Sales of Indian SUVs soar, smaller cars skid in December By Reuters

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<span>© Reuters. Cars are seen parked at Maruti Suzuki’s plant at Manesar, in the northern state of Haryana, India, August 11, 2019. Picture taken August 11, 2019. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File Photo</span><br />
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<p>BENGALURU (Reuters) – Sales of sports utility vehicles (SUVs) rose in December, while small car sales fell despite high discounts, data from Indian automakers showed on Monday.</p>
<p>While entry-level vehicles remain a millstone around automobile makers’ necks, they have benefited from the sales of premium vehicles, catering to a more well-off demographic largely unaffected by inflation.</p>
<p>Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra &amp; Mahindra reported domestic SUV sales growth of 24% and 39%, respectively. </p>
<p>Indian carmakers’ SUV segment has benefitted from strong demand through the last year. </p>
<p>Mahindra, which makes SUVs such as the Thar, Scorpio and XUV, had multiple months of record sales in the category in 2023. It has seen 20%-57% sales growth each month this financial year so far.</p>
<p>Sales of SUVs have formed 36% of Maruti’s domestic passenger vehicle (PV) so far this fiscal year, compared with 22% last fiscal, while accounting for almost all of Mahindra’s PV sales.</p>
<p>The year-end, where automakers usually provide larger discounts, coupled with low demand for entry-level vehicles, prompted Maruti to increase discounts on its lesser-priced models by 40% to 45%.</p>
<p>However, sales of its small cars like the Alto and Baleno were down 29%. That was also, in part, due to Maruti’s moderation of wholesales.</p>
<p>Among two-wheelers, Bajaj Auto’s domestic sales jumped 26%, helped by strong sales of its entry-level motorcycles in the first half of the month.</p>
<p>Bajaj and other two-wheeler makers benefited from the wedding season that took place during the first half of the month, analysts have said.</p>
<p>Strong demand for the Triumph motorcycles that Bajaj manufactures have also helped volumes grow.</p>
<p><span itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Corporation"><span itemprop="name"> Tata Motors </span></span> (NYSE:), TVS Motor and India’s top two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp will report their monthly sales data later in the day. </p>
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