Beating the downturn: Car buyers lap up new SUVs amid gloom and doom

If the response to three new launches - the MG Hector, Hyundai Venue, and Mahindra XUV3OO, all launched this year - is any indication, buyers of cars are snapping them up

Sports utility vehicles (SUVs) have busted the downturn in the automobile market even as passenger vehicles are battling the decade’s worst sales.

If the response to three launches — the MG Hector, Hyundai Venue, and Mahindra XUV3OO, all this year — is any indication, buyers of cars are snapping them up.

Consider this: The MG Hector, the maiden offer of MG Motor India, has received bookings of close to 17,500 units in less than a month after it started accepting them.

Rajeev Chaba, the company's president and managing director, said if the current pace continued and there were no cancellations, MG would have to stop accepting bookings.

Vikas Jain, national head, sales and marketing, at Hyundai Motor India, is happy because the company's latest compact SUV offer has done “exceptionally well”.

Since it was put on the market on May 23, Hyundai has sold 18,500 units of the Venue and has a backlog of more than 23,000 units, which it expects to deliver in three months.

Mahindra XUV3OO: Bookings: 35,000 since Jan 9 | Price: Rs 7.9 lakh to Rs 12.7 lakh

Four months after its launch, the Mahindra XUV300 continues to draw good numbers. From February till now, the company has received bookings of more than 35,000 units, said the company’s spokesperson.

The new offer has kept the Mumbai-based SUV maker’s sales growth positive in June, the month when all others saw sales tumble.
 

Mahindra, on average, has been selling 4,000 units of the XUV300 a month. With the entry of models such as the Venue and the upcoming Kia Seltos, Mahindra may find it tough to sustain the current volume.

Hyundai Venue: Bookings: 41,500 since 21 May | Price: Rs 6.5 lakh to Rs 11.1 lakh

Even as the companies are enthused by the better-than-expected response to the launches, none of them is celebrating just yet and all prefer to wait for the initial euphoria to settle.

“We need to be mindful of what can go wrong,” Chhaba told Business Standard, adding that the company would prefer a “slow and steady” ramping up of production. 

The Hector offers a compelling proposition to the buyers with its overall package — be it price, technology, positioning, or brand marketing.

The endorsement by globally renowned British actor Benedict Cumberbatch has complemented the brand story, he added.

Buyers have found the after-sales service package and resale price guarantee attractive.

“That is why even in this atmosphere of gloom and doom, people are queuing up,” said Chhaba. 

MG Motor, owned by China’s SAIC Motor Corp, launched the Hector on June 24. 

Starting at ·12.18 lakh, the Hector competes with the XUV500, Tata Harrier, Jeep Compass, and Hyundai Creta.