Tata Motors is now breathing down on Hyundai with its 12.01% PV market share

Riding on its utility vehicle portfolio, country’s third largest passenger vehicle maker Tata Motors has managed to come close to rival Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) in November, data from Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) shows. At 12.01 per cent its share in the PV market is now closest to the second largest auto firm HMIL in years.

The maker of popular models like Tiago, Nexon and Safari, is now just three and half points behind HMIL. The Mumbai-headquartered company gained 4.5 percentage points in PV market share from last November. HMIL lost ground marginally - by 0.67 percentage points - during the period. As a result, Tata Motors is now breathing down on the  long standing second spot holder in the local PV market.

In fact, the gap between the third and second player in the market continues to narrow. In last June, HMIL held 18.95 per cent of the PV market - far ahead of Tata’s 6.89 per cent market share. However, by June this year, Hyundai’s share inched down to 18.7 per cent, while Tata’s rose to 11.06 per cent - bringing the gap down to 7.64 percentage points from 12.06 percentage points in the year ago period. By October, the gap further narrowed to 5.71 percentage points with HMIL at 16.98 per cent and Tata Motors at 11.27 per cent.

Meanwhile, market leader Maruti Suzuki’s (MSIL) production related issues and overall lack of demand for entry-level hatchbacks in the local market resulted in further dip in its market share. In November, data from FADA shows, MSIL’s share in the domestic PV market plunged to 41.93 per cent from 49.24 per cent in the same period last year. Its position, though, improved marginally on a month-on-month basis. In October, its market share had slipped to 40.12 per cent.

Apart from component shortages and high cost of materials, MSIL’s is also lagging when it comes to planning for upcoming trends like electric vehicles (EVs). Tata Motors have already announced a new EV line-up with close to 10 models. Following the suit, HMIL has today unveiled its plans to launch 6 EVs by 2028 and an investment of Rs 4,000 crore to ramp up its R&D.

MSIL, however, is reluctant to take the plunge yet. According to its chairman RC Bhargava, it may introduce first EV models only in 2025. The company is waiting for sufficient demand for EVs in the local market, he recently said.

Also read: Hyundai Motor India to invest Rs 4,000 cr in EVs by 2028, lines-up 6 EV models

Also read: Tata Motors emerges segment leader in CV sales for November: FADA

Also read: Maruti Suzuki leader in PV sales with over 1 lakh sales in November: FADA