Cars In Demand: Maruti Brezza, Nexon Top Segment Sales In January 2019

The Brezza returns to five-figure sales as demand for the EcoSport nearly doubles, as sales grow across the segment

• Maruti Brezza currently has nearly 45 per cent of the market share.

• EcoSport recovers after December drop but still third, behind Nexon.

• TUV300 registered over 40 per cent growth in demand, but still least popular in the segment.

The demand for sub-compact SUVs seems to be going up again in the new year. It saw a month-on-month growth of 38 per cent in January 2019 over December 2018. Leading the charts is still the Maruti Vitara Brezza, while the Ford EcoSport made a return to form, but still trails behind the Tata Nexon, at the third spot.

Here’s how each car in the sub-4m compact SUV segment performed on the sales chart in January:

	January 2019	December 2018	MoM Growth	Market share current(%)	Market share (% last year)	YoY mkt share (%)	Average sales (6 months)
Maruti Vitara Brezza	13172	9667	36.25	44.92	38.72	6.2	13458
Tata Nexon	5095	4393	15.97	17.37	16.15	1.22	4519
Ford EcoSport	4510	2275	98.24	15.38	22.45	-7.07	3615
Honda WR-V	3393	2425	39.91	11.57	14.04	-2.47	2850
Ford Freestyle	1646	1389	18.5	5.61	0	5.61	1890
Mahindra TUV300	1506	1069	40.87	5.13	8.62	-3.49	1572
Total	29322	21218	38.19

Takeaways

• Brezza’s crown even further out of reach: After dipping under the 10,000 units-a-month mark in December 2018, the Maruti Brezza saw a 36 per cent growth in month-on-month sales with over 13,000 units sold in January 2019. The Maruti retains its crown as the bestselling model in the segment by a huge margin and has nearly 45 per cent of the market share. It’ll be interesting to see how those numbers change in the coming months once the Mahindra XUV300 is launched.

• Nexon holds onto second: Tata’ sub-4m SUV saw a month-on-month growth of nearly 16 per cent as it sold more than 5000 units in January. The Nexon was the second most popular model in the segment, just ahead of the Ford EcoSport.

• EcoSport is back in the fray: The Ford EcoSport saw a huge dip in popularity and demand during December 2018, but has recovered impressively. It recorded a 98 per cent month-on-month growth in January with over 4500 units sold. This, once again, has helped it narrow down the gap with the Nexon.

• Honda WR-V slips back down the order: Honda’s sub-4m crossover offering actually saw a rise in demand in January as compared to December 2018 with almost 3400 units sold. However, the 39.91 per cent month-on-month growth wasn’t enough compared to the EcoSport and it managed to be only the fourth most popular model in this segment.

• Freestyle moves ahead of the TUV300: The sub-4m Ford crossover only saw an 18.5 per cent month-on-month growth in January. But the Freestyle still sold more than 1600 units which was enough to edge past the Mahindra TUV300. The TUV300 which sold more than 1500 units, registered a month-on-month growth of 40.87 per cent.

The 2019 January sales numbers project a growth for the segment with increasing contribution from every model. We expect a similar trend in coming days as Mahindra will be introducing the XUV300 in the segment. While the Maruti Brezza seems almost impossible to dethrone in terms of popularity, the competition between nearly every other model here continues to be a close one. Which of these models would you choose if you wanted to upgrade from a smaller car to a sub-4m compact SUV? Let us know in the comments below.