New Delhi: Mahindra and Mahindra have gone ahead of their main rivals in the auto sector with the growth in preference for the large SUVs.
In April, the company went past both Hyundai and Tata Motors to become India’s second-largest automaker, mostly with the sale of the SUV category, with vehicles longer than 4.4 metres.
According to the Society of Indian Autmobile Manufacturers’ data, while the SUV segment in general saw a decline in FY25, but Mahindra managed to defy the trend with 36% year-on-year growth in sales of their large SUV models. The company managed to sell 3,00,854 units of its large SUVs in FY25, going up from 2,21,578 units in FY24. The models that gained strong footing would be Bolero Neo, Scorpio, XUV700 and Thar Roxx.
How have Mahindra’s competitors performed?
Unlike Mahindra, their competitors saw a huge, with a collective 24% fall in sales. Hyundai Alcazar though with refreshed model in Septemebr 2024, fell to 17,132 units from 20,753 units in FY24. MG Hector similarly went down from 27,435 units from 15,620 units as did Tata’s Harrier and Safari dropped from 46,645 units to 38,994. Jeep Compass saw a dip in sales from 3,300 units to 2,598 units.
Experts have believe that Mahindra’ success is down to having a rugged SUV brand image and huge price range spectrum which targets a wide range of audience in turn. Thar Roxx starts at Rs 12.99 lakh and goes up to Rs 23.39 lakh, which is the premium model. The Scorpio-N price range range falls between Rs 13.99 lakh to Rs 25.15 lakh with XUV700 is priced between Rs 14.49 lakh to Rs 25.14 lakh.
This way Mahindra targets customers who are budget conscious and upgrading from a compact SUV while also serving those who are interested for a more luxurious model. Further the top models are loaded with features which are value for money.
This can be seen in the falling sales of mass-market luxury SUVs. Jeep’s Merdian has fallen from 2,106 units to 1,267 units while MG Gloster fell from 2,450 units to 1,735 units. Skoda Kodiaq sales number fell from 1,887 to 1,663 units. Hyundai Tucson fell to 1,319 from 2,883 units. Even Toyota, who have strong candidates in Fortuner and Hilux saw sales fall from 37,996 units to 36,689 units.
The growth on the other hand for Mahindra in compact SUV was just modest with 1.8% growth as numbers went up from 2,38,286 units in FY24 to 2,42,586 units in FY25.