew ~19% YoY largely on account of the successful launch of Kia Sonet (Sep’20) and second-generation Hyundai Creta.
UV2 segment declined by 16.1% YoY with MG Motors and Tata Motors gaining the market share by 950 bps and 650bps respectively. M&M (-780bps) and Toyota (-500bps), on the other hand, lost their market share in this segment.