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For the first time in four decades, a non-Maruti Suzuki India car has topped the list of India’s best-selling cars. In 2024, the Tata Punch, a sub-compact sport utility vehicle (SUV), became the highest-selling vehicle by delivering 202,030 units.
This marks a clear shift in consumer preference towards premium features, driving the rise of SUVs in the domestic car market. The SUV market in India has grown rapidly in recent years, with its share of the passenger vehicle (PV) market increasing from 32 per cent in 2021 to over 50 per cent in 2024.
In fact, three of the top five best-selling cars in 2024 were SUVs. The Maruti Brezza ranked fourth with 188,160 units, and the Hyundai Creta ranked fifth with 186,919 units. The WagonR retained its position among the top five cars, coming in a close second with 190,091 units.
Deven Choksey, managing director (MD) of DRChoksey Finserv, a wealth management company, said that the premiumisation trend will continue to dominate in 2025.
Shailesh Chandra, MD of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, said, “For Tata Motors, 2024 was the fourth consecutive year of record annual sales with 565,000 units sold. We registered strong growth in our SUV portfolio with successful product introductions built on our proven multi-powertrain strategy. SUV volumes grew by 19 per cent, with the Punch selling over 200,000 units, making it the highest-selling car model in India in 2024.”
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Maruti has also lost market share in recent years, dropping from 52 per cent in 2018 (when 3.3 million PVs were sold domestically) to 41 per cent in 2024 (4.28 million units of PVs sold).
While Maruti held the top spot for four decades, earlier, Hindustan Motors’ Ambassador was the best-selling car in post-Independence India for three decades. Maruti overtook the Ambassador in the mid-1980s with the Maruti 800. The Maruti 800 was succeeded by the Alto, followed by other Maruti cars like the WagonR, Swift, Dzire, etc, in subsequent years.
Indian consumers have increasingly favoured cars with premium features, such as sunroofs and automatic transmissions. For some original equipment manufacturers, the penetration of SUVs in overall sales is as high as 68 per cent.
Tarun Garg, whole-time director and chief operating officer of Hyundai Motor India (HMIL), recently said that SUVs currently contribute 68 per cent of HMIL’s overall domestic volumes, higher than the industry average of 54 per cent.
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