Hyundai slips to 4th spot in Feb car retail, ET Auto

Maruti Suzuki maintained its top position, retailing 1.18 lakh units, despite experiencing a decline.
Passenger vehicle (PV) sales in February showed a downturn, with three of the top five OEMs reporting a year-on-year decline, with the exceptions of Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar Motor, according to the latest data shared by the industry body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) on Thursday.

This shift resulted in Hyundai Motor India, the country’s long-standing second-largest car manufacturer, unexpectedly dropping to fourth place for the month. The company sold 38,156 units in February, down from 47,540 units in the same month last year.

Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors secured the second and third spots, respectively.

Meanwhile, market leader Maruti Suzuki maintained its top position, retailing 1.18 lakh units, despite experiencing a decline.

Although the gap between Tata Motors and Hyundai is just 540 units, the real competition is for the second spot in the Indian PV market. While this position was once exclusively contested between these two OEMs, Mahindra has now emerged as a significant player and continues to expand its presence with its SUVs.

Hyundai’s market share fell to 12.6% in February this year, down from 14% in the same month last year. In contrast, Mahindra increased its market share to 13.1% last month, up from 11.7%.

Overall, PV retail sales declined by 10.34%, reaching 3.03 lakh units in February 2025, compared to 3.38 lakh units in February 2024.

According to FADA President C S Vigneshwar, during the month, dealers began expressing concerns about inventory being pushed to them without their consent.

“While such initiatives may serve broader business objectives, it is critical to align wholesale allocations with genuine demand to protect dealer viability and ensure healthy inventory management,” he said.

Dealers noted weak market sentiment which especially continues in the entry level category, delayed conversions, challenging targets and stressed that OEMs should avoid overburdening dealers with excessive inventory. Inventory levels in this segment remained in the range of 50-52 days, he added.

PV space is expected to gain traction in March, fuelled by attractive schemes, the impact of preponed festival sales and fiscal year-end incentives.

• Published On Mar 7, 2025 at 08:43 AM IST

Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals

Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis.

Download ETAuto App

• Get Realtime updates
• Save your favourite articles

Scan to download App